March 30, 1944: College Basketball's Red Cross Benefit

March 30, 1944: For the 1st time, college basketball has the equivalent of a boxing "unification bout." It features the winners of the NCAA Tournament and the winners of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), for a true, if unofficial, National Championship.

Two days earlier, the University of Utah, coached by Vadal Peterson, won the NCAA Tournament, beating Ivy League school Dartmouth in the Final, 42-40 at the old Madison Square Garden. Arnie Ferrin was named the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

(A freshman, Ferrin was eligible to play under wartime conditions. It would be 1972 before the NCAA allowed freshmen to play varsity sports under normal conditions, unaffected by a wartime manpower drain or a tragedy, as in the 1970 plane crashes that killed most of the players on the football teams at Wichita State and Marshall universities.)

The NIT was won by St. John's University, of Jamaica, Queens, New York City. They were coached by Joe Lapchick, who had starred as a player with the top professional team of the 1920s, the New York-based Original Celtics. The Redmen, a.k.a. the Johnnies, had 11 players. One was from nearby Cliffside Park, New Jersey. The other 10 were all from the City.

Since the entire NIT was played at The Garden, SJU's secondary home court, they were essentially playing at home in each round, including the Final, 47-39 win over DePaul University of Chicago. DePaul were coached by Ray Meyer, and had a rising star, 6-foot-10 sophomore George Mikan. They would be back.

With the Utah Redskins still in New York, the unofficial national championship game was set up, as a benefit for the International Red Cross. Utah won, 44-36.

Ferrin went off to war, came back alive, and, as a senior, led Utah to the NIT title in 1947. He later had his Number 22 retired by the school, won 2 NBA Championships with the Minneapolis Lakers, and was the last surviving member of both the '44 Redskins and the '49 Lakers, living until 2022.

Both schools would abandon their racist mascots. In 1972, Utah abandoned "Redskins" for "Utes," to honor the Native America tribe for which the State was named. In 1995, St. John's abandoned "Redmen" for "Red Storm."

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March 30, 1944 was a Thursday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. Hockey was in the Semifinal round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, both of which were clinched on this night. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 11-0 at the Montreal Forum. And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. The Canadiens went on to win the Cup.