1947 NAIA basketball tournament
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.[1]
| Teams | 32 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finals site | Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri | ||||
| Champions | Marshall (1st title, 1st title game, 1st Fab Four) | ||||
| Runner-up | Mankato State (1st title game, 1st Fab Four) | ||||
| Semifinalists |
| ||||
| Chuck Taylor MVP | Irvin Leifer (Eastern Washington) | ||||
| |||||
It would be the first time since 1945 the NAIA Semifinalist would feature four new teams. Becoming the 3rd tournament to do so, and a feat that would not be repeated until 1965.
The championship game featured Marshall defeating Mankato State, 73–59. The third place game featured Arizona State-Flagstaff, now Northern Arizona, defeating Emporia State, 47–38.
1947 kicked off the "golden age" of NAIA National Tournaments. Harold Haskins became the first of 16 all-time leading scorers. Coach John Wooden withdrew Indiana State from the tournament because the NAIB would not allow black student-athlete Clarence Walker to play.[2] The NAIB changed in time for Walker to play for Indiana in the 1948 tournament.
Awards and honors
Many of the records set by the 1947 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:
- Leading scorer est. 1963
- Leading rebounder est. 1963
- Charles Stevenson Hustle Award est. 1958
- Coach of the Year est. 1954
- Player of the Year est. 1994
- Top single-game scoring performances: 2nd by Nate DeLong, Wisconsin-River Falls vs. Marshall (W.Va.). Delong scored 22 field goals had 12 free throws totaling 56 points.
- All-time scoring leader; first appearance: Harold Haskins, 12th, Hamline (Minn.) (1947,48,49,50), 14 games, 104 field goals, 72 free throws, 280 total points, 20.0 average per game.[3]
Bracket
| First round March 11, 1947 | Second round March 12, 1947 | Elite Eight | NAIA national semifinals | NAIA national championship | |||||||||||||||
| Beloit | 75 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Arkansas State | 60 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Beloit | 63 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Texas Wesleyan | 53 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Texas Wesleyan | 84 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Linfield | 50 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Beloit | 52 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TOP TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Emporia State | 55 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Canterbury (IN) | 68 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Western Carolina | 55 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Canterbury | 48 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Emporia State | 60 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Emporia State | 78 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Lawrence Tech | 54 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Emporia State | 55 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Marshall | 56* | ||||||||||||||||||
| Dakota Wesleyan | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southern Illinois | 39 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Dakota Wesleyan | 48 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Washington State | 62 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Washington State | 51 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Culver–Stockton | 48 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Washington State | 48 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TOP TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Marshall | 56 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hamline | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||
| New Mexico | 49 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hamline | 54 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Marshall | 55 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Marshall | 113 | ||||||||||||||||||
| River Falls State | 80 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Marshall | 73 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mankato State | 59 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Whittier | 70 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Northwestern State (LA) | 56 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Whittier | 49 | ||||||||||||||||||
| NE Missouri State | 51 | ||||||||||||||||||
| NE Missouri State | 76 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Delta State | 58 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Arizona State-Flagstaff | 59 | ||||||||||||||||||
| BOTTOM TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| NE Missouri State | 55 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Arizona State-Flagstaff | 49 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Youngstown | 45* | ||||||||||||||||||
| Arizona State-Flagstaff | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Houston | 42*** | ||||||||||||||||||
| Houston | 60 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Montana State | 58 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Arizona State-Flagstaff | 46 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mankato State | 52 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hastings | 53 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Loyola Maryland | 44 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hastings | 42 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southeastern State | 48 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southeastern State (OK) | 53 | NAIA third-place game | |||||||||||||||||
| Eastern Illinois State | 42 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Southeastern State | 44 | Arizona State-Flagstaff | 47 | ||||||||||||||||
| BOTTOM TIER | |||||||||||||||||||
| Mankato State | 50 | Emporia State | 38 | ||||||||||||||||
| Mankato State | 71 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Loras | 63 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mankato State | 65 | ||||||||||||||||||
| DePauw | 54 | ||||||||||||||||||
| DePauw | 82 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Oglethorpe | 30 | ||||||||||||||||||
- * denotes overtime.
References
- "NAIA.org". Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
- Keefer, Zak (March 16, 2017). "Indiana basketball player broke racial barrier, changed game forever". Indianapolis Star. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
- NAIA Championship History Archived 2008-05-15 at the Wayback Machine