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) dubbed 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 formative years of eight-team and sixteen-team tournament fields, the NAIB Tournament, founded by Emil Liston and Dr. James Naismith in 1937, was a nonstop 32-team week of exciting college basketball. . In 1939 and 1940, San Diego State developed a reputation for exciting upsets and stunning victories. 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 NAIB Tournament preview for March 9, 1941 read:
San Diego, the wonder team that earned wins in the closing seconds of play 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 toward the basket with two hands, Phelps’ one-handed jump shot fascinated basketball fans.
He worked at the campus malthouse and trained to become a military pilot.
In the 1941 NAIB Tournament, Phelps led the Aztecs through the early rounds of the tournament and beat the West Texas “Giants”, the tallest team in college basketball at the time. At the end of the tournament, she was limping with a sprained right knee so swollen it was hard to distinguish 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 3-year journey to the championship, the “Miracle Men” from San Diego, California, State last night captured the national intercollegiate basketball title with a landslide finish that beat the Kentucky State College Thoroughbreds, 36-34. , before 6,500 people in the Auditorium.
Twice denied in the final of this home 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, turned in a mighty advance. 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 award. Tournament organizers granted them permission to present the Aztecs with a plaque honoring their “fighting spirit, outstanding play, and sportsmanship,” according to the Kansas City Times of March 12, 1942.
The story of the San Diego State Wonder Team is one of many told in “National Title “The Unlikely Tale of the NAIB Tournament.” The book demonstrates how the NAIB (now NAIA) took up Dr. Naismith’s mission of using sports in a way that would benefit humanity. It can be found at naibbook.com or for download in most e-book readers.