1951 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament

The 1951 NAIA Men's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 14th Annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1] The championship game featured Hamline University (Minn.) and Millikin University (Ill.). It was the first meeting between these two schools in tournament history. The Pipers of Hamline defeated the Big Blue of Millikin 69 to 61. The 1951 Tournament would be Hamline's 5th trip to the NAIA Final Four, and second tournament win, it was also Millikin's only trip to championship game, NAIA Final Four, and first of eventually four tournament berths. The other teams that rounded out the semifinals were Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) and Regis University (Colo.). The Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets defeated the Regis Rangers 82 to 78.

1951 NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
Teams	32
Champions	Hamline (Minn.) (3rd title, 3rd title game, 5th Fab Four)
Runner-Up	Millikin (Ill.) (1st title game, 1st Fab Four)
Semifinalists	Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio) Regis (Colo.)
Chuck Taylor MVP	Scotty Steagall (Millikin (Ill.))

Hamline's win put them on the leader board for most tournament champions with 3. A record that would last until Tennessee State University would win in consecutive years. (1957, 1958, 1959.) Three Championships would be a tournament record until 1996 when Oklahoma City University won its 4th Championship Title.

Awards and honors

Many of the records set by the 1951 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
• All-time scoring leaders; second 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]

1951 NAIA bracket

	First Round					Second Round					Elite Eight					NAIA National Semifinals					NAIA National Championship
	-	Evansville (Ind.)	85
	-	Westminster (Pa.)	74
						-	Evansville	75
						-	Morningside	62
	-	Morningside (Iowa)	66
	-	Providence (R.I.)	63
											-	Evansville	68
	TOP TIER
											-	Regis	70
	-	Regis (Colo.)	72
	-	East Central State (Okla.)	55
						-	Regis	82
						-	Southwest Texas State	64
	-	Southwest Texas State	70
	-	Morehead State (Ky.)	62
																-	Regis	70
																-	Millikin	88
	-	Millikin (Ill.)	77
	-	Eastern New Mexico	63
						-	Millikin	80
						-	East Texas Baptist	62
	-	East Texas Baptist	67
	-	High Point (N.C.)	64
											-	Millikin	91
	TOP TIER
											-	Florida State	60
	-	Pepperdine (Calif.)	86
	-	Eau Claire State (Wis.)	53
						-	Pepperdine	59
						-	Florida State	61
	-	Florida State	85
	-	South Dakota State	70
																					-	Millikin	61
																					-	Hamline	69
	-	Hamline (Minn.)	82
	-	Rocky Mountain (Mont.)	57
						-	Hamline	64
						-	Arkansas Tech	52
	-	Arkansas Tech	64
	-	Pacific (Calif.)	61
											-	Hamline	80
	BOTTOM TIER
											-	New Mexico A&M	56
	-	Central College (Mo.)	68
	-	Southeastern Louisiana	66
						-	Central	69
						-	New Mexico A&M	73
	-	New Mexico A&M	68
	-	Glenville State (W.Va.)	54
																-	Hamline	78
																-	Baldwin-Wallace	62
	-	Baldwin-Wallace (Ohio)	67
	-	American (D.C.)	66
						-	Baldwin-Wallace	68
						-	Ottawa	67
	-	Ottawa (Kan.)	73
	-	Hillsdale (Mich.)	58
											-	Baldwin-Wallace	90
	BOTTOM TIER
											-	Memphis State	67
	-	Memphis State (Tenn.)	76
	-	Portland (Ore.)	74
						-	Memphis State	81
						-	Hastings	79*
	-	Hastings (Neb.)	71
	-	Pacific Lutheran (Wash.)	51

•  * denotes overtime.

3rd place game

The third place game featured the losing teams from the national semifinalist to determine 3rd and 4th places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.

	NAIA Third Place Game
	-	Baldwin-Wallace	82
	-	Regis	78

References

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