San Diego State’s 2010-11 basketball season has been deeply memorable. The Aztecs emerged as surprise national championship contenders early in the season. But is it the best season of the show?
Maybe not.
Eighty years have passed since San Diego State’s last men’s college basketball national title. That team was so exciting that fans of the National Intercollegiate Basketball Association Tournament (the oldest collegiate national championship) nicknamed it The Wonder Team. The Aztecs were arguably the first Cinderella team in college basketball history.
While the NIT and NCAA tournaments were still in the early years of forming eight- and sixteen-team tournament fields, the NAIB Tournament, founded by Emil Liston and Dr. James Naismith in 1937, was a nonstop week of 32 teams of exciting college basketball. . In 1939 and 1940, San Diego State built a reputation for exciting upsets and stunning wins. Each year the Aztecs advanced to the national championship game, only to finish as runners-up.
But the charm finally came in San Diego State’s third national title attempt.
The Kansas City Star’s NAIB Tournament preview for March 9, 1941 stated:
San Diego, the wonder team that earned victories in the waning seconds of the game last year, is making its third visit here, bringing back favorites like “Milky” Phelps, the one-handed RBI artist, [Andy] Throw and others. Twice the Californians have reached the final only to lose both times.
“It may be our turn to win that title this year,” San Diego coach Morris Gross said. “I’m bringing the best team we’ve ever had in San Diego.”
Phelps was an All-American kid both on and off the court. He was one of the most agile guards in the nation. While most basketball players still pushed the ball to the basket with two hands, Phelps’s one-handed jump shot fascinated basketball fans.
He worked at the campus malting facility and trained to become a military pilot.
In the 1941 NAIB Tournament, Phelps led the Aztecs through the early rounds of the tournament and defeated the West Texas “Giants,” the top team in college basketball at the time. By the end of the tournament, she was limping with a sprained right knee so swollen it was hard to distinguish it from her thigh. Despite her injury, Phelps gave everything she had to offer as San Diego State triumphantly battled Kentucky State for the national championship.
On March 16, 1941, the Kansas City Star reported:
As the highlight of a three-year championship run, the San Diego State, California “Miracle Men” captured the national intercollegiate basketball title last night with a blowout finish to the Kentucky State College Thoroughbreds, 36 to 34, before 6500 people in the Auditorium.
Twice denied in the final of this court classic, the California Aztecs built a huge lead in the first half, lost it midway through the closing period, and then, just as they have on several other occasions, became in a mighty breakthrough. to roar to victory.
The following year, the Aztecs returned without the Phelps graduate. After a failed attempt to defend their national championship, many fans who had come to love the San Diego team came together to create a special prize. They were granted permission by tournament organizers to present the Aztecs with a plaque honoring their “fighting spirit, outstanding play, and sportsmanship,” according to the March 12, 1942 Kansas City Times.
The story of the San Diego State Wonder Team is one of many told in “National Title” The Improbable Tale of the NAIB Tournament.” The book demonstrates how the NAIB (now NAIA) took up Dr. Naismith’s mission to use sports in a way that would benefit humanity.It can be found at naibbook.com or for download on most eBook readers.