Michigan State this basketball season plans to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking 1963 NCAA regional game between Loyola and Mississippi State.
The school announced Tuesday that the Spartans will play at Jenison Field House in East Lansing for the first time since 1989 to mark the anniversary. The weekend of events is being called "Jenison Jubilee." Michigan State will host Tuskegee on Dec. 15 and a Dec. 14 reunion game featuring former Spartans is planned.
In 1963, Loyola defeated Mississippi State, and the game helped change the history of race in sports. The all-white Mississippi State team, which in earlier years had been forced to decline NCAA invitations rather than play a team with black players, slipped out of state to compete in the game in East Lansing.
Michigan State to Mark 50th Anniversary of 1963 NCAA Game
WKAR file photo