1953 NAIA basketball tournament

1953 (1953) NAIA men's basketball tournament

Teams	32
Finals site	Municipal Auditorium Kansas City, Missouri
Champions	Southwest Missouri State (2nd title, 2nd title game, 2nd Fab Four)
Runner-up	Hamline (4th title game, 6th Fab Four)
Semifinalists	Indiana State (5th Final Four) East Texas State (1st Final Four)
Chuck Taylor MVP	Jerry Anderson (Southwest Missouri State)
NAIA men's tournaments «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.

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.

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

• 1953 NCAA basketball tournament
• 1953 National Invitation Tournament