1937 NAIA basketball tournament

The 1937 NAIA men's basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The first annual National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) basketball tournament featured eight teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1] In 1938, it would expand to its current size of 32 teams.

1937 (1937) NAIA men's basketball tournament
Teams8
Finals siteMunicipal Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
ChampionsCentral Missouri State (1st title, 1st title game,
1st Fab Four)
Runner-upMorningside (Iowa) (1st title game,
1st Fab Four)
Semifinalists
NAIA men's tournaments
1938»

This tournament is unique because it was started two years prior to the NCAA men's tournament and one year before the National Invitation Tournament, and all the teams play over a series of six days instead of several weekends. The compactness of the tournament has given it the nickname "college basketball's toughest tournament".

It began when Dr. James Naismith, Emil S. Liston, Frank Cramer, and local leaders formed the National College Basketball Tournament, which was staged at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The goal of the tournament was to establish a forum for small colleges and universities to determine a national basketball champion.[2]

The first championship game featured Central Missouri State University defeating Morningside College (Iowa) 35–24. It is also the lowest scoring championship game in tournament history.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1937 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:

  • Leading scorer est. 1963
  • Leading rebounder est. 1963
  • Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player est. 1939
  • Charles Stevenson Hustle Award est. 1958
  • Coach of the Year est. 1954
  • Player of the Year est. 1994[3]

Bracket
First round Semifinals NAIA national championship
      
Southwestern (KS) 54
Dakota Wesleyan 26
Southwestern (KS) 24
Central Missouri State 38
Luther 38
Central Missouri State 56
Central Missouri State 35
Morningside (Iowa) 24
Arkansas State Teachers 34
St. Benedict (Kan.) 33
Arkansas State Teachers 33 NAIA Third Place
Moringside 40
Baker (Kan.) 21 Southwestern (Kan.) 46
Morningside (Iowa) 29 Arkansas State Teachers 38

The third place game featured the losing teams from the national semifinals to determine 3rd and 4th places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.

References
  1. NAIA.org
  2. NAIA history Archived November 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. NAIA Results
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