The Historic NAIA Tournament
I’ll be heading down to historic Municipal Auditorium for the NAIA Tournament today. As I think about doing so, the memories come flooding back..... I moved to Kansas City to become the Director of the NAIA Tournament in 2007. My first tournament as the Director of the Tournament was in 2008, and I served in that capacity (among others that I picked up along the way) through the 2012 Tournament (which was the 75th Anniversary of the Tournament).
My son had just turned four-years-old when we moved here. This morning, I dropped him off at his high school. He was a baby then. Now, he’s taller than me, shaves, and just got his driver’s permit. This will be my 12th NAIA Tournament in a row.
The NAIA Tournament is the longest-running collegiate championship of any sport in America. It began in 1937. The NIT began in 1938. The NCAA Tournament began in 1939. In 1936, Dr. James Naismith and Emil Liston gathered at Frank Cramer’s house in Gardner, KS, to discuss the creation of a collegiate basketball national championship. (Also in that year - 1936 - the game of basketball was first played in the Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Basketball was played outdoors in that first Olympics). Ultimately, their dream became a reality when the first collegiate basketball national championship was played in March of 1937 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City.
In that first national championship, there were eight teams. Central Missouri State Teacher’s College won the first national championship. In 1938, the field was expanded to 32 teams from around the country. Here’s what many people don’t know: In 1938, only 31 teams actually showed up, as Western Kentucky was unable to make the trip, and for the first and only time, a bye was awarded. In 1939, the tournament had the full field of 32 teams. With the exception of a short period of time surrounding World War II, the format has remained unchanged.
The citizens of Kansas City would routinely skip work and school to attend the tournament. There are many wonderful stories and memories of families, fathers-and-sons and good friends that would spend morning-til-night in Municipal Auditorium watching NAIA basketball. The format - where people would watch basketball from morning through the night and where teams would play day after day until a National Champion was determined - makes the tournament unique and special. It’s what defines the NAIA Tournament.
Neat memory for me, and a piece of history for all: As I researched more and more about the NAIA Tournament (I ended up writing the foreward for Danny’s Stooksbury’s book, National Title, about the history of the NAIA Tournament), I realized that Dr. Naismith had left in his will (when he passed away in 1939) that the trophy that was presented to the winner of the tournament be named after his first wife, Maude. As such, the Maude Naismith Trophy would be presented to the winner in each year. Pretty special and historical, I think. Well, when I looked at the trophy that was being presented to the winner, it was the James Naismith Trophy. Somehow, over the years, it was changed to the James Naismith Trophy. I did a bit of research and confirmed that it should, indeed, be the Maude Naismith Trophy. We changed it back to the Maude Naismith Trophy, which is the trophy that is still presented today (well, it certainly should be). So, on the 75th Anniversary of the Tournament, I tracked down Dr. Naismith’s grand-daughter, Hellen Naismith Carpenter, and asked her to come present the trophy to the winner of the 75th NAIA Tournament, and she agreed. She was very gracious, and it was a thrill to have Hellen Naismith Carpenter present the trophy, named after her grandmother, to Concordia (CA) University in March of 2012. Neat moment.....really neat moment....
.....and so this morning......well, here we go again. 32 teams at Municipal Auditorium. 31 games over one week to determine a National Champion. The games begin at 9:00 a.m. CST, and next Tuesday night, a National Champion will be crowned.....and they will be presented with the Maude Naismith Trophy.
It’s 2019. 32 teams. 31 games. 1 week. 1 National Champion. Municipal Auditorium. Dr. Naismith, Emil Liston and Frank Cramer: Your vision became a reality in 1937, and today, in 2019, your legacy lives on......