A CENTURY AND TWO YEARS OF KANSAS BASKETBALL
1908 - The legendary Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, who played for Naismith at Kansas, took over as the Jayhawks coach at age 22. In his first season, Allen led Kansas to the Missouri Valley Conference Championship with an 18-6 record.
1898 - Kansas fields its first basketball team. Coached by the inventor of the game, James A. Naismith, the team finished its 11-game season 7-4. Naismith remains the only Kansas coach to have a career losing record.
1923 - Phog Allen repeats his performance of the year before the 1923 Jayhawks were again crowned national champions by the Heims Foundation. In its repeat bid, Kansas went 17-1.
1922- While not achieving success by today's traditional manner of winning the NCAA tournament, the 1922 Kansas team went 16-2 and was awarded the national championship by the Helms Foundation. The title was the first in Kansas history.
1940 After Phog Allen persnades the NCAA to hold its national basketball tournament in Kansas City, the Jayhawks battle all the way to the title game but lose to Indiana 60-52.
1939 - James A. Naismith dies on Nov. 28, 1980 at age 78. He is buried at Lawrence Memorial Park Cemetery, and occasionally memorial Kansas coach Roy Williams has been known to take a jog to visit Naismith's grave.
1953 - The Jayhawks found themselves back in the title game after the previous year's national championship, but this time the Jayhawks lost to Indiana 69-68. Kansas' B.H. Born was named tournament MVP.
1952 - Twenty years after its first national title, Kansas was king of the mountain again. Phog,炉皇 and king of All-American Clyde Lovellette led the jayhawks to the title, defeating St. John's 80-69 in the championship game.
1955 - Wilt Chamberlain makes his Kansas debut leading the freshman team to a victory against the Kansas varsity on Phog Allen's 70th birthday. Chamberlain scored 42 points and grabbed 29 rebounds.
Above: Larry Brown coached the 1988 layawhks to a national championship, Brown was Kansas sixth coach, and he stayed from 1984 to 1989.
Below: James Naismith, the inventor of the game, remains only Kansas coach to have a career losing record. Photos courtesy of University Archives
1957 - Legendary Kansas coach Phog Allen retires after 39 seasons with a 590-219 career record. Dick Harp then became coach and led Kansas to the national championship game. Harp went on to coach eight seasons and win 121 games at Kansas.
1957 - In one of the most memorable NCAA championship games in history, Kansas loses to North Carolina 54-63 in triple overtime. Kansas finished the season 24-3, but All-American center Will Chamberlain said the loss was the biggest disappointment of his life.