The March Madness of Yesteryear: A Look Back at the History and Intensity of Church Ball

Tonight, the championship game of the NCAA Tournament will be played in Minneapolis, but recently, a group reunited in Salt Lake City to relive their own March Madness 50 years ago. These days, “Church Ball” is used to describe a recreation-league type experience held once a week at your local chapel or stake center. But in 1969, Marshall Hamilton and his teammates left their home in Cincinnati to drive more than 1,650 miles to play in the All-Church tournament. Victories in a stake tournament, a district tournament, and a regional tournament made them eligible to compete in the All-Church tournament so they formed a three-car caravan and made the trek west. Their team played their way to a championship on stomachs full of fried chicken, having consumed three meals a day from Harman Café (the predecessor of Kentucky Fried Chicken).

It may be difficult to imagine today what the All-Church tournament once meant to people or what a big deal church basketball once was, but try to imagine this: A church basketball game that was broadcast live on KSL TV and radio from the Einar Nielsen Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Utah. Basketball-shaped game programs were sold with ads for full bowling outfits, yellow cabs and Nehi soda. Paul James, legendary BYU play-by-play announcer, called some of the tournament’s biggest games, and in 1953, 4,500 people were in attendance for the game. Another year, an estimated 160,000 watched the game on KSL. And back home in Cincinnati, Latter-day Saints were so anxious to know how their boys were playing in the 1969 tournament, they drove around trying to find the hills with the highest peaks to try to get the KSL signal.

Hamilton and his teammates returned home walking on air.

Today, t-shirts are made with the slogan, “Church ball: The brawl that begins with a prayer,” but that is not what church ball has always been.

Author’s Note: Thank you to BYU historian Jessie Embry for her research on this topic. Embry’s research can be found in its totality here. 

Basketball in its infancy was intended to be a religious experience. James Naismith invented basketball in 1891 when he was 31 years old. A recreation-turned-theology major, James, much to the dismay of his family who believed athletics and religion shouldn’t mix, believed athletics could be a powerful tool for conversion in religion. In fact, in reference to church athletic teams, he is quoted as saying, “Whenever I witness games in a church league, I feel that my vision almost half a century ago, of the time when the Christian people would recognize the true value of athletics has become a reality.”

Latter-day Saints were no doubt among the most loyal adopters of the sport, utilizing it to influence the lives of its youth.

In fact, in 1940, Ralph W. Hardy told the New York Times, “The LDS Church has the largest athletic circuit in the world. The focal point is the quality of spiritual manhood which the program . . . can instill in the lives of youth.”

Embry found in her research an emphasis on the purposes of the program. In 1968, Elder Mark E. Petersen, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said that the singular objective of church sports was “the salvation of souls.” The Church’s investment in recreation was based on the Book of Mormon statement that “men are, that they might have joy.” Church leaders believed sports programs provided a good way to find joy that could offer an alternative to more negative forms of recreation.

Marion G. Romney, another member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said in 1970 that the programs were “intended to build character among those who compete.” Embry writes that Paul Hansen, a basketball coach of the Edgehill Ward in Salt Lake City, was remembered by his players as teaching them at the beginning of each season, “This is a basketball. Behind me a basketball floor. Across the basketball floor is a chapel. The reason for this game is to put into practice the things you learn in that chapel.”

Hamilton recalls his team determining that while they weren’t totally sure what to expect from the tournament in terms of competition, the one thing they could control completely was their ability to be good sports. At the end of the 1969 tournament, they not only took home the tournament’s basketball trophy but they were also awarded the sportsmanship award, something Hamilton says he has always been proud of.

The tournament weekend in Salt Lake City not only included basketball but also was a spiritual experience for those in attendance. A special devotional was held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle for all of the teams, which Hamilton estimates totaled 800 players plus coaches.

Church basketball also proved to be an effective missionary tool. It served as a natural way to invite friends and less-active members to church.

One specific player who was impacted by this devotional is emeritus general authority Elder R. Conrad Schultz, who wasn’t a member of the Church when he came to play in the All-Church tournament in the 1950s. When Elder Schultz quit his Oregon high school basketball team, his Latter-day Saint friend invited him to play on his church team. In his biography onChurchofJesusChrist.org, Elder Schultz recalls that after hearing Joseph Fielding Smith at the devotional, he returned home and wanted to know more about the Church. He was soon baptized in 1956 and two years later served a mission in the Gulf States Mission.

Some players didn’t join the Church but church basketball was able to make a positive impression on those involved. When the 1969 championship team from Cincinnati reunited last month, the one person on their team that was not a member of the Church and his wife were in attendance.

One thing that is noticeably exempt from reports on this era of church basketball is female church basketball players. There are mentions of “the loving laurels” serving as sponsors (or hosts) at the All-Church tournament and other girls forming cheerleading squads but nothing about girls as players. When I asked Embry about this, she explained that she remembers playing in one church basketball game herself but that it was not very enjoyable thanks to rule restrictions in female basketball that was reflective of what was happening elsewhere in the United States and in the world.

Picture this: A basketball game where only one player is able to cross half court at any given time.

“Women did not have the capacity to run that much. If they ran that much, it would impare their reproduction abilities,” Embry recalls with a laugh. “I say that mockingly now but people believed that so it didn’t really bother people that much that they weren’t involved. I think they were delighted to be the cheerleaders, the support of each team.”

Church basketball began around the turn of the century in the early 1900s but saw its greatest popularity in the 1960s and 70s, prior to the discontinuation of the All-Church tournament in 1979.

In her research, Embry offers several explanations for the discontinuation of the program.

“Where there were problems with teams recruiting players, poor officiating after a decision not to hire professionals, and accidents, the major concerns focused on a bigger picture. Three major reasons for the change were growth in membership, an international church, and a shift to a redefinition of the Church’s mission statement.”

Most people who were members of the Church during the 50s and 60s have their own memories of the glory days of church basketball. Not many have the opportunity to reunite and relive them. Hamilton and his teammates recognized and appreciated the opportunity to come together once more.

“This reunion was one of my favorite things that’s ever happened to me,” Hamilton said, adding that he feels like he got a taste of what heaven must feel like. Many of the people in attendance hadn’t seen each other in years as they have made lives for themselves scattered throughout the country.

It’s difficult to hear Hamilton’s description of his team’s recent 50^thanniversary reunion and not think of the scripture in Alma 17:2 when Alma the Younger is reunited with the sons of Mosiah: “Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord.”

Together, the group, who has served in a wide variety of church callings in the decade since, attended Music and the Spoken Word in the Salt Lake Tabernacle to cap off the weekend. As the congregation was invited to join the Tabernacle Choir in singing “God Be With You Till We Meet Again” at the end of the broadcast, Hamilton couldn’t help but think of the special significance the song carried for he and his teammates as well as others from Cincinnati who had joined them for the reunion.

“We’ll never see each other again in that kind of a group so that was really touching,” Hamilton said.

Images provided by Marshall Hamilton.