The LOC.GOV Wise Guide : March Madness!

Every March, the leading contenders in NCAA Division 1 basketball vie for the national championship in a series of games that have earned the title March Madness.

"Hoop's a daisy! Chicago, Ill. Bill Russell ... star of the [University of] San Francisco Dons, ... sinks a basket against Southern Methodist University in the semi-finals of the N.C.A.A. [basketball] tournament Thursday night," [195-]

"Girl's basketball team, Milton High School, Milton, North Dakota," 1909

The history of roundball is found in many places on the Library's Web site. For example, in Today in History, the Jan. 18 entry notes that on this day in 1896, H.J. Kallenberg, a physical education instructor at the University of Iowa, welcomed Amos Alonzo Stagg, athletic director at the University of Chicago, to Iowa City for an experimental game in a new sport. The contest, refereed by Kallenberg, was the first college basketball game played with five players on each side. Chicago won by a score of 15 to 12.

Today in History is the Web site you should visit every day of the year for interesting and sometimes little-known stories about events for 365 calendar days.

In Indiana, basketball is an obsession that results in "Hoosier Hysteria." There may be more basketball goals per capita in Indiana than in any other state. In fact, one was erected in the driveway of the governor's executive mansion. In Indiana, high school basketball is a passion. The fruits of that passion are the thousands of first-rate high school basketball players the state has developed since the 1940s. "Hoosier Hysteria" was part of Local Legacies, a program overseen by the Library and Congress in 2000 to recognize unique local history and cultural events during the Library's celebration of its bicentennial. You can read more about Indiana basketball and hundreds of other Local Legacies for all the states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories in the Local Legacies Web site.

A. "Hoop's a daisy! Chicago, Ill. Bill Russell ... star of the [University of] San Francisco Dons, ... sinks a basket against Southern Methodist University in the semi-finals of the N.C.A.A. [basketball] tournament Thursday night," [195-]. Prints and Photographs Division. Reproduction information: Reproduction No.: LC-USZ62-71761 (b&w film copy neg.); Call No.: SSF - SPORTS--BASKETBALL [item] [P&P]

B. "Girl's basketball team, Milton High School, Milton, North Dakota," 1909. One man, likely the coach, amid six young women. One woman is holding a basketball under her arm, with letters "M.H.S. '09." No identification of people. Taken in studio with backdrop. North Dakota State University Institute for Regional Studies. Reproduction information: Reproduction No.: Hult.439 (8x10 glass neg.), Hult.439 (8x10 copy neg.) 2028.439. Not in Library of Congress collections. For more information, click here.