National Title: The Unlikely Tale of the NAIB Tournament

National Title: The Unlikely Tale of the NAIB Tournament

By Danny Stooksbury

This ebook edition was published by Higher Level Publishing at Smashwords

Copyright Danny Stooksbury 2010

ISBN 978-1-4524-4343-0

All rights reserved

No part of the publication may be reproduced in any form without written producer from the publisher

Higher Level Publishing

Bradenton Beach FL, 34216

www.higherlevelpublishing.com

Book cover designed by Danny Stooksbury

CONTENT

FOREWORD

By John McCarthy

FROM THE AUTHOR

By Danny Stooksbury

CHAPTER ONE

Sycamore

CHAPTER TWO

Kansas City Convention

CHAPTER THREE

Open Season

CHAPTER FOUR

Tournament Trend

CHAPTER FIVE

The N.A.I.B.

CHAPTER SIX

Ball of Cinderellas

CHAPTER SEVEN

Over the Rainbow

CHAPTER EIGHT

American Obsession

CHAPTER NINE

Championship Fling

CHAPTER TEN

Casualty of War

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Basketball Rations

CHAPTER TWELVE

New Heights

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Back Breaking

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Barrier Busters

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Basketball City

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Dreamer of Dreams

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The Future

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Knights of the Court

CHAPTER NINETEEN

All Seasons

SOURCE MATERIALS

FOREWORD

In National Title, Danny Stooksbury has put together the most detailed and comprehensive history of the early years of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics’ men’s basketball tournament that I have ever seen. This book has tremendous history and great details from the beginnings of America’s most historic collegiate tournament, the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship. This is a thoroughly researched book, and Mr. Stooksbury incorporates many archived sources that tell a compelling story from many angles. Beginning in 1937 as the brainchild of Emil Liston, Dr. James Naismith and Kansas City business leaders, the tournament is the longest-running collegiate national championship of any sport in this country.

This book helps to chronicle a genuine piece of American history, and details events that cross boundaries from sports into society as a whole. From Liston and Dr. James Naismith, to the tournament’s first star, Milton Milky Phelps to Coach John Wooden and Clarence Walker, this book tells their stories. Beyond the big names, Mr. Stooksbury gives stories through the reports of the local and national newspapers of the day, along with memos and letters written by Liston, Dr. Naismith and Al Duer. He then sprinkles in modern perspective.

It was through Liston’s sheer will, and with the help of many Kansas City citizens and business leaders, along with many coaches, that the tournament was created — and that it survived and now thrives. This book becomes a testament that it was Liston who could and should be credited as the father of the NAIA. His determination and focus drove the creation of this tournament. While there were many legitimate obstacles, Liston was a well-respected workhorse who drove through or around anything that may have stood in the way of the progress of the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (now the NAIA). From his vision — and unbelievable effort — the dream became a reality as he created the first truly national collegiate basketball championship.

Today, as we approach the 75th anniversary of the tournament, Liston’s dream lives on and has truly stood the test of time. The faces have changed at the NAIA and on the campuses of member schools throughout the country. Yet, the NAIA Tournament plays on – and on and on. As was the case during Liston’s years, 32 teams from around the country still gather in downtown Kansas City to compete at Municipal Auditorium for the right to be called a national champion.

From a personal perspective, National Title has been a tremendous education for me, and a reminder of how and why this tournament is so very important to generations of Americans. Basketball in the Heartland, played from morning until late night (and often early morning), day after day, to determine a national champion. 32 teams. 31 games. One week. One national champion. College basketball’s toughest tournament.

The modern NAIA Tournament goes far beyond a basketball championship. It’s genuinely a part of people’s lives. Each March, basketball purists dedicate a week of their calendars to making the trek to Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City. Over more than 60-years, Buck and Betty Farmer have developed a shrine to the NAIA tournament in their Kansas City home, complete with autographed basketballs, photographs, newspaper articles, plaques and various pieces of memorabilia. The NAIA Tournament has become a part of their lives. The same goes for Judge Jack Gant. And Larry Lady. And Phil and Mary Pattison. And Roy Light. And Dan Liston. And on and on. New generations have now made the NAIA Tournament a part of their annual tradition. Each March, when the weather is unpredictable in Kansas City, there’s a warm place in Municipal Auditorium for basketball junkies. And, in the heart of the fans, there’s an even warmer place reserved for the NAIA Tournament.

Mr. Stooksbury has provided the most detailed, historical account of the nation’s longest-running collegiate national championship of any sport. For this, fans of history and basketball should be thankful and commend Danny Stooksbury for writing this book and preserving the history of one of America’s finest basketball traditions — the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship.

As we begin to prepare for the 75th anniversary of the event, Liston’s dream lives on. And with National Title, his remarkable story can be passed to future generations.

John McCarthy

Tournament Director

NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball

FROM THE AUTHOR

Fans of college athletics recognize the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) for creating postseason opportunities for small and parochial institutions. However, the NAIA most notably defines its purpose with an uncompromising dedication to the education and maturation of student-athletes.

Today, the NAIA sponsors 23 national championship events on approximately 1/250th of the NCAA’s annual budget. However, the NAIA began with the creation of a single national championship — basketball — and a budget of $0. National Title: The Unlikely Tale of the NAIB Tournament is a compilation of available resources related to the creation and development of the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball, precursor to the NAIA. The primary purpose of the book is to create a resource for the preservation of one of college athletics’ most unlikely and inspirational success stories.

Over the last 75 years, many of the NAIB’s artifacts have been lost or destroyed, and nearly all of the men present during the creation of the association have since past. As a result, there are sections of National Title that may lack the desired detail due to the scarcity archived information. However, through the NAIA’s archives, newspaper reports and preserved communications, the remarkable story of the NAIB emerges.

During the process of crafting this book, I learned a great deal about the sacrifice and dedication many men and women have demonstrated to establish an association that relentlessly puts education ahead of financial or other personal gain. To the men and women who work tirelessly at the NAIA headquarters in downtown Kansas City, as well as the many coaches and athletic officials at NAIA institutions across the country, I offer to you my respect and admiration.

Danny Stooksbury

Author National Title

CHAPTER ONE

SYCAMORE

AN AMERICAN TALE

Emil Smith Liston died on Oct. 26, 1949, as the result of a sudden cardiac arrest in the living room of his home in Baldwin, Kan. Liston, or Big Liz as he was affectionately known in the sports world, had a national reputation for his passion for college athletics and his big heart. Liston’s life was a one-of-a-kind American success story illustrating the power of perseverance and the virtue of standing up for the little guy.

Big Liz was a loved and respected member of the basketball fraternity that helped usher the growth of the sport from YMCA gymnasiums to some of the largest arenas in America. Many of those men collaborated among the college ranks in and around Kansas City. F.C. Phog Allen, Henry Iba, and Dr. James Naismith, to name a few. But while these three names have been anointed iconic status in basketball history, Liston’s has all too often slipped through the cracks of our collective memory. Liston, an unparalleled marketing genius, never sought acclaim or national prominence for himself. He spent nearly his entire life within 100 miles of Kansas City. Despite numerous opportunities to leave for larger universities, Liston served more than 25 years as an educator in the sticks of Baldwin, Kan., at Baker University.

Liston was an unyielding Methodist. He, like Dr. Naismith, believed an educator can impact the lives of young people in a way that could never be duplicated through the teaching of athletics. Liston leaned upon the principles of his faith in everything he did, and passed those traits on to the boys he coached. He, with influence from some of the brightest minds in American athletics, used an emphasis on strong morals to give sports fans something they never had before, a national college basketball tournament. Big Liz made Kansas City, Mo. the setting for the first college basketball national championship with little more than determination and a lot of postage stamps.

Liston founded the National Intercollegiate Basketball Championship Tournament to provide colleges with a national event that would further the progress of Dr. Naismith’s game. One that would not discriminate based on an institution’s size or financial status. Yet his leadership and ideology resulted in the creation of a national organization that would eventually be asked to oversee the governance of national championships in nearly every college sport. In just more than a decade, the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (later the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) grew its membership well beyond that of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to become the largest organization in all of college athletics.

Unfortunately, Liston didn’t get the opportunity to see his association’s full ascension. In the week following Liston’s death, Kansas City Star sports editor C. E. McBride used his public forum to pay tribute to the local kid that grew up to transform Kansas City into the capital of college basketball. In his column, McBride recalled Liston as a man whose hard work and big dreams made him a transformative figure while maintaining his down-home nature.

McBride wrote:

Another friend through a long stretch of years has gone into that realm from whose bourn no traveler returns. Emil Smith Liston — Big Liz — whose recent death shocked friends in this and every other college sector of the nation, was a great and powerful man in college athletic circles. His guidance of N.A.I.B. basketball into a nation-wide tournament made him a national figure. In this reporter’s heart there is a little spot sealed off forever in memory of the big guy.

McBride recalled how Liston got the nickname Sycamore. According to McBride, he didn’t know what Liston’s middle initial (S.) stood for, but he likened Liston’s tall and straight stature to that of a sycamore tree. Liston liked the nickname so much he adopted it. McBride reminisced about the way Liston would call him laughing and saying, This is Sycamore. In retrospect, it was a fitting nickname for Liston, not only because of his height, but because it reflected his strong roots. Like a sycamore tree, Liston’s seedling — the NAIB Tournament — grew, branched out and proved it could weather any storm. Over the past 70 years, his tournament and the association it spawned have affected millions of college students, athletes, coaches and fans across America.

A COUNTRY BOY

Liston was a product of the small-town lifestyle. On Aug. 21, 1890, he was born near Stockton, Mo., but he was raised in Baldwin, Kan. with his brother Virdon and his sister Floy. Liston’s father, George, was the type of rural doctor that treated everything. Earache, headache, back pain, heart trouble. Day or night, Dr. Liston had the prescription. The people of Baldwin depended on him, and George Liston became deeply rooted in the small town’s community.

George Liston hoped his son Emil would follow in his practice. He stressed a keen work ethic with a heightened emphasis on education. Emil spent most of his childhood believing his future was in medicine, as well. However, his ideas on the future began to change during his late teen years. Liston was an outstanding athlete at Baker Academy, but his appreciation for competition reached a new level while attending Baker University from the fall of 1909 to the spring of 1913. In addition to earning 11 athletic letters in football, basketball, baseball and soccer, Liston also got his first crack at coaching. Baldwin High School allowed Liston the opportunity to mentor its football and basketball teams. Despite a full course load while participating in four collegiate sports, Liston guided the Baldwin football program to the Kansas state championship in 1912. By his graduation in June of 1913, Liston was sure his future was in athletics, not medicine.

But Liston still had a choice to make. His athletic prowess gave him a good shot at playing professional baseball. Liston was a pitcher with an overpowering fastball and a complementary poise at the plate. However, he felt drawn to teaching and accepted a position as the Physical Education instructor at Fort Scott High School in Fort Scott, Kan. after graduation. He was at Fort Scott for just two academic years. Liston taught at three different small colleges over the next three years. Meanwhile, Liston continued to pitch for regional teams in the summer, but he became more and more certain that he would be happier with a whistle than a ball. In the summer of 1916, Liston gave up baseball. It marked the turning point in his life. He was no longer an athlete, he was an instructor.

Shortly before his death, Liston explained his decision to teach to a reporter with the KC Star. I had a choice of being a doctor, baseball pitcher or a coach, Liston said. My folks wanted me to be a doctor, but I cast my lot with coaching and have never regretted it. The pay might not be as great, but there has been real compensation in developing young men.

Liston was hired to coach and teach at his alma mater, Baker University, in 1919. Eight years later, he began taking summer classes at Harvard University. Liston obtained his Master’s Degree in Physical Education from Harvard in the summer of 1930.

AN EDUCATION IN CONCRETE

When Emil Liston was named athletics director at Baker University shortly after the signing of the armistice of World War I, athletics were in a sorry state and the athletic facilities were about as attractive as some of the battle-scarred fields of Europe. Baker was essentially hosting football and track in the middle of a six-acre pasture donated to the university by A. B. Cavaness — a famous poet and member of Baker’s first graduating class in 1866. Liston — while coaching football, basketball and baseball — set out to bring the school’s athletic programs