Before March got “Mad”, football dominated the college scene and basketball was merely an afterthought. The first NCAA championship tournament was held in 1939, and for many years, the National Invitational Tournament, which was founded by a group of New York writers, was more popular for the first few years of existence.

The real story of March Madness began in 1908, when the Illinois High School Association began sponsoring a small invitational tournament for the area’s school district. A field of teams known as the “Sweet Sixteen” routinely drew sellout crowds to the University of Illinois’ Huff Gymnasium. In a time before television, before college basketball encompassed front pages of newspapers and rocketed their talent to NBA teams and before NBA leagues had established a foothold in the nation’s large cities, basketball fever had already reached epidemic proportions in Chicago.

Henry V. Porter, assistant executive secretary of the Illinois High School Association, was so impressed by the number of fans interested that he wrote an essay about it. Henry V. Porter called his essay “March Madness”. March Madness first appeared in the Illinois Interscholastic in 1939. The name struck a chord with newspapermen, who used it throughout their pages. During the tournament’s “Golden Era” of the 1940’s and 1950’s, “March Madness” became the popular name of the event. The Golden Era was an era of some of Illinois’ most legendary teams, including the undefeated 1944 Taylorville squad and Mt. Vernon’s unstoppable back-to-back champions of 1949 and 1950. One of the most remembered March Madness Champion is Hebron, a school of only 98 students, that won the tournament in 1952.

The Illinois High School Association tournaments continued to grow and develop. In 1963, the tournament moved to a newer, bigger and better equipped Assembly Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois. It was in this Assembly Hall that fans witnessed the most famous finish in history. Chicago Carver beat Centralia on a last-second shot by a substitute named Anthony Smedley. “March Madness” grew along with the Illinois High School Association. In 1973, the Illinois High School Association began using the term “March Madness” in it’s official programs and merchandise. In 1977, the Illinois High School Association enlisted veteran Chicago sportswriter and Big Ten basketball referee Jim Enright to write the official history of the boys basketball tournament. During this period, the Illinois High School Association received trademark status for the term “March Madness” and registered the trademark “America’s Original March Madness.” The spirit of March Madness spread from coast to coast. Other companies and organizations have been licensed by the Illinois High School Association to use the March Madness trademarks.

As the tournament stabilized it’s position as an American sporting tradition, the players and competition of the 1950s brought more excitement. In 1954, the championship game between LaSalle and Bradley (LaSalle won, 94-76) was televised for the first time. The 1955 championship game was a showdown between LaSalle’s Tom Golan, a gifted 6’ 7” white player and, a skinny black player from San Francisco named Bill Russell, who at 6’ 9” and 230 pounds, would lead San Francisco to victory and later revolutionize the art of rebounding in the NBA. In 1957, the Kansas center Wilt Chamberlain was the most dominant player in history, but North Carolina still managed to beat them in three overtimes.

The 1960’ were famous for the incredible dominance of one man and one team. John Wooden. John Wooden is belovedly referred to as ‘The Wizard of Westwood’. Wooden’s his teams at UCLA won an unprecedented six straight titles from 1964 to 1969. From 1966 until 1969, Lew Alcindor was Wooden’s center. Lew Alcindor was considered by many to be the greatest center in college history. He would later change his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and go on to display a similar level of dominance in the NBA.

Alcindor left for the NBA in 1969, and Wooden, in perhaps his greatest coaching achievement, still managed to win titles in 1970 and 1971 without a dominant center. In 1972 Wooden won again with the Bill Walton, a 6’ 11’’ free spirit and hippy. Bill Walton was no doubt one of the straight-laced Wooden’s greatest tests. “Discipline yourself and others won’t need to,” was one of Wooden’s maxims, and if he didn’’t unleash this bon mot on Walton, he must have been sorely tempted to. The 1979 competition was one of the greatest one-on-one showdowns in NCAA tournament history. Michigan State’s Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson and Indiana State’s Larry Bird played four quarters of inspired basketball. Michigan took the W. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird repeated their performances and reignited their rivalry in the NBA.

In 1975, the NCAA tournament was expanded to 32 teams. By the early 80s, the NCAA tournament was by far considered the more superior basketball tournament for college basketball.

It wasn’t until 1985, however, when the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams. The expansion enabled more colleges across the nation to be involved, and increased the nationwide madness surrounding the tournament.

March Madness has turned into one of the biggest sporting events in the nation. Each team who makes it to the tournament has a chance to become a champion. The 64-team tournament showcases the best talent in the country and many unknown players have the chance to be drafted high in the NBA draft because of their play in front of a national audience.

- John A. Roberts

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