The phrase “March Madness” was first popularized by Illinois high-school basketball administrator and coach Henry V. Porter in 1939, and the NCAA later adopted and amplified it for the college tournament.

Quick Scoop

  • The term “March Madness” did not start with the NCAA; it came from Illinois high school basketball.
  • In 1939 , Henry V. Porter, an Illinois High School Association official and coach, used “March Madness” to describe the frenzy around the state high school tournament.
  • The NCAA men’s tournament itself was organized in 1939 by Ohio State coach Harold Olsen, who pushed for a true national postseason tournament to rival the NIT, but he did not coin the phrase.
  • Decades later, sportscaster Brent Musburger helped make “March Madness” a household nickname for the NCAA Tournament when he used it on national TV in the 1980s.

Mini timeline

  1. 1930s (High school roots) – Illinois’s statewide high school basketball tournament becomes a huge annual event, inspiring descriptions of statewide “madness” in March.
  1. 1939 (Phrase coined) – Henry V. Porter uses “March Madness” in writing and commentary about the Illinois high school tournament, giving the phrase its first clear basketball usage.
  1. 1939 (NCAA tourney begins) – Harold Olsen helps launch the first NCAA men’s basketball tournament as a national alternative to the NIT.
  1. 1980s (TV era) – Brent Musburger frequently uses “March Madness” on broadcasts, firmly tying the name to the NCAA Tournament in the public mind.

Two key “creators”

  • Creator of the term “March Madness” (basketball context): Henry V. Porter, Illinois high-school official and coach, 1939.
  • Architect of the NCAA tournament itself: Harold Olsen, Ohio State coach and NCAA committee chair, who organized the first 1939 tournament.

Today, when fans ask “who created March Madness,” they’re often blending these two histories: Porter, who named the madness, and Olsen, who helped build the tournament that later embodied it.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.