Part III: The NCAA Tournament Crowns the National Champion 1955-1959
The NIT and the NCAA Tournament – Infoplease - February 11, 2017
By the time San Francisco, with Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, was putting together back-to-back national titles in 1955–56, the NCAA tournament had overtaken the NIT as the true playoff for the National Championship. By then, the NCAAs had automatic berths for all major conference champions and had expanded from eight to 25 teams while the NIT was still inviting only 12 teams.
The 1954-55 College Basketball Season
NCAA Rule Change for 1954–55 Season • The one-and-one free throw is introduced allowing a player to take a second free throw if the first one is made.
NCAA Rule Change for 1954–55 Season • Games return to two 20-minute halves.
February 21, 1955 AP Men's Top 20 Basketball Poll
1. San Francisco
2. Kentucky
3. La Salle
4. Duquesne
5. Marquette
6. NC State
7. Minnesota
8. Utah
9. UCLA
10. George Washington
11. Dayton
Dayton Flyers 2019-20 Media Guide – University of Dayton – November 5, 2019 [Page 96: The 1954-55 Dayton Flyers Season]
February 26, 1955 - #11 Dayton 67, #4 Duquesne 58 (Attendance at UD Fieldhouse: 5,808)
February 26, 1955 - Wilt Chamberlain commited to Coach Tom Blackburn and the Dayton Flyers.
Who was the most influential person in the storied University of Dayton Basketball Program? – UDPride Message Board – December 17, 2014
In Post # 19 Alberto Strasse wrote: ‘Blackburn and Wilt’: Ritter Collett wrote about what happened when Wilt Chamberlain visited Dayton [on February 25, 1955]. This story is important to me because I was in the Fieldhouse as a very young boy when Chamberlain was introduced to the crowd. The Flyers were playing the vaunted Duquesne Dukes – then a top 10 team coached by Doody Moore and featuring Sihugo Green and the Rickets brothers. They were ALL staying at the Biltmore hotel in Downtown Dayton.
Tom Blackburn, according to Collett, did not want Wilt to be seen by Coach Moore from Duquesne. He ordered Wilt to be served his meals in his room using room service. Blackburn was afraid that the coach with the higher rated team would steal his recruit.
In Post # 22 Viperstick wrote: According to Hal McCoy, Wilt Chamberlain did commit to UD, before committing to KU:
Hal McCoy wrote:
If the self-anointed national experts did any research, any homework, they would know that Wilt Chamberlain committed to UD but at the last moment he switched to the University of Kansas.In Post # 23 Lifelong Flyer Fan wrote: I found it. Bucky Albers story when Wilt died in 1999. It was the other schools recruiting him that told him what "being able to order anything from room service and not have to pay for it" meant. He actually said he left Dayton with a good impression and said the only game he remembered from his recruitment was the Dayton vs. Duquesne game.
1954-55 College Basketball Recap – Infoplease - February 11, 2017
After opening the 1954–55 campaign with two quick wins, San Francisco lost its third game to UCLA (47–40, in Westwood) before running off 21 consecutive victories to finish the regular season first in the AP poll.
Led by guard K.C. Jones and center Bill Russell, the Dons edged PCC champ Oregon State, 57–56, in the West Regional final at Corvallis, Ore., then went on to meet Tom Gola and defending champion La Salle in the NCAA Championship game in Kansas City. In a surprise move, USF coach Phil Woolpert assigned the 6-1 Jones to cover the 6-7 Gola and K.C. outscored UPI's first Player of the Year, 24–16. Russell, meanwhile, scored 23 and pulled down 25 rebounds as the Dons beat the third-ranked Explorers easily, 77–63, to end the year at 28–1.
No.2 Kentucky entered the NCAA tournament at 22–2, but was an eight point loser to Marquette in the semifinals of the East Regional.
In March, 1955, the President of the University of San Francisco had a very difficult choice to make – which post-season tournament invitation should the Dons basketball team accept?
From its inception in 1937, the winner of the National Invitational Tournament had always been considered to be college basketball’s National Champions - by sports writers, college basketball fans, and the wider media. In fact, just six years previously, the San Francisco Dons won the 1949 NIT with their thrilling 48-47 win over Loyola Chicago at Madison Square Garden, and were proclaimed basketball’s National Champions. But in March, 1955, the President of USF listened to his AD, basketball Coach Phil Woolpert, students, alumni, fans and benefactors, and chose the favorable geography of the NCAA Tournament over the established prestige of the NIT.
1955 NCAA Tournament West-2 First Round: Cow Palace, San Francisco, California – capacity: 12,953 ==> Distance from USF campus: 8 miles.
1955 NCAA Tournament West-2 Regional: Oregon State Coliseum, Corvallis, Oregon – capacity: 10,000 ==> Distance from USF campus: 575 miles.
1955 NCAA Tournament Final Four: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri - capacity: 7,300 ==> Distance from USF campus: 1,805 miles.
1955 NIT: Madison Square Garden, NYC – capacity: 18,496 ==> Distance from USF campus: 2,909 miles.
1. San Francisco
2. Kentucky • SEC
3. La Salle
4. NC State • ACC
5. Iowa• Big Ten
6. Duquesne
7. Utah==> NCAA Tournament
8. Marquette
9. Dayton
10. Oregon State
20. Saint Louis
Before the first post-season game even tipped off, the NCAA Tournament field had garnered 9 of the AP Top 20 teams, including four teams ranked higher than any teams in the NIT field, which included only three teams in the AP Top 20.
1955 NCAA Basketball Tournament
The 24-team 1955 NCAA Basketball Tournament began on March 8, 1955, and ended with the championship game on March 19 in Kansas City, Missouri. San Francisco, coached by Phil Woolpert, won the national title with a 77–63 victory in the final game over La Salle, coached by Ken Loeffler. Bill Russell of San Francisco was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
East Regional Participants: Canisius, Duke, Iowa, Kentucky, La Salle, Marquette, Memphis State, Miami (OH), Penn State, Princeton, Villanova, West Virginia, Williams
West Regional Participants: Bradley, Colorado, Idaho State, Oklahoma City, Oregon State, San Francisco, Seattle, SMU, Tulsa, Utah, West Texas State
1955 NCAA Tournament Final Four: La Salle 76, Iowa 73 • San Francisco 62, Colorado 50
1955 COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: San Francisco 77, La Salle 63 (Attendance: 7,300
1954-55 San Francisco Dons Schedule & Results • 1954-55 San Francisco Dons Roster and Stats
1955 National Champions San Francisco Dons – University of San Francisco
The 1954–55 San Francisco Dons Basketball Team - Wikipedia
This lengthy article is well worth a read: San Francisco Dons – Fandom/NBA Wiki - 2008
1955 National Invitational Tournament
The twelve-team 1955 National Invitation Tournament was the eighteenth edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.
Eight teams played in the first round, with four teams awarded first-round byes: Duquesne, Dayton, Holy Cross, Cincinnati.
Participants: Cincinnati, Connecticut, Dayton, Duquesne, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Louisville, Manhattan, Niagara, Saint Francis (PA), Saint Louis, Seton Hall.
1955 NIT Semifinal Games: Duquesne 65,
Cincinnati 61 • Dayton 79, Saint Francis (PA) 731955 NIT Final: Duquesne 70, Dayton 58
1954-55 Duquesne Dukes Schedule & Results • 1954-55 Duquesne Dukes Roster and Stats
1954-55 Dayton Flyers Schedule & Results • 1954-55 Dayton Flyers Roster and Stats
50 Years Ago, Sihugo Green and Dick Ricketts Led Duquesne to the NIT Title – Phil Axelrod, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - March 16, 2005
"The NCAA tournament was second-fiddle back then," said Ray Goss, the longtime radio voice of the Dukes who was a freshman at the university in 1955. "We chose the NIT over the NCAA that year," recalled Mickey Winograd, a hard-nosed, 6’-2” junior playmaker on the 1955 team.
The undersized Dukes slayed the giant Dayton Flyers in the NIT championship , 70-58, on March 20, 1955 before a sellout crowd of 18,496 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Duquesne's strengths were Sihugo Green, a 6-3 junior forward with leaping ability that allowed him to guard Dayton's 7-foot Bill Uhl, and 6-7 senior center Dick Ricketts, a graceful big man who could step outside and hit the mid-range jumper.
Green and Ricketts combined to score all 35 of Duquesne's first-half points as the Dukes led the Flyers, 35-30, at intermission. Green finished with 33 points and Dick Ricketts with 23. Dayton's Jack Sallee, who had scored 50 points in two previous NIT games, managed just two against the passionate defense of Mickey Winograd. "I used to guard the other team's top scoring guard. I was a tough little kid ," Winograd said. "We all played tough defense. We had to box out and do anything we could because we were a very small team." Dayton's only offensive threats were Uhl with 25 points and 6-8 Johnny Horan with 20. Dick Ricketts remains Duquesne's all-time leading scorer (1,963 points) and rebounder (1,359).
The 1955 Final AP Poll included 5 Catholic schools in the Top 10 and 6 Catholic schools in the Top 20.
The 1955 NIT included 8 Catholic schools in its 12-team field (67 %).
The 1955 NCAA Tournament included 5 Catholic schools in its 24-team field (21 %).
The 1955 postseason tournaments included 13 Catholic school in a combined field of 36 teams (36 %).
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A Brief Timeline of the 1950s - Jennifer Rosenberg, ThoughtCo.com - Updated March 5, 2020
1955
The good news of 1955: On July 17, Disneyland Park opened, the first of two theme parks built at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, the only theme park designed and built by Walt Disney himself. Entrepreneur businessman Ray Kroc founded a franchise business on a successful restaurant operated by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald, forming what would become McDonald's.
The bad news: 24-year-old actor James Dean died in a car accident on September 20, after making only three movies.
The civil rights movement began with the August 28 murder of Emmett Till, the refusal on December 1 by Rosa Parks to give up her seat on the bus to a white man, and the subsequent Montgomery Bus Boycott. In November, the first retractable seat belts were described in the Journal of the American Medical Association by neurologist C. Hunter Shelden.
1955 American Car Spotters Guide • Top 10 Movies of 1955 • Top 10 Actors/Actresses • 1955 Oscar Winners
The Billboard Top 30 Singles of 1955 • Top 100 Pop Songs in 1955 - Playback.FM Music Links
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September 28 to October 4, 1955 - In the 1955 World Series, the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in seven games to capture their first championship in franchise history. It would be the only Series the Dodgers won while based in Brooklyn, as the team relocated to Los Angeles after the 1957 season.
The 1955-56 College Basketball Season
1955-56 College Basketball Recap – Infoplease - February 11, 2017
Defending national champion San Francisco staked its claim as the best college basketball team ever in 1955–56. The Dons entered the season on a 26–game winning streak and exited with a record 55 in a row by becoming the first undefeated team (29–0) ever to win the NCAA title.
All four of USF's tourney opponents were ranked—No.8 UCLA, No.18 Utah, No.7 SMU, and No.4 Iowa—and the Dons beat them all by at least 11 points. Iowa, the Big Ten champ for the second straight year, came into the NCAA final on a 17–game win streak of its own before losing, 83–71.
USF center Bill Russell might have clinched his second tournament Most Outstanding Player award if Temple's 5-11 Hal Lear hadn't scored 160 point in five games. But the defensive-minded Russell was everybody's Player of the year and established such an intimidating court presence that following the season, the NCAA passed the so-called “Russell-Rule,” extending the foul lane from six to 12 feet.
Rank. Team (First-place votes) • Conference • Record • Points
1. San Francisco (66 First-place votes) 25-0 • 1161
2. NC State (9) •ACC •24-3• 809
3. Dayton (2)•23-3• 786
4. Iowa (8)• Big Ten• 17-5 •755
5. Alabama (27)SEC •21-3• 712
6. Louisville (2)• 23-3• 551
7. SMU (3)• Southwest• 22-2• 450
8. UCLA (1)•21-5• 315
9. Kentucky (2)• SEC• 19-5• 282
10. Illinois •Big Ten• 18-4• 257
14. Holy Cross (1) •22-4• 121
1956 NCAA Basketball Tournament
The twenty-five team 1956 NCAA Basketball Tournament began on March 12, 1956, and ended with the championship game on March 24 on Northwestern University's campus in Evanston, Illinois. This was the first NCAA tournament in which the four regionals were given distinct names, although the concept of four regional winners advancing to a single site for the "Final Four" had been introduced in 1952. San Francisco, coached by Phil Woolpert, won the National Title with an 83–71 victory in the final game over Iowa.
East Regional: The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Midwest Regional: Iowa Field House, Iowa City, Iowa
West Regional: Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas
Far West Regional: Oregon State Coliseum, Corvallis, OregonFinal Four: McGaw Memorial Hall, Evanston, Illinois
East Regional Participants: Canisius, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Holy Cross, Manhattan, NC State, Temple, West Virginia
Midwest Regional Participants: DePaul, Iowa, Kentucky, Marshall, Morehead State, Wayne State (MI)
West Regional Participants: Houston, Kansas State, Memphis State, Oklahoma City, SMU, Texas Tech
Far West Regional Participants: Idaho State, San Francisco, Seattle, UCLA, Utah,
1956 NCAA Tournament Final Four: Iowa 83, Temple 76 • San Francisco 86, SMU 68
1956 COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: San Francisco 83, Iowa 71
The 1955-56 San Francisco Dons Basketball Team - Wikipedia
1955-56 San Francisco Dons Schedule & Results • 1955-56 San Francisco Dons Roster and Stats
The 1955-56 San Francisco Dons - Anderson, Sports Illustrated – July 3, 2006
Fifty years ago Bill Russell and his USF teammates dominated college basketball with defense and forever changed the way the game is played.
1956 National Invitational Tournament
The twelve-team 1956 National Invitation Tournament was the nineteenth edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. In the Final, held in Madison Square Garden, #2 seed Louisville defeated #1 Dayton 93-80.
Nine of the twelve NIT teams represented Catholic schools. Eight teams played in the first round, with four teams awarded first-round byes and seeds: #1 Dayton, #2 Louisville, #3 Saint Joseph's, #4 Niagara. It is worth noting that neither Saint Joseph's nor Niagarawere ranked in the 1956 Final AP Poll .
Participants: Below is a list of the 12 teams selected for the tournament. The top four teams were seeded and received a bye in the first round.
#1 Dayton, #2 Louisville, color=red]#3 Saint Joseph's,[/color] #4 Niagara, Duquesne, Lafayette, Marquette, Oklahoma A&M, St. Francis (NY), Saint Louis, Seton Hall, Xavier.
1956 NIT Semifinal Games: #2 Louisville 89, #3 Saint Joseph's 79 • #1 Dayton 89, St. Francis (NY) 58
1956 NIT Final: #2 Louisville 93, #1 Dayton 80
1955-56 Dayton Flyers Schedule & Results • 1955-56 Dayton Flyers Roster and Stats
The 1956 Final AP Poll included 2 Catholic schools in the Top 10 and 3 Catholic schools in the Top 20.
The 1956 NIT included 9 Catholic schools in its 12-team field (75 %).
The 1956 NCAA Tournament included 6 Catholic schools in its 25-team field (24 %).
The 1956 postseason tournaments included 15 Catholic school in a combined field of 37 teams (41 %).
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A Brief Timeline of the 1950s - Jennifer Rosenberg, ThoughtCo.com - Updated March 5, 2020
1956
On the light side of 1956, Elvis Presley burst onto the entertainment scene with a September 9th appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show;" on April 18, actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco; that great device, the TV remote, was invented by Robert Adler who called his ultrasonic device the Zenith Space Command. On October 29, the Suez Crisis began when Israeli armed forces invaded Egypt over their nationalization of the critical waterway known as the Suez Canal.
1956 American Car Spotters Guide • Top 10 Movies of 1956 • Top 10 Actors/Actresses • 1956 Oscar Winners
The Billboard Top 30 Singles of 1956 • Top 100 Pop Songs in 1956 - Playback.FM Music Links
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January 1 to December 15, 1956 - Elvis Presley Tours America. Elvis Presley's career was just starting to soar in 1956. It was an incredibly busy year, both professionally and personally. Not only did he record and release some of his most legendary songs, but he also released his first album and made his first movie. Elvis performed on a variety of stages in 1956. He performed everywhere from TV sets to auditoriums to a university's field house. Evis traveled roughly more than 41,000 miles and visited 26 states as well as Washington D.C.
May 28, 1956 - The first Elvis Presley Concert at UD Fieldhouse takes place.
June 29, 1956 – President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law. Under the act, the federal government would pay for 90 percent of the cost of construction of Interstate Highways. Each Interstate Highway was required to be a controlled-access highway with at least four lanes and no at-grade crossings. The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System had an initial cost estimate of $25 billion over 12 years; it ended up costing $114 billion (equivalent to $521 billion in 2018) and took 35 years to build.
August 13 to 17, 1956 - At the 1956 Democratic National Convention (held in the International Amphitheatre on the South Side of Chicago), former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois was nominated for president and Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee was nominated for vice president.
August 20 to 23, 1956 - At the 1956 Republican National Convention (held at the Cow Palace in San Francisco), President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Vice President Richard M. Nixon were renominated as the party's candidates for the 1956 election.
October 3 to 10, 1956 - In the 1956 World Series, the New York Yankees beat the defending champion Brooklyn Dodgers in seven games. The Series was a rematch of the 1955 World Series. It was the last all-New York City Series until 44 years later in 2000, as the Dodgers and the New York Giants moved to California after the 1957 season. The highlight was Don Larsen's perfect game in Game 5.
November 6, 1956 - The 1956 United States Elections saw no major change in power, as the Republicans defended the presidency and the Democrats retained control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The 1956-57 College Basketball Season
NCAA Rule Change for 1955–1957 Season • Grasping the rim is ruled unsportsmanlike conduct.
NCAA Rule Change for 1956–1957 Season • The free-throw lane is increased from 6 feet to 12 feet in width.
Six-foot wide free throw lane prior to 1956-57 season.
December 3, 1956 - University of Kansas center Wilt Chamberlain made his varsity debut. In his first game, he scored 52 points and grabbed 31 rebounds, breaking both all-time Kansas records in an 87–69 win against Northwestern.
1956-57 College Basketball Recap – Infoplease - February 11, 2017
North Carolina became the first team from the Old South to win the NCAA tournament, but the Tar Heels did it with a roster full of Irish Catholic Yankees (and one Jew) from coach Frank McGuire's hometown of New York City. They also did it by winning two triple overtime games in less than 24 hours at the Final Four and beating Wilt Chamberlain in the title game.
The Tar Heels won the first No.1 vs No.2 championship game since 1949 in the first title game overtime in tourney history. In the third extra period, North Carolina’s Joe Quigg sank two foul shots with six seconds left for the win. Wilt Chamberlain, a sophom*ore, led all scorers with 23 points and was named MVP.
1. North Carolina • ACC
2. Kansas • Big 7
3. Kentucky • SEC
4. SMU• Southwest
5. Seattle
6. Louisville
7. West Virginia
8. Vanderbilt • SEC
9. Oklahoma City
10. Saint Louis
17. Notre Dame
20. Canisius
1957 NCAA Basketball Tournament
The twenty-three team 1957 NCAA Basketball Tournament began on March 11, 1957, and ended with the championship game on March 23 in Kansas City, Missouri.
The 1956–57 school year was the first in which NCAA members were formally divided into separate competitive levels, with larger and more competitive athletic programs placed in the University Division (known since 1973 as NCAA Division I), and smaller programs placed in the College Division (which would itself be divided into Divisions II and III in 1973).
North Carolina, coached by Frank McGuire, won the national title with a 54–53 triple-overtime victory in the final game over Kansas, coached by Dick Harp. Wilt Chamberlain of Kansas became the 4th player to be named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player despite not playing for the championship team.
East Regional: The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mideast Regional: Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky
Midwest Regional: SMU Coliseum, Dallas, Texas
West Regional: Oregon State Coliseum, Corvallis, OregonFinal Four: Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City
East Regional Participants: Canisius, Connecticut, Lafayette, North Carolina, Syracuse, West Virginia, Yale
Mideast Regional Participants: Kentucky, Miami (OH), Michigan State, Morehead State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh
Midwest Regional Participants: Kansas, Loyola (LA), Oklahoma City, SMU, Saint Louis
West Regional Participants: BYU, California, Hardin–Simmons, Idaho State, San Francisco
1957 NCAA Tournament Final Four: North Carolina 74, Michigan State 70, OT • Kansas 80, San Francisco 56
1957 COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: North Carolina 54, Kansas 53 OT
1957 National Invitational Tournament
The twelve-team 1957 National Invitation Tournament was the twentieth edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. Bradley defeated Memphis 84-83 in the Finals, held in Madison Square Garden.
Participants: Bradley, Cincinnati, Dayton, Manhattan, Memphis, St. Bonaventure, Saint Peter's, Seattle, Seton Hall, Temple, Utah, Xavier
1957 NIT Semifinal Games: Memphis 80, St. Bonaventure78, • Bradley 94, Temple 66
1957 NIT Final: Bradley 84, Memphis 83
The 1957 Final AP Poll included 2 Catholic schools in the Top 10 and 4 Catholic schools in the Top 20.
The 1957 NIT included 7 Catholic schools in its 12-team field (58 %).
The 1957 NCAA Tournament included 5 Catholic schools in its 23-team field (22 %).
The 1957 postseason tournaments included 12 Catholic school in a combined field of 35 teams (34 %).
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A Brief Timeline of the 1950s - Jennifer Rosenberg, ThoughtCo.com - Updated March 5, 2020
1957
The year 1957 is most remembered for the October 4 launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik, which orbited for three weeks and began the space race and the space age. On March 12, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) published the children's classic "The Cat in the Hat," selling over one million copies within three years. ON March 25, the European Economic Community was established by a treaty signed by representatives of France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
1957 American Car Spotters Guide • Top 10 Movies of 1957 • Top 10 Actors/Actresses • 1957 Oscar Winners
The Billboard Top 30 Singles of 1957 • Top 100 Pop Songs in 1957 - Playback.FM Music Links
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September 23, 1957 - President Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10730, which put the Arkansas National Guard under federal authority, and sent 1,000 U.S. Army troops from the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock to maintain order as Central High School desegregated.
October 2 to 10, 1957 - In the 1957 World Series, the Milwaukee Braves beat the defending champion New York Yankees in seven games. Hank Aaron led all regulars with a .393 average and eleven hits, including a triple, three home runs and seven RBI.
The 1957-58 College Basketball Season
NCAA Rule Change for 1957–1958 Season • Offensive goaltending is now banned
1957-58 College Basketball Recap – Infoplease - February 11, 2017
Sophom*ores Jerry West of West Virginia and Oscar Robertson of Cincinnati burst on the scene in 1957–58 and led their teams to the top of the final AP Top 25. West and the Mountaineers were 26–1 through the regular season, winning their fourth straight Southern Conference title. Cincinnati was 24–2 and conference champ in its first year as a member of the Missouri Valley, while Robertson became the first sophom*ore ever to lead the nation in scoring (35.1) and gain Player of the Year honors. Come the NCAAs, however, both teams lost their opening games—West Virginia to unranked Manhattan and Cincinnati to No.3 Kansas State.
The eventual National Champion turned out to be ninth-ranked Kentucky, giving coach Adolph Rupp four NCAA titles. The Wildcats reached the Final Four in Louisville, then proceeded to slip past Temple, 61–60, in the semifinals and beat Elgin Baylor and Seattle by 12 for the Championship.
Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas, NCAA finalists in 1957, lost the Big Eight crown to Kansas State and didn't make it back for the '58 tournament. Wilt then decided not to return for the 1958–59 season and signed with the Harlem Globetrotters for $65,000.
In the NIT, unranked Xavier of Ohio, which entered the tourney with a 15-11 record, upset defending champion and No.14 Bradley in the quarterfinals and did the same to No.11 Dayton in the finals—winning 78–74 in overtime.
March, 1958 - In Liverpool, Quarry Bank High School students John Lennon (age 17), Paul McCartney (age 16), and George Harrison (age 16) formed a band called The Quarrymen.
1. West Virginia==> NCAA Tournament
2. Cincinnati ==> NCAA Tournament
3. Kansas State • Big 8 ==> NCAA Tournament
4. San Francisco==> NCAA Tournament
5. Temple==> NCAA Tournament
6. Maryland • ACC ==> NCAA Tournament
7. Kansas • Big 8 ==> NCAA Tournament
8. Notre Dame ==> NCAA Tournament
9. Kentucky • SEC ==> NCAA Tournament
10. Duke • ACC
11. Dayton ==> NIT
18. Seattle ==> NCAA Tournament
The 1958 NIT was the nail in the coffin for the NIT’s prestige, as for the first time since its inception, the NIT failed to attract a single team ranked in the AP Poll Top 10. No one disputes that the San Francisco Dons were the best college basketball team in the country in 1955 and 1956, and the greater prestige of the NCAA Tournament was cemented in 1957 when AP #1 North Carolina beat AP #2 Kansas 54-53 in overtime to win the NCAA Tournament and be proclaimed ‘National Champions’.
1958 NCAA Basketball Tournament
The twenty-four team 1958 NCAA Basketball Tournament began on March 11, and ended with the championship game on Saturday, March 22, in Louisville, Kentucky.
Led by head coach Adolph Rupp, the Kentucky Wildcats won the National Title with an 84–72 victory in the final game over Seattle, coached by John Castellani. The Chieftains led by 39–36 at the half, but star forward Elgin Baylor picked up his fourth personal foul with over sixteen minutes remaining. The Chieftains were outscored by fifteen in the second half, and Baylor was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
East Regional: Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Mideast Regional: Memorial Coliseum, Lexington, Kentucky
Midwest Regional: Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas
West Regional: Cow Palace, San Francisco, CaliforniaFinal Four: Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky
East Regional Participants: Boston College, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Manhattan, Maryland, Temple, West Virginia
Mideast Regional Participants: Indiana, Kentucky, Miami (OH), Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Tennessee Tech
Midwest Regional Participants: Arkansas, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Loyola (LA), Oklahoma State
West Regional Participants: Arizona State, California, Idaho State, San Francisco, Seattle, Wyoming
1958 NCAA Tournament Final Four: Kentucky 61, Temple 60 • Seattle 73, Kansas State 51
1958 COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Kentucky 84, Seattle 72
NIT Historical Facts – USA Today - March 25, 2002
In 1958, Xavier lost 10 of its final 15 regular-season games after a 10-1 start and the NIT asked the Musketeers to give back its NIT bid. Xavier, however, said "no" and went on to win the 1958 NIT title despite being seeded last under first-year head coach Jim McCafferty.
1958 National Invitational Tournament
The twelve-team 1958 National Invitation Tournament was the twenty-first edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. Xavier defeated Dayton 78-74 in the Final, held in Madison Square Garden.
Participants: Bradley, Butler, Dayton, Fordham, Niagara, Saint Francis (PA), Saint Joseph's, Saint Peter's, St. Bonaventure, St. John's, Utah, Xavier
1958 NIT Semifinal Games: Dayton 80, St. John's 56 • Xavier 72, St. Bonaventure 53
1958 NIT Final: Xavier 78, Dayton 74, OT
1957-58 Xavier Musketeers Schedule & Results • 1957-58 Xavier Musketeers Roster and Stats
1957-58 Dayton Flyers Schedule & Results • 1957-58 Dayton Flyers Roster and Stats
1958 NIT Champions to be Honored February 10th – Xavier University - January 17, 2008
The 1957-58 Musketeers became the first school from Ohio to win a national championship in basketball by winning the 1958 National Invitation Tournament. Led by first-year head coach Jim McCafferty, the Musketeers defeated Niagara, Bradley, and St. Bonaventure to reach the NIT championship game at Madison Square Garden in New York. In the final, Xavier defeated rival #11 Dayton 78-74 in overtime. Sport magazine called Xavier's Cinderella run "one of the greatest upsets in basketball history".
Xavier was seeded last in the tournament after losing 10 of its last 15 regular season games after starting 10-1. Four Musketeers were named to the All-Tournament Team, including MVP Hank Stein, after XU knocked off the highly-favored Flyers.
Xavier University’s claim that “The 1957-58 Musketeers became the first school from Ohio to win a national championship in basketball” is not recognized by anyone outside the Xavier community/fanbase. Even the Xavier student newspaper is careful to avoid calling Xavier’s 1958 NIT win a ‘national championship’:
Xavier Takes Down No 11 Rival Dayton Flyers In Nit Final - Adam Tortelli, The Xavier Newswire - October 24, 2013
March 22, 1958, ignited Xavier’s long list of men’s basketball accomplishments with a 78-74 victory over nemesis and No. 11 ranked Dayton in the National Invitational Tournament’s (NIT) championship game — many still argue Xavier had no business playing in the tournament.
The 1957-58 season went downhill after a 10-1 beginning due to the academic ineligibility of Cornelius “Corny” Freeman (top rebounder and scorer for the Musketeers) in the second semester. Despite losing seven of their last eight games played and being asked by NIT officials to give up their bid, Xavier and rookie head coach Jim McCaffery refused to relinquish what they had rightfully earned.
After ending the season with back-to-back losses, XU was given the 12th seed in the 12-team tournament. Poor plays in the second half of the season and the inability to recover from Freeman’s ineligibility left the players and coaches feeling pessimistic. The majority of the team only planned on being in New York City for one or two days, maximum. However, with their backs against the wall, the Musketeers prevailed to pile on four victories over Niagara University, No. 2 Bradley University and No. 3 St. Bonaventure University in one of the nation’s most prestigious postseason tournaments at the time.
After a long and excruciating three months of basketball without its best player, Xavier headed into Madison Square Garden to face off against the top-seed in the tournament, No. 11 in the country and up-the-road rival Dayton. The Dayton Flyers already won the two regular season matchups and an upset seemed nothing short of a miracle against a familiar team. Dayton already finished as NIT runner-ups in 1951, 1952, 1955, and 1956.
The 1958 Final AP Poll included 2 Catholic schools in the Top 10 and 4 Catholic schools in the Top 20.
The 1958 NIT included 9 Catholic schools in its 12-team field (75 %).
The 1958 NCAA Tournament included 6 Catholic schools in its 24-team field (25 %).
The 1958 postseason tournaments included 15 Catholic school in a combined field of 36 teams (42 %).
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A Brief Timeline of the 1950s - Jennifer Rosenberg, ThoughtCo.com - Updated March 5, 2020
1958
On October 23, Boris Pasternak was awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature, but the Soviet government, which had attempted to ban his novel Doctor Zhivago, forced him to reject it. On July 29, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the act establishing The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Hula hoops were invented by Arthur K. "Spud" Melin and Richard Knerr and the toy was to take the world of kids by storm. And a toy that would become a classic was introduced: LEGO toy bricks, pioneered and patented the final shape, even though the right material for the product took another five years to develop. Chinese Leader Mao Tse-tung launched the "Great Leap Forward," a failed five-year economic and social effort that led to millions of deaths and was abandoned by 1961.
1958 American Car Spotters Guide • Top 10 Movies of 1958 • Top 10 Actors/Actresses • 1958 Oscar Winners
The Billboard Top 30 Singles of 1958 • Top 100 Pop Songs in 1958 - Playback.FM Music Links
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October 1 to 9, 1958 - The 1958 World Series was a rematch of the 1957 World Series. The New York Yankees defeated the defending champion Milwaukee Braves in seven games for their 18th title, and their seventh in 10 years.
November 4, 1958 - The 1958 United States Elections took place in the middle of Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower's second term. Eisenhower's party suffered large losses. They lost 48 seats to the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives, and also lost thirteen seats in the U.S. Senate to the Democrats. This marked the first time that the six-year itch phenomenon occurred during a Republican presidency since Ulysses S. Grant's second term in 1874. Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as states during the 86th Congress. The ranks of liberal Democrats swelled as the Republican Party suffered several losses in the Northeast and the West. The election contributed to a weakening of the conservative coalition and those opposed to the civil rights movement, allowing for the eventual passage of the Great Society and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The election saw an influx of northern Democrats who sought to reform the Congressional seniority system, which often gave the best positions to senior southerners who rarely faced difficult re-elections and thus were able to rack up long terms of service.
The 1958-59 College Basketball Season
1958-59 College Basketball Recap – Infoplease - February 11, 2017
Ten years after leading an unheralded San Francisco team to the NIT championship, coach Pete Newell did the same thing in the NCAAs, this time with California. Newell's defensive-minded Golden Bears, led by 6-10 Darrall Imhoff and 6-5 Bill McClintock, went 20–4 during the regular season, held the opposition to 51 points a game, and were ranked No.11 by AP. At the Final Four in Louisville, they had to play Oscar Robertson and Jerry West on consecutive nights. Cal beat Cincinnati in the semifinals, 64–58, holding Robertson and the Bearcats 26 points below their per game average. In the final, West scored 28, but the Bears won 71–70.
West was named tournament MVP, the fourth straight year the honor went to a member of a losing team. The other three were Hal Lear of Temple and two future L.A. Lakers teammates of West's—Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor. The country's top two teams at the end of the regular season, Kansas State and Kentucky, were knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the regionals—No.1 K-State by Cincinnati in the Midwest final and UK by cross-state rival Louisville in the Mideast semifinals. No.3 Mississippi State (24–1), the SEC champion, refused an invitation to the NCAAs because it was an integrated event.
1. Kansas State • Big 8
2. Kentucky • SEC
3. Mississippi State • SEC
4. Bradley
5. Cincinnati
6. NC State • ACC
7. Michigan State • Big Ten
8. Auburn • SEC
9. North Carolina • ACC
10. West Virginia
11. California
12. Saint Louis
13. Seattle
14. Saint Joseph's
15. Saint Mary's (CA)
19. St. Bonaventure
20. Marquette
1959 NCAA Basketball Tournament
The twenty-three team 1959 NCAA Basketball Tournament began on March 7, 1959, and ended with the championship game on March 21 in Louisville, Kentucky. California, coached by Pete Newell, won the National Title with a 71–70 victory in the final game over West Virginia, coached by Fred Schaus. Jerry West of West Virginia was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.
East Regional: Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Mideast Regional: McGaw Memorial Hall, Evanston, Illinois
Midwest Regional: Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, Kansas
West Regional: Cow Palace, San Francisco, CaliforniaFinal Four: Freedom Hall, Louisville, Kentucky
East Regional Participants: Boston University, Connecticut, Dartmouth, Navy, North Carolina, Saint Joseph's, West Virginia
Mideast Regional Participants: Bowling Green, Eastern Kentucky, Kentucky, Louisville, Marquette, Michigan State
Midwest Regional Participants: Cincinnati, DePaul, Kansas State, Portland, TCU
West Regional Participants: California, Idaho State, New Mexico State, Saint Mary's, Utah
1959 NCAA Tournament Final Four: West Virginia 94, Louisville 79 • California 64, Cincinnati 58
1959 COLLEGE BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: California 71, West Virginia 70
1959 National Invitational Tournament
The twelve-team 1959 National Invitation Tournament was the twenty-second edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition. St. John's 76, defeated Bradley 76-71 in the Final, held in Madison Square Garden.
Participants: Bradley, Butler, Denver, Fordham, Manhattan, NYU, Oklahoma City, Providence, St. Bonaventure, St. John's, Saint Louis, Villanova
1959 NIT Semifinal Games: Bradley 59, NYU 57 • Providence 55, St. John's 76
1959 NIT Final: St. John's 76, Bradley 71
1958-59 St. John’s Redmen Schedule & Results • 1958-59 St. John’s Redmen Roster and Stats
1959 St. John’s Redmen Basketball Team – Wikipedia
Alan Seiden, a Key to a St. John’s 1959 NIT Title, Is Dead at 71 - Richard Goldstein, The New York Times - May 5, 2008
Alan Seiden, an all-American guard who helped lead the St. John’s basketball team to the 1959 National Invitation Tournament title, died Saturday at his home in Jamaica Estates, Queens. He was 71. Seiden had a team-high 22 points for St. John’s when it defeated Bradley, 76-71, in overtime, in the NIT final in 1959, when the tournament was still a prestigious postseason event, held solely at Madison Square Garden.
The 1959 Final AP Poll included NO Catholic schools in the Top 10 and 6 Catholic schools in the Top 20.
The 1959 NIT included 7 Catholic schools in its 12-team field (58 %).
The 1959 NCAA Tournament included 5 Catholic schools in its 23-team field (22 %).
The 1959 postseason tournaments included 12 Catholic school in a combined field of 35 teams (34 %).
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A Brief Timeline of the 1950s - Jennifer Rosenberg, ThoughtCo.com - Updated March 5, 2020
1959
On the first day of 1959, Fidel Castro, leader of the Cuban Revolution, became the dictator of Cuba and brought communism to the Caribbean country. The year also saw the famous Kitchen Debate on July 24 between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon, one of a series of impromptu discussions between the two. The great fixed quiz show scandals—in which contestants were secretly given assistance by the show producers—were first revealed in 1959.
In the 1959 World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox, 4–2. Each of the three games played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum drew record crowds, Game 5's attendance of 92,706 continues to be a World Series record to this day, and one which cannot feasibly be broken in any modern ballpark. It was the Dodgers' second World Series victory in five years, their first in Los Angeles, and marked the first championship for a West Coast team. It was the first World Series in which no pitcher for either side pitched a complete game. This was the only Fall Classic played during the period from 1949 through 1964 in which no games were played in New York City.
1959 American Car Spotters Guide • Top 10 Movies of 1959 • Top 10 Actors/Actresses • 1959 Oscar Winners
The Billboard Top 30 Singles of 1959 • Top 100 Pop Songs in 1959 - Playback.FM Music Links
