A Brief History of March Madness
As spring approaches, millions of fans go mad while they watch their favorite basketball teams face off and fight the battle to be one among 68 teams to win the tournament every year. This madness, known as March Madness, first spread in 1939 when the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) organized the first match between the Ohio State University and the University of Oregon.
Who coined the term ‘March Madness’?
The tournament, second only to Super Bowl in popularity, started out with only eight teams but has since grown manifold. Also referred to as the Big Dance, March Madness was born in Illinois before television and way before professional leagues. The term was coined by Henry V. Porter, who was a teacher and a coach in central Illinois. Porter wrote an article for an Illinois magazine about the basketball tournament and named it March Madness. Shortly after, all major newspapers followed suit, making March Madness a household name for the basketball championship.
In 2001, a 65-team championship was unveiled. After a match between the 65th and the 64th team, the tournament would break into four regions of 16 teams. The winning team of each region made up the Final Four, who would then meet in the host city to play the final two matches.
Making March Madness into an Official Brand
In 1973, the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) hired veteran sportswriter and referee Jim Enright to write the official history of the basketball tournament and sold the book as well as the video about it nationwide. At the same time, the IHSA received a trademark for ‘March Madness’ and registered the trademark as ‘America’s Original March Madness.’ The popularity of March Madness has since spread across the country and IHSA now sells the March Madness trademark license to other companies to use in print and digital platforms.
The First Women’s Basketball Tournament
Decades after the men’s championship was created, the NCAA held its first women’s basketball championship in 1982. Though it started with 32 teams, by 1994 it was a 64-team tournament following the men’s format closely. The final match is played a day after the men’s, drawing the college basketball season to a close.
The most successful women’s team has been the Tennessee Volunteers, winning six championships under the famous coach Pat Summit from 1973 to 2006. As with the men’s tournament, the most outstanding players of the women’s teams such as Cheryl Miller of USC and Dian Taurasi of Connecticut went on to become stars of the Women’s NBA (WNBA).
The Biggest Players of March Madness
The UCLA Bruins has beaten all records, taking home a total of 11 championships, ten of them under the legendary coach John Wooden between 1964 and 1975. The University of Kentucky comes second with seven wins and Indiana University is third with a total of five championships. The best player till date has been Lew Alcindor with three Most Outstanding Player awards under his belt. Alcindor was so good at slam dunks that the NCAA banned it, then he switched to the jump hook move. He is still considered the greatest college basketball player of all time.
Another eminent player is Jerry West from Virginia. West averaged 32 points and 15 rebounds per match. He was so good at the game that the NBA designed their logo with his silhouette. Arguably the most famous college basketball player is Erwin Johnson, famously known as ‘Magic.’ He led the Spartans to the Elite Eight in 1978 as well as in 1979. The 1979 Final is the most watched college basketball game of all time in which Magic helped the Spartans take the trophy home yet again. His passing style radicalized the sport forever.
