outfite The Rocky Mountain Conference did not have a representative be-
cause Utah had accepted the New York Invitation Tournament. Few Rocky
Mountain Conference schools put teams in the field. That left the NCAA
without a team for the 7th District. But luckily Kentucky defeated Utah
in New York, and immediately Mr. C. E. McBride, a member of the NCAA

5th District Committee, phoned and got the consent of Ned Irish to send
the team (Utah) on to Kansas City in time for the Western NCAA playoff.
After a harrowing ride from New York, Utah arrived barely in time for the
ZaMee

Towa State defeated Pepperdine, and Missouri wes defeated by Utah by
about 10 pointse Utah then defeated Iowa State, and Missouri annihilated
Pepperdine. Utah went back to New York to meet the wimer of the Eastern
NCAA playoff - Dartmouth - and Uteh won the playoff in Madison Square Garden
for the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship.

A most interesting circumstance mde Utah the Cinderella boys of 1944
basketball. The Invitation Tournament, formerly called the Sport Writers
Tournament, sponsored by Ned Irish, the Horatio Alger of Madison Square
Garden basketball, assembled the outstanding teams of the nation forh their
tournament playoff. Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, DePaul of Chicago, Bowling
Green of Ohio, St. Johns of Brooklyn, Oklahoma Aggies, University ¢ Kentuchy,
Canisius of Buffalo, and the University of Utah were all contacted and
accepted the New Yorker's bide This made the Invitation Tournament THE
tournament of the nation. The University of Kentucky defeated the University
of Utah by 4 points in the first game playoffs, St. Johns defeated Bowling
Green, Oklahoma Aggies defeated Canisius, and DePaul defeated Muhlenberg in
the first rounds In the second round DePaul defeated Oklahoma Aggies 41638,
and St. Johns of Brooklyn defeated the University of Kentucky 48-®. Then
St. Johns of Brooklyn defeated DePaul of Chicago, making St. Johns the
winner of the Invitation Tournament.

In the finals of the NGAA tourn,ment played in Madison Square Garden
Utah defeated Dartmouth, making Utah the champions of the NCAA.

A giant Red Crpyss benefit basketball game wes planned by Ned Irish
between the winner of the Invitation Tournament and the winner of the NCAA
tournament. Utah, National Collegiate A.A. winner, met St. Johns, champion
of the invitation tournamént, and Utah defeated St. Johns. This reference
to the Cinderella boys was made because Utah, a NCAA team, passed up the
National Collegiate tournament to enter the Invitation Tournament in New
York. They were put out in their first game with Kentucky; then tiey
were invited back into the NCAA fold to make up the Western bracket. They
now came back and defeated all the NCAA teams, and then in turn defeated the
Invitation champions. Mark you that they were put out in the first round of
the Invitation Tournament, yet whipped the Invitation championsi Figure
that out for one of the believe-it-or-not episodes.

The stand out teams of the country were all members of the Invitation
Tournament - Oklahoma Aggies, Kentucky, DePaul, St. Jofms. The NCAA
sucked the hind teat. But they had to have Utah in there to make a tourn-
ament, so they went begginge

So much for the easaba game, or the round ball tussle. I told you in
my previous letter that I had been up to my ears in Red Cross work. As
chairman of the drive for Douglas County I was charged with the res ponsi-
bility of raising $29,000. We did that all right, and then went $7,000 over
our quota, so we are pretty happy. Other counties in the vicinity had a
titanic struggle, so we are especially happy with the generosity of most

79.6