CHICAGO (WGN-TV) — "March Madness": Even if you're not much of a basketball fan, you probably see and hear this phrase every year at this time. The term "March Madness" is generally understood today as referring to the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments, which both begin this week.Who invented the March Madness bracket?In fact, the NCAA has now trademarked the term "March Madness.
"But the NCAA didn't invent the term. So where did it come from?Coined in 1939According to the Illinois High School Association website, the term "March Madness" was born in the state of Illinois in 1939 when Henry V. Porter — assistant executive secretary of the IHSA at the time — wrote an essay titled "March Madness" for the IHSA's magazine, the "Illinois Scholastic," to mark the state high school boys basketball tournament.
(Credit: IHSA)You can CLICK HERE if you want to read Porter's full essay.And lest you think this is just an IHSA fable to lay claim to the origination of "March Madness," the NCAA itself credits the IHSA for the term's birth."'March Madness' was first used to refer to basketball by an Illinois high school official, Henry V.
Porter, in 1939," the NCAA confirms on its website. The NCAA claims, however, that the term gained its modern-day popular use for the college tournament due to a broadcaster with Chicago ties."The term didn’t find its way to the NCAA Tournament until CBS broadcaster Brent Musburger (who used to be a sportswriter in Chicago) used it during c.
