The 1956 NAIA basketball tournament was held in March at
Municipal Auditorium in
Kansas City, Missouri. The 19th annual
NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. 1956 would be the last tournament with unseeded teams.
The championship game featured
McNeese State University
McNeese State University is a public university in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. The present name was adopted in 1970. M ...
and
Texas Southern University
Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,00 ...
. It was the first and only appearance for the McNeese State made in the NAIA tournament. The Cowboys beat the Tigers, 60–55.
The third-place game featured
Pittsburg State who defeated the
Wheaton Thunder, 77–70. This tournament featured six all-time leading scorers.
Awards and honors
Many of the records set by the 1956 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:
*Leading scorer est. 1963
*Leading rebounder est. 1963
*Charles Stevenson Hustle Award est. 1958
*Player of the Year est. 1994
*Top single-game performances: ''Jim Spivey'' of Southeastern Oklahoma vs State Georgia Southern. Spivey scored 17 field goals 9 free throws, totaling 43 points.
*Most free throws made; career: ''120'' free throws made by Jim Spivey of Southeastern Oklahoma State (1954,55,56,57).
*All-time leading scorers; first appearance: ''Dick Barnett, 3rd'', Tennessee State (1956,57,58,59) 18 games, 186 field goals, 79 free throws, 451 total points 25.1 average per game, ''Charles Curtis, 8th'', Pacific Lutheran (Wash.) (1956,57,58,59) 14 games 101 field goals, 85 free throws, 287 total points, 20.5 average per game, ''Roger Iverson, 20th'', Pacific Lutheran (1956,57,58,59) 14 games, 109 field goals, 23 free throws, 241 total points, 17.2 average per game, and ''John Barnhill, 21st'', Tennessee State (1956,57,58,59) 17 games, 104 field goals, 27 free throws, 235 total points, 13.8 average per game.
*All-time leading scorer; second appearance: ''Bennie Swain, 6th'' Texas Southern (1955,56,57,58) 15 games, 119 field goals, 64 free throws, 302 total points, 20.1 average per game.
*All-time leading scorer; third appearance: ''James Spivey, 4th'', Southeastern Oklahoma (1954,55,56,57) 13 games, 133 field goals, 120 free throws, 386 total points, 29.7 average per game.
NAIA Championship History
Bracket
See also
* 1956 NCAA basketball tournament
The 1956 NCAA basketball tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA college basketball. It began on March 12, 1956, and ended with the championship game on March 24 on Nort ...
* 1956 National Invitation Tournament
The 1956 National Invitation Tournament was the 1956 edition of the annual NCAA college basketball competition.
Selected teams
Below is a list of the 12 teams selected for the tournament.
References
{{NAIA men's basketball tournament
NAIA Men's Basketball Championship
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...
NAIA men's basketball tournament
NAIA men's basketball tournament