March Madness...where did it come from?

Have you ever wondered where the “March Madness” term for the NCAA Basketball Tournament came from? Amazingly enough, March Madness has its roots in the Illinois High School Association and in the words of a gifted writer by the name of H. V. Porter. Porter was an official with the IHSA and later a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the first person to use March Madness to describe a basketball tournament in an essay entitled March Madness in 1939 and he used it again in a poem in 1942 titled, Basketball Ides of March. This talented writer coined the term that would later be fought over in court battles to become the trademark of both the IHSA and NCAA Championship Tournaments.
The NCAA Men’s’ Division I Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring during the month of March and into April. It features 64/65 college basketball teams that include both conference champions and at-large selections. The tournament is organized by the NCAA and was created in 1939 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The tournament was the brainchild of the Kansas Coach Phog Allen. The tournament is known as March Madness or the Big Dance and has become one of the nations’ most prominent sporting events. We will soon find out this year’s 2010 champions of the Big Dance as March Madness winds down to the Final Four weekend: Butler, Michigan St., West VA, and Duke. Who are you picking for this year’s winner? Email us your pick at: goldkey@centurylink.net.