March Madness (1939, 1944)

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   "March Madness" is a sports term that supposedly started in the high
schools of the Midwest.  I thought it would be a good term to check on THE SPORTING
NEWS and Ancestry ("March Madness" + "basketball") databases.


(GOOGLE)
http://www.marchmadness.org/exp/history.htm
A Brief History of March Madness

Every year, as winter wanes, a curious ailment spreads across the country.
The thump of basketballs, the squeak of sneakers, and the roar of the crowd are
sure signals that basketball fever is with us. It's a condition called "March
Madness," and it afflicts millions of people with no known cure. Where did
this malady originate?

A Tradition is Born

"March Madness" was born in Illinois. The annual tournament of high school
boys basketball teams, sponsored by the Illinois High School Association, grew
from a small invitational affair in 1908 to a statewide institution with over
900 schools competing by the late 1930's. A field of teams known as the "Sweet
Sixteen" routinely drew sellout crowds to the University of Illinois' Huff
Gymnasium. In a time before television, before the college game became popular
with the average fan, before professional leagues had established a foothold in
the nation's large cities, basketball fever had already reached epidemic
proportions in the Land of Lincoln.

Giving It a Name

Henry V. Porter, assistant executive secretary of the Illinois High School
Association, was so impressed by the phenomenon that he wrote an essay to
commemorate it. Entitled "March Madness," it first appeared in the Illinois
Interscholastic, the IHSA's magazine, in 1939. The term struck a chord with
newspapermen, who used it throughout their pages. During the tournament's "Golden Era"
of the 1940's and 1950's, "March Madness" became the popular name of the event.
It was an era of some of Illinois' most legendary teams, including the
undefeated 1944 Taylorville squad and Mt. Vernon's unstoppable back-to-back
champions of 1949 and 1950. But the one champion remembered more than any other is
tiny Hebron, a school of only 99 students, which won the tournament in 1952.

Making It Official

The IHSA tournaments continued to grow and develop. In 1963, the tournament
moved to the huge new Assembly Hall on the campus of the University of Illinois
and fans witnessed the most famous finish in history, when Chicago Carver
beat Centralia on a last-second shot by a substitute named Anthony Smedley.
"March Madness" grew as well. Beginning in 1973, the IHSA began using the term
officially in its programs and on its merchandise. In 1977, the organization
enlisted veteran Chicago sportswriter and Big Ten basketball referee Jim Enright to
write the official history of the boys basketball tournament. The result was
March Madness: The Story of High School Basketball in Illinois. As media
technology advanced, the IHSA and KOST Broadcast Sales of Chicago produced March
Madness: The Official Video History of the IHSA Basketball Tournament in 1989.
Both the book and video were sold nationwide. During this period, the Illinois
High School Association received trademark status for the term "March Madness"
and registered the trademark "America's Original March Madness." The spirit
of March Madness has subsequently spread from coast to coast, as other
companies and organizations, including state high school associations and
manufacturers, have been licensed by the IHSA to use these trademarks.


(ANCESTRY)
   22 March 1935, CHRONICLE-TELEGRAM (Elyria, Ohio), pg.5, col. 7 ad:
Spring Fever?  March Madness?
Our cure-all is a gay
HANKIE

   16 March 1944, MARION STAR (Marion, Ohio), pg. 22, col. 1:
_High School Cage Teams Renew_
_Battle for State Title Tonight_
By The Associated Press
   COLUMBUS, March 16--"March madness," a disease which seems to go hand in
hand with the high school basketball tournament, will start toward its peak in
Ohio tonight.
   The principal "sufferers" tonight will be centered at Youngstown...

   19 March 1945, ZANESVILLE SIGNAL (Zanesville, Ohio), pg. 9, col. 2:
   COLUMBUS, O.--(AP)--The cream of Ohioh's high school basketball
crop--eight teams which have won a total of 183 games this season and lost only
12--headed today for the last lap of the annual march madness which will end Saturday
night with the crowning of the 1945 state Class A and B champions.

   1 March 1946, TIMES-RECORDER (Zanesville, Ohio), pg.3B, col. 4:
   March madness arrived early this year as basketball fans have been
streaming the auditorium over the past two weeks tosee the county and sectional
tournaments in the City auditorium.

   14 March 1947, DIXON EVENING TELEGRAPH (Dixon, Illinois), pg. 7, col. 4:
   _"MARCH MADNESS"_--March Madness they call it...state championship
tournament time in other words.
   And the "madness" isn't just confined to Illinois.  Forty-six states
choose champions with only California and New York abstaining.  But all 48 states
have some kind of championship eliminations.  Some have two to four classes of
meets, according to the enrollments of the schools.
   Fifteen states lump all schools together in one furious title race,
Illinois for instance, retaininf the exciting though faint possibility that some
little David may knock off a Goliath in a stunning upset.
   These Davids are the darlings of the neutral fans...fans whose favorites
were eliminated early in the chase.  Such tiny communities as Reedsville, Wis.,
Lyn, Minn., Farmer, Ohio, Diagonal, La., and our own Dundee have brought
enduring fame to their towns through the heroic featts of their high school
cagers.
   March Madness...truly an apt nom de plume!


  14 March 1962, SPORTING NEWS, pg. 40, col. 3:
  MARCH MADNESS: Nearly everybody talks or writes about basketball:...
(Written from Las Vegas, Nevada--ed.)

  14 January 1967, SPORTING NEWS, pg. 12, col. 3:
  Did the December destruction set the stage for the March madness commonly
called the National Intercollegiate Basketball Tournament?
(Written from Chicago, Illinois--ed.)

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
High-school cage fervor grabs Midwest
By Dick Cooper Written for The Christian Science Monitor. Christian Science
Monitor (1908-Current file). Boston, Mass.: Mar 5, 1966. p. 10 (1 page):
  For schools involved, the final stages produce moments of undiluted ecstacy
and devastation.  "March Madness," they call it in Illinois.  The phenomenon
is similar in Indiana and neighboring states.

March madness
By Joseph C. Harsch. Christian Science Monitor (1908-Current file). Boston,
Mass.: Mar 5, 1970. p. 20 (1 page)


   What about "the Big Dance"?

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
Ice Tank
New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Mar 13, 1987. p. D23 (1
page)
_Duos at the Big Dance_

  12 November 1990. SPORTING NEWS, pg. 23, col. 1:
_College Football_
_Hawkeyes Step Closer_
_To Big Ten's Big Dance_