The 1953 NAIAMen's Basketball Tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 16th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format. The championship game would feature Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State University, and Hamline University . The Bears were coached by Bob Vanatta. The championship game was the first time that these two teams had ever met in the tournament. The Bears would defeat the Pipers to win another national championship by the score of 79 to 71. It was the first time since 1937 and 1938, the first two years of the tournament, that the same team would win the national championship title. Playing for 3rd place was Indiana State University and East Texas State University, now Texas A&M University–Commerce. It was the first time that these two teams had played each other. The Sycamores defeated the Lions by a score of 74 to 71. The 1953 tournament would be Hamline University's first, and only, 2nd place title as well as Indiana State University's first, and only, 3rd place title. Making them the first two schools to win, outright, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th places in the NAIA tournament. It is the last year without the Coach of the Year Award. 1953 is the first tournament to feature a Nazarene University. Perennial staples to the tournament, only a handful of years have been absence of a Nazarene University playing. There were two games in which all-time top performances would be recorded.
Awards and honors
Many of the records set by the 1953 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:
Top single-game performances: 3rd Harold Wolfe of Findlay playing against Pasadena scored 25 field goals and 4 free throws totaling 54 points for one game. Findlay won the game.
Top single-game performances: 22nd Pete Kinkead of Geneva playing against Tennessee State, scored 14 field goals and 15 free throws totaling 43 points for one game. Geneva did not win the game.
All-time scoring leader; first appearance: James Miller, 18th, East Texas State, 13 games, 103 field goals, 40 free throws, totaling 246 points, 18.9 average per game.
All-time scoring leader; second appearance: E.C. O’Neal, 9th, Arkansas Tech, 13 games, 122 field goals, 43 free throws, totaling 287 points, 22.1 average per game.
All-time scoring leaders; final appearance: Lloyd Thorgaard, 10th, Hamline , 15 games, 111 field goals, 61 free throws, 283 total points, 18.9 average per game; James Fritsche, 14th, Hamline , 15 games, 113 field goals, 46 free throws, 272 total points, 18.1 average per game.
1953 NAIA bracket
3rd place game
The third place game featured the losing teams from the national semifinalist to determine 3rd and 4th places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.
