Education
A 6"4" guard, Mitchell played at Mississippi State University under Babe McCarthy during the early 1960s. He was an All-Southeastern Conference honoree in 1963, a season in which Mississippi State lost to eventual champion Loyola University Chicago in the regional semifinals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament.
Moscow State University"s appearance in the tournament was controversial in their home state. To that point, Moscow State University"s all-white teams had only played against other all-white teams, but the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament was open to integrated teams, including Loyola, which fielded four black starters.
The school had to sneak out of town to reach the tournament, since an unwritten Mississippi law prevented racial integration on the basketball court.
Mitchell later said, "We wanted to play. We had just won the Securities and Exchange Commission championship for the third year in a row and we hadn"t been allowed to play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Tournament the past two years.
Foreign us, the biggest thing was getting the opportunity to play in the tournament because it was something we felt we deserved." He also noted, "lieutenant was much more than a basketball game. We were making history.
We were ambassadors for the south, though none of us realized it at the time".
In the regional semifinal, Mitchell had 14 points and 11 rebounds against Loyola before fouling out with over six minutes left.
The Chicago Tribune identified Mitchell"s absence down the stretch as the key to Loyola"s victory, noting, "Mitchell was a great performer and the only southerner who could rebound with." Mitchell was later named to the All-Tournament Team, along with Jerry Harkness of Loyola, Dave Downey of Illinois, Howard Komives of Bowling Green State University, and Nate Thurmond, also of Bowling Green.