Tennessee State emerges as torch bearer
Tennessee State was led by Clarence B. Cash, a Chicago native who led St. Elizabeth High School to Negro National Championships in 1949 and 1950. It entered the tournament 17-3 overall, facing a North Carolina College team that was coached by Floyd Brown after the departure of John McLendon. TSU beat NC College 98-84 in overtime in the opener, then took down Southern 80-66 in the semifinals. A&I then mounted a furious comeback against Bethune Cookman to earn the highly-desired bid.
Tennessee State’s first round NAIA matchup was against Geneva (PA). It won that game 89-88 to advance to the second round where it took on St. Benedicts and came away with a 79-56 win. Those wins, while historic, showed how fragile the attempt to integrate collegiate athletics was in the years BEFORE Brown vs. Board of Education.
Mississippi Southern – now known as Southern Miss – was in the same bracket as Tennessee State. It also won its first game, beating River Falls State in the first round and then beat Loyola of Maryland. If it won its game against Hamline it would be bracketed to meet up with TSU. Back in 1953, a Mississippi college playing against black players was literally against the law. There was talk as to whether or not MSU would take the court against Tennessee State if the two teams met up.
As fate would have it, that wouldn’t happen. MSU would go on to lose to Hamline 109-92 while Tennessee State lost to what is now Texas A&M-Commerce in the Elite Eight rounds. Still, the best of the HBCU world showed it could compete against other small colleges when given a chance.
Tennessee State – then led by John McLendon – went on to win the 1957 NAIA title and the next two following that. That year would also mark the first year that negro colleges were allowed to participate in the NCAA Tournament – at the college division level. A decade later, Winston-Salem State would go on to become the first historically black college to win an NCAA title in 1967 with Earl “The Pearl” Monroe. By that time HBCUs had won six of the next ten NAIA Tournaments, as teams could compete in either the NCAA or NAIA Tournaments during this period.
NAIA Champions from HBCUs
1957 – Tennessee A&I
1958 – Tennessee A&I
1959 – Tennessee A&I
1961 – Grambling State
1962 – Prairie View A&M
1965 – Central State
1968 – Central State
1970 – Kentucky State
1971 – Kentucky State
1972 – Kentucky State
1976 – Coppin State
1977 – Texas Southern