1953 NAIA Basketball Tournament

Last updated
1953 (1953) NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Teams32
Finals Site Municipal Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
Champions Southwest Missouri State
(2nd title, 2nd title game,
2nd Fab Four)
Runner-Up Hamline
(4th title game,
6th Fab Four)
Semifinalists Indiana State
East Texas State
Chuck Taylor MVP Jerry Anderson
(Southwest Missouri State)
  1952 NAIA Division I
Men's Tournaments
1954  

The 1953 NAIA Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 16th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. [1]

Contents

The championship game would feature Southwest Missouri State, now Missouri State University, and Hamline (10th appearance in tournament). The Bears were coached by Bob Vanatta. The championship game was the first time that these two teams had ever met in the tournament. The Bears would defeat the Pipers to win another national championship, 79–71.

It was the first time since 1937 and 1938, the first two years of the tournament, that the same team would win the national championship title. (The first two tournaments were also won by a Missouri university, Central Missouri State.)

Playing for third place were Indiana State and East Texas State, now Texas A&M University–Commerce. It was the first time that these two teams had played each other. The Sycamores defeated the Lions by a score of 74 to 71.

The 1953 tournament would be Hamline's first, and only, second place title as well as Indiana State's first, and only, third place title, making them the first two schools to win, outright, first, second, third, and fourth places in the NAIA tournament (Georgetown (KY) the only other school to have that honor).

It is the last year without the Coach of the Year Award. 1953 is the first tournament to feature a Nazarene University (Pasadena, now Point Loma Nazarene). Perennial staples to the tournament, only a handful of years have been absence of a Nazarene University playing. There were two games in which all-time top performances would be recorded.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1953 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:

Bracket

First RoundSecond RoundElite EightNAIA National SemifinalsNAIA National Championship
          
Eastern Illinois State 84
Morris Harvey 67
Eastern Illinois State 86
Hamline88
Hamline 89
Louisiana Tech 80
Hamline102
TOP TIER
Mississippi Southern 92
Mississippi Southern 106
River Falls State 72
Mississippi Southern94
Loyola (Md.) 83
Loyola Maryland 66
Portland 64
Hamline73
East Texas State 71
East Texas State 57
Adrian 40
East Texas State85
St. Peter's 68
St. Peter's 81
Southwestern State (OK) 60
East Texas State72
TOP TIER
Tennessee A&I State 67
St. Benedict's (KS) 69
North Dakota 66
St. Benedict's 56
Tennessee A&I State79
Tennessee A&I State 89
Geneva 88
Hamline 71
Southwest Missouri State79
SW Missouri State 95
Gonzaga 74
Southwest Missouri State98
Stetson 71
Stetson 75
State College of Iowa 57
Southwest Missouri State78
BOTTOM TIER
Nebraska Wesleyan 74
Nebraska Wesleyan 83
Arnold 62
Nebraska Wesleyan83
Arizona State-Tempe 71
Arizona State-Tempe 81
East Tennessee State 79
Southwest Missouri State84
Indiana State 78
Pasadena 107
Ricks 72
Pasadena 93
Findlay96
Findlay 80NAIA Third Place Game
Adams State 63
Findlay 70 East Texas State 71
BOTTOM TIER
Indiana State106Indiana State74
Arkansas Tech 85
East Carolina 81
Arkansas Tech 81
Indiana State100
Midwestern 76
Indiana State 100

See also

Related Research Articles

The 1981 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. The 44th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. The championship game featured Bethany Nazarene College and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. It was the first time the championship game that went into overtime. Bethany Nazarene edged out Alabama-Huntsville with the final score of 86-85 (OT). 1981 was also the first year the NAIA held a women's national basketball championship tournament. For the second time since 1963, the year the award was established, there was a tie for the leading scorer. Todd Thurman, and George Torres both scored 104 over course of the 1981 tournament. There have been no ties since. And for the first time since the Coach of the Year Award was established, Ken Anderson, won Coach of the Year for the second time. No other coach has won the award twice.

The 1967 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 30th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. There were only 3 upsets in this tournament. The championship game featured St. Benedict's College (Kan.) and Oklahoma Baptist University. The Ravens would defeat the Biso 71-65. The 3rd place game featured Central Washington University defeating Morris Harvey College by a score of 106 to 92. 1967 was the final year of 21 straight tournaments to have a player make it on the all-time leading scorers list. The streak that began with Harold Haskins in 1947 ended with Al Tucker in 1967. This streak had peaked in 1957 when 7 all-timers played in one tournament. It is argued that this marked the end of the "golden age" of NAIA basketball. It was the third tournament won by the number one seed.

The 1947 NAIA National Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 10th annual men's basketball tournament of what is now the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

The 1948 NAIA Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 11th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

The 1949 NAIA Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 12th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

The 1950 NAIA Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 13th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

The 1951 NAIA Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 14th Annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

The 1952 NAIA Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 15th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. In 1952, the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB) changes its name to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)

The 1954 NAIA Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 17th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

The 1955 NAIA Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 18th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

The 1956 NAIA Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 19th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. 1956 would be the last tournament with unseeded teams.

The 1957 NAIA Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 20th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

The 1958 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 21st annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

The 1959 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 22nd annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. The 1959 Tournament is the first tournament to use the 16-seed system, which was used until the 2015.

The 1960 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 23rd annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

The 1961 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 24th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. The championship game featured the 13th seeded Grambling and the third seeded Georgetown. For the first time since seeding, in 1958, the third place game featured the first and second seeds, Northern Michigan, and Westminster.

The 1963 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held March 11–16 at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 26th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. This tournament did not feature any games going into overtime. This was the first tournament to feature a Leading Scorer, and Leading Rebounder awards. They were presented to Mel Gibson, Willis Reed and Lucious Jackson respectively. In the inaugural year of the Leading Scorer award, there was a tie. This would not happen again until 1981.

The 1965 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 28th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. This is the first tournament since 1947 tournament to feature four new teams to the NAIA Semifinals.. It was the longest gap up until it was eclipsed by the gap between 1969-2001 which featured 1 or more repeating semi-finalist each year. It was the second time the number one seed has won the tournament.

The 1966 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 29th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. This tournament featured the game with the most points scored. Al Tucker received the MVP award for the second time this year.

The 1970 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 33rd annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.

References

  1. "NAIA.org". Archived from the original on 2009-05-01. Retrieved 2020-05-16.
  2. NAIA Championship History Archived 2008-05-15 at the Wayback Machine