Paul Sullivan: Lucas Williamson narrates ‘The Loyola Project,’ a new documentary about the 1963 Loyola Ramblers and the fight against racial injustice

CHICAGO — The best documentaries tell you stories you thought you knew and turn them on their head.

“The Loyola Project,” which debuts Monday night on CBS Sports Network and also screens Thursday at the AMC River East 21 theater in Chicago, is one of those films.

Thanks to the recent NCAA Tournament success of the Loyola Ramblers, the story of the 1963 men’s team that broke racial barriers while winning the national championship has been retold a time or two over the last five years. The ‘63 Ramblers won behind a coach who ignored the unwritten rules of the era and started four Black players en route to the title, beating a Mississippi State team along the way that defied its state’s law prohibiting it from playing against integrated teams.