1951-52 College Basketball Season

Originally written by Frank Woods and GRL

During the 1951-52 college basketball season, CBS and ABC televised games across their networks. As television networks negotiated with the individual schools, CBS gained rights to games involving either Army or Navy as the home team this season, while ABC was a bit more diverse in the number of teams they covered, but primarily only showed games played in either Philadelphia or Chicago. Most of this schedule and announcer info comes from ku528808 in the college basketball index, with announcers confirmed for specific games and additional telecast info coming from a variety of contemporary newspapers.

Any details concerning these broadcasts, missing commentators or corrections to the following listings will be especially appreciated.

Regular Season

Saturday 12/8:

Virginia-Navy, 2:00, CBS. Connie Desmond

Pennsylvania-Maryland, 9:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy

Saturday 12/15:

Pennsylvania-Swarthmore, 9:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy

Saturday 12/22:

Colorado-Michigan, 9:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy

JANUARY

Saturday 1/5:

Maryland-Navy, 2:00, CBS. Connie Desmond

Northwestern-Ohio State, 9:00 ABC. Curt Gowdy

Saturday 1/12:

Georgetown-Navy, 2:00, CBS. Connie Desmond

Purdue-Northwestern, 9:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy

Saturday 1/19:

Fordham-Army, 2:00, CBS. Connie Desmond

Penn-Dartmouth, 9:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy

Saturday 1/26:

VMI-Navy, 2:00, CBS. Connie Desmond

Villanova-Seton Hall, 9:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Don Dunphy

FEBRUARY

Saturday 2/2:

Colgate-Army, 2:00, CBS. Connie Desmond

Northwestern-Michigan State, 9:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Bob Finnegan

Saturday 2/9:

Duke-Navy, 2:00, CBS. Connie Desmond

Pennsylvania-Princeton, 9:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Don Dunphy

Saturday 2/16:

Penn State-Army, 2:00, CBS. Connie Desmond

Northwestern-Indiana, 9:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Vince Garrity

Saturday 2/23:

Notre Dame-Navy, 2:00, CBS. Connie Desmond

Columbia-Pennsylvania, 9:00, ABC. Curt Gowdy, Don Dunphy

MARCH

Saturday 3/1:

Navy-Army, 2:00, CBS. Connie Desmond

Harvard-Pennsylvania, 9:00, ABC. Don Dunphy, Bob Finnegan

Saturday 3/8:

Saint Bonaventure-Villanova, 8:30 (at Palestra - JIP in 4th quarter), ABC. Don Dunphy, Bob Finnegan

Cornell-Pennsylvania, 9:15, ABC. Don Dunphy, Bob Finnegan

NIT

Saturday 3/15- NIT Championship

La Salle-Dayton, 9:30, syndicated(?). Jimmy Powers, Bud Palmer

-The announcers are taken from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of 3/15/1952, where they were scheduled to announce the game over WPIX, then an independent station. Powers was a longtime columnist for the New York Daily News who became a sportscaster in the early days of television, while Palmer (not yet a national personality) was the Knicks television announcer.

-This game was also telecast by WHIO in Dayton, according to the Dayton Daily News of 3/15/1952- the listing of this game is based on the assumption that WHIO aired the WPIX feed, though correction on this matter shall be much appreciated.