While the term “March Madness” needs no introduction, its origin story is worth telling. The now-iconic phrase, used to describe the 68-team NCAA men’s basketball tournament held every March, traces its roots back to Huff Hall in 1939.
H.V. Porter, an Illinois high school athletics administrator, first coined the term to capture the chaotic excitement of the state’s high school basketball championships. Thousands packed the bleachers at Huff Hall every year beginning in 1926 until the tournament moved to the now State Farm Center in 1963. Porter vividly described the scene in his essay “March Madness,” which was published in the monthly newsletter “The Illinois High School Athlete.”
Porter’s piece opens with a colorful portrayal of the high school basketball player, a nod the scientific classification of humans.
“Homo of the Hardwood Court is a hardy specie. He is a glutton for punishment. When the March madness is on him, midnight jaunts of a hundred miles on successive nights make him even more alert the next day.”
He concludes his almost 600-word essay with a poetic reflection on the athlete’s energy:
“His lack of inhibition adds a spontaneity that colors the tournaments. Without darkness, there would be no light. A little March madness may complement and contribute to sanity and help keep society on an even keel.”
The term Sweet Sixteen also emerged from this era, thanks in part to underwhelming ticket sales in the early 1930s. The original eight-team competition expanded to 16 teams to boost revenue, giving birth to yet another enduring basketball tradition.
Though sports broadcaster Brent Musburger is often credited with popularizing “March Madness” during the 1982 NCAA championship, its true birthplace remains the 100-year-old Huff Hall at the corner of Fourth and Gregory.
