Babe McCarthy
Memphis Pros | |
1972–1973 | Dallas Chaparrals |
---|---|
1973–1974 | Kentucky Colonels |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 169–85 |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
4 SEC regular season (1959, 1961–1963) | |
Awards | |
3× SEC Coach of the Year (1961–1963) ABA Coach of the Year (1974) | |
James Harrison "Babe" McCarthy (October 1, 1923 – March 17, 1975),
In March 1975, McCarthy died as a result of colon cancer.
Early life
McCarthy was from
College career
McCarthy first came to fame for his 10-year stint at Mississippi State, where his teams won 169 games, lost 85, and won four Southeastern Conference (SEC) titles (three outright, one shared). While coaching at MSU he was named SEC Coach of the year three times. When he left Mississippi State he was the school's all-time leader in wins but has since been passed by Richard Williams and Rick Stansbury.
McCarthy may best be remembered for his team crossing the color line in the segregated
The editorials were in response to the decision by Mississippi State President Dean W. Colvard's March 2, 1963, to accept the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament as outright SEC champions. The College Board of Mississippi met on March 9, 1963, and upheld Colvard's decision. But on March 13, just a day before the team was scheduled to travel to East Lansing, state senator Billy Mitts and former state senator B. W. Lawson sought and obtained a temporary injunction against the team leaving the state.
While sheriffs were on their way to Starkville, Mississippi, to serve the injunction, the team was participating in a pep rally the night before their departure, where effigies of state senators Mitts and Lawson were hung. The team's original plan was to leave Starkville at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. But learning that sheriffs would be expected to arrive in town at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday night, MSU put their sophisticated contingency plan into effect.
McCarthy, the athletic director, and the assistant athletic director drove to Memphis, and then flew to Nashville. The team itself sent the freshman squad to the airport as scheduled-posing as the varsity team. The real varsity team hid in a dorm on campus. The next morning, they boarded a private plane at the airport and flew to Nashville to meet the coach and team officials. From Nashville, the whole group took a commercial flight to the game at East Lansing, Michigan. These events were chronicled in the DVD One Night in March produced by Starkville-based Broadcast Media Group
McCarthy Gymnasium on the campus of MSU was named for him in 1975.
McCarthy later coached the George Washington University's men's basketball team, going 9–18 with the Colonials in 1966–1967.
Head coaching record
College
Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mississippi State (Southeastern Conference) (1955–1965) | |||||||||
1955–56 | Mississippi State | 12–12 | 6–8 | T-6th | |||||
1956–57 | Mississippi State | 17–8 | 9–5 | T-3rd | |||||
1957–58 | Mississippi State | 20–5 | 9–5 | T-3rd | |||||
1958–59 | Mississippi State | 24–1 | 13–1 | 1st | Not allowed to accept NCAA Tournament Invitation due to competition with black athletes | ||||
1959–60 | Mississippi State | 12–13 | 5–9 | 9th | |||||
1960–61 | Mississippi State | 19–6 | 11–3 | 1st | Not allowed to accept NCAA Tournament Invitation due to competition with black athletes | ||||
1961–62 | Mississippi State | 24–1 | 13–1 | T-1st | Not allowed to accept NCAA Tournament Invitation due to competition with black athletes | ||||
1962–63 | Mississippi State | 22–6 | 12–2 | 1st | NCAA Sweet 16
| ||||
1963–64 | Mississippi State | 9–17 | 4–10 | 11th | |||||
1964–65 | Mississippi State | 10–16 | 6–10 | 8th | |||||
Mississippi State: | 169–85 | 88–54 | |||||||
George Washington University (Independent) (1966–1967) | |||||||||
1966–67 | George Washington | 6–18 | |||||||
George Washington: | 6–18 | ||||||||
Total: | 175–103 | ||||||||
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
|
ABA career
In the
Babe-isms
McCarthy was known as "Ol' Magnolia Mouth" (or just "Magnolia Mouth") for his cement-thick Mississippi accent and short, funny phrases called Babe-isms. A few of the more famous and often used Babe-isms were:
- Boy, I gotta tell you, you gotta come out at 'em like a bitin' sow.
- My old pappy used to tell me the sun don't shine on the same dog's butt every day.
- Why panic at five in the mornin' because it's still dark out?
- Now, let's cloud up and rain all over 'em.
References
- ^ "The Spokesman-Review - Google News Archive Search".
- ^ "S.E.C. Coach of Year" (PDF). The Emerald of Sigma Pi. Vol. 44, no. 1. Spring 1957. p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-08-20. Retrieved 2016-07-27.