Sports History
The Final Four
By Anne Madarasz

As the regular college basketball season winds down, we look forward to the month ahead and the excitement of March Madness. There is a long tradition of college hoops in the city, and a number of storied teams have graced the final brackets come tournament time.

Post-season play kicked off in 1938 with the founding of the National Invitation Tournament. Temple captured the first championship, beating a Colorado team that featured future Steelers player-and U.S. Supreme Court justice-Whizzer White. Originally played at Madison Square Garden, the tournament invited just six teams in the early years. West Virginia became the first local school to be successful in the tournament, capturing the national championship in 1942 with a win over Western Kentucky.

Another local team however, Duquesne University, dominated national play in the 1940s and 50s. In 1925, Chick Davies took over the reigns as coach of the Iron Dukes. A DU graduate, he grew up in Pittsburgh, playing basketball for the 2nd Story Morry's, a Hill District based team. Davies built a powerhouse at Duquesne, coaching for 21 years. During that time his team made numerous appearances in both national post-season tourneys, the NCAA tournament having started in 1939. In 1940, Duquesne played in both tournaments (this was allowed until 1952) and made it to the Final Four of the NCAA's, as well as finishing in second place in the NIT, losing to Colorado.

In the late 1940s, Chuck Cooper, a Pittsburgh native and Westinghouse graduate, anchored Duquesne. He captained the 1949-50 squad, which ended up 23-6 and ranked sixth in the nation by the Associated Press. Cooper became the first African American drafted by an NBA team when the Celtics selected him in the second round in 1950. He went on to play for six seasons in Boston.

In 1950, Dudey Moore took over as coach at Duquesne. With All-Americans Sihugo Green and Dick Ricketts anchoring the team, Duquesne achieved great success, finishing third in the NIT in 1953 and second in 1954. In 1955, Duquesne won it all, beating Dayton 70-58 in the NIT. Sihugo Green scored 33 points to lead the Iron Dukes to the school's only national championship.

Green went on to play for nine years in the NBA and won a World Championship with the Celtics. Ricketts, his co-captain in '55, played three years in the NBA. He also spent some time playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, catching for their World Series teams in 1967 and '68. Duquesne recognized these champions, retiring their jerseys in 2001.

Anne Madarasz is Director of the Western Pa Sports Museum which features the story of college basketball.