The History of March Madness

Interestingly enough, the term March Madness has been around to describe basketball tournaments since 1939. However, it initially described the Illinois State High School tournament, not the NCAA tournament. Over the years, it has become associated with the NCAA tournament to the point where it overshadows its true roots.

Illinois Roots

Peoria HS, 1908 State Champs

“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.

The term March Madness is actually a registered trademark held jointly by the NCAA and the Illinois High School Association. Illinois, and the rest of the world, can thank a man named H.V. Porter for coining the term.

“Porter was born in Manito, Illinois and grew up on a farm near Washington, (Illinois). Graduating from Illinois State Normal University, Porter taught at high schools in Mount Zion, Keithsburg, and Delavan. From 1919 to 1928 he served as principal of Athens High School. But it wasn’t until 1928, when Porter was hired as assistant manager of the Illinois High School Association that his career blossomed.”

“A gifted writer, Porter published an essay named March Madness in 1939 and in 1942 used the phrase in a poem, Basketball Ides of March. Through the years, the use of March Madness picked up steam, especially in Illinois. During this period the term was used almost exclusively to the state high school tournament. In 1977 the IHSA published a book about its tournament titled March Madness.”

“Becoming a member of several influential committees including the National Basketball Committee, Porter helped develop the fan-shaped backboard that was used at the high school level from the 1930s through the 1990s and the molded basketball that, free of the laces that made dribbling difficult, revolutionized the game. Porter also spearheaded the effort to write basketball and football rule books specifically for high school competition.”

Porter’s Words

Most importantly, though, Porter became editor of the IHSA’s magazine. Nearly every magazine contained an article or essay from the editor himself. The Illinois state high school basketball tournament grew to become a statewide icon in the 1930′s. It was in 1939 when Porter wrote an affectionate essay in the IHSA’s magazine titled “March Madness“. The term itself is thought to have come from the old English saying, ‘Mad as a March Hare.’ The essay’s punctual line was,

“When the March madness is on him, midnight jaunts of a hundred miles on successive nights make him even more alert the next day.”

After that Illinois position, Porter left the IHSA to become the executive secretary of the National Federation of State High School Associations. In 1942 he wrote one last literary contribution to the IHSA’s magazine, a poem titled “Basketball Ides of March“. The poem, below, is truly inspirational:

Basketball Ides of March

The gym lights gleam like a beacon beam
And a million motors hum
In a good will flight on a Friday night;
For basketball beckons, “Come!”
A sharp-shooting mite is king tonight.
The Madness of March is running.
The winged feet fly, the ball sails high
And field goal hunters are gunning.

The colors clash as silk suits flash
And race on a shimmering floor.
Repressions die, and partisans vie
In a goal acclaiming roar.
On a Championship Trail toward a holy grail,
All fans are birds of a feather.
It’s fiesta night and cares lie light
When the air is full of leather.

Since time began, the instincts of man
Prove cave and current men kin.
On tournament night the sage and the wight
Are relatives under the skin.
It’s festival time, sans reason or rhyme
But with nation-wide appeal.
In a cyclone of hate, our ship of state
Rides high on an even keel.

With war nerves tense, the final defense
Is the courage, strength and will
In a million lives where freedom thrives
And liberty lingers still.
Now eagles fly and heroes die
Beneath some foreign arch
Let their sons tread where hate is dead
In a happy Madness of March.

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 98 students, which won the tournament in 1952.

It wasn’t until the early 1980′s that fans of NCAA basketball began to use the term to describe the playoff series that takes place at the college/university level. Most historians would agree that March Madness was popularized in the college arena by Brent Musburger, a CBS sportscaster who had worked in Chicago for many years prior to joining CBS.