You and your friends are probably watching the NCAA Men’s Basketball final game pitting the University of Florida Gators vs. the University of Houston Cougars. This game signals the end of what we call “March Madness.” And I am guessing that a scant few of you have thought about how this tournament started and who was the inventor of this rite of spring.

Well, it’s your lucky day. I am going to take you back to the year 1939 when the whole thing started. And I will introduce you to a man that few remember but whose mark on sports history has stood the test of the time.

The Inventor of March Madness

Harold Olsen grew up in Rice Lake Wisconsin and went on to play four years for the University of Wisconsin Basketball Team. He had a storied career at Madison earning All-Big Ten honors twice and also being named to the All-American team. He led his 1915-1916 Badgers team to a 20-1 record, and they were crowned National Championships that season.

But Harold wasn’t finished with basketball. He was hired as head basketball coach at Bradley University where he coached them to a 6-9 record in the 1919 season. After that, he was hired to coach the Ripon College team. He coached there for three seasons leading the Red Hawks to a 27-10 record during this period.

Then he hit the big time. In 1922, he was named head basketball coach at Ohio State University where he spent more than 20 years in Columbus leading his Buckeyes to five Big Ten Championships. Harold was also named president of the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 1932. And subsequently, he was chosen NCAA Basketball Tournament chairman, and this is where his date with destiny was spawned.

The Beginning of “March Madness”

The NCAA wanted to create their own national championship tournament to rival the more prestigious NIT Tournament. So, they organized the first NCAA tournament in 1939 with just eight teams: Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah State, Villanova, Brown, Wake Forest, and Ohio State.

The East and West regionals were held in Philadelphia and San Francisco, with the Final Four at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. where Oregon won the first NCAA Basketball Tournament with a 46-33 victory over Ohio State. The tournament was not an immediate hit as organizers were forced to give away tickets to help get people in the stands. The first tournament also ended up $2,600 in the red.

But the tournament took off after that, and it has grown to be one of the most popular and celebrated events in the entire world. Somewhere, Harold Olsen is smiling, observing what his little eight team tournament has become.

Harold’s Later Years and Honors

Harold would leave the college ranks to coach the Chicago Stags to the finals of the first Basketball Association of America championship in 1947, where they lost to the Philadelphia Warriors. The BAA later became part of the NBA.

The Stags weren’t in existence for long, but they did manage to acquire the draft rights to Bob Cousy before folding in 1950. Cousy never played a game for the Stags, but when the team disbanded, his rights were sold to the Boston Celtics, where he went on to have a Hall of Fame career playing an integral part in six of the NBA Championships that Boston won in the late 1950’s and early 60’s.

He again left his mark on the sport when in 1937. Harold helped introduce the 10-second rule to speed up the game and this led to the full court action so prevalent in today’s game.

Olsen moved back to college to coach at Northwestern University from 1950 until he resigned in 1952 because of ill health. He also operated a popular boys basketball camp in Sarona near his hometown from 1929 until his death on a visit to Rice Lake in 1953.

In 1959, Olsen was inducted posthumously to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor. He was also inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2023. And his hometown of Rice Lake never forgot him as the Rice Lake High School gym, was named in his honor in December 1992. And in 2001, he was a member of the charter class of Rice Lake’s Sports Hall of Fame.

I’d like to dedicate this article to my brother-in-law Mike Romportl for making me aware of Harold Olsen and his historic accomplishments.