1953 NAIA men's basketball tournament
Season195253
Teams32
Finals siteMunicipal Auditorium
Kansas City, Missouri
ChampionsSouthwest Missouri State (2nd title, 2nd title game,
2nd Final Four)
Runner-upHamline (4th title game,
6th Final Four)
Semifinalists
MVPJerry Anderson (Southwest Missouri State)
NAIA men's basketball tournament
«1952 1954»

The 1953 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 16th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1]

The championship game would feature Southwest Missouri State, now Missouri State University, and Hamline (10th appearance in tournament). The Bears were coached by Bob Vanatta. The championship game was the first time that these two teams had ever met in the tournament. The Bears would defeat the Pipers to win another national championship, 79–71.

It was the first time since 1937 and 1938, the first two years of the tournament, that the same team would win the national championship title. (The first two tournaments were also won by a Missouri university, Central Missouri State.)

Playing for third place were Indiana State and East Texas State, now Texas A&M University–Commerce. It was the first time that these two teams had played each other. The Sycamores defeated the Lions by a score of 74 to 71.

The 1953 tournament would be Hamline's first, and only, second place title as well as Indiana State's first, and only, third place title, making them the first two schools to win, outright, first, second, third, and fourth places in the NAIA tournament (Georgetown (KY) the only other school to have that honor).

It is the last year without the Coach of the Year Award. 1953 is the first tournament to feature a Nazarene University (Pasadena, now Point Loma Nazarene). Perennial staples to the tournament, only a handful of years have been absence of a Nazarene University playing. There were two games in which all-time top performances would be recorded.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1953 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:

  • Leading Scorer Award est. 1963
  • Leading Rebounder Award est. 1963
  • Charles Stevenson Hustle Award est. 1958
  • Coach of the Year est. 1954
  • Player of the Year est. 1994
  • Top single-game performances: 3rd Harold Wolfe of Findlay (Ohio) playing against Pasadena (Calif.) scored 25 field goals and 4 free throws totaling 54 points for one game. Findlay won the game.
  • Top single-game performances: 22nd Pete Kinkead of Geneva (Pa.) playing against Tennessee State, scored 14 field goals and 15 free throws totaling 43 points for one game. Geneva did not win the game.
  • All-time scoring leader; first appearance: James Miller, 18th, East Texas State (1953,54,55), 13 games, 103 field goals, 40 free throws, totaling 246 points, 18.9 average per game.
  • All-time scoring leader; second appearance: E.C. O’Neal, 9th, Arkansas Tech (1952,53,54,55), 13 games, 122 field goals, 43 free throws, totaling 287 points, 22.1 average per game.
  • All-time scoring leaders; final appearance: Lloyd Thorgaard, 10th, Hamline (Minn.) (1950,51,52,53), 15 games, 111 field goals, 61 free throws, 283 total points, 18.9 average per game; James Fritsche, 14th, Hamline (Minn.) (1950,51,52,53), 15 games, 113 field goals, 46 free throws, 272 total points, 18.1 average per game.[2]

Bracket

First round Second round Elite Eight NAIA national semifinals NAIA national championship
          
Eastern Illinois State 84
Morris Harvey 67
Eastern Illinois State 86
Hamline 88
Hamline 89
Louisiana Tech 80
Hamline 102
TOP TIER
Mississippi Southern 92
Mississippi Southern 106
River Falls State 72
Mississippi Southern 94
Loyola (Md.) 83
Loyola Maryland 66
Portland 64
Hamline 73
East Texas State 71
East Texas State 57
Adrian 40
East Texas State 85
St. Peter's 68
St. Peter's 81
Southwestern State (OK) 60
East Texas State 72
TOP TIER
Tennessee A&I State 67
St. Benedict's (KS) 69
North Dakota 66
St. Benedict's 56
Tennessee A&I State 79
Tennessee A&I State 89
Geneva 88
Hamline 71
Southwest Missouri State 79
SW Missouri State 95
Gonzaga 74
Southwest Missouri State 98
Stetson 71
Stetson 75
State College of Iowa 57
Southwest Missouri State 78
BOTTOM TIER
Nebraska Wesleyan 74
Nebraska Wesleyan 83
Arnold 62
Nebraska Wesleyan 83
Arizona State-Tempe 71
Arizona State-Tempe 81
East Tennessee State 79
Southwest Missouri State 84
Indiana State 78
Pasadena 107
Ricks 72
Pasadena 93
Findlay 96
Findlay 80 NAIA third-place game
Adams State 63
Findlay 70 East Texas State 71
BOTTOM TIER
Indiana State 106 Indiana State 74
Arkansas Tech 85
East Carolina 81
Arkansas Tech 81
Indiana State 100
Midwestern 76
Indiana State 100

See also

References

  1. "NAIA.org". Archived from the original on May 1, 2009. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  2. NAIA Championship History Archived 2008-05-15 at the Wayback Machine
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