1953-54 College Basketball Season
Originally written by GRL
During the 1953-1954 season, ABC served as sole national broadcaster of college basketball.
The network these games aired on grew over the season, going from seventeen with the first broadcast to over forty (located in the East, South, and Midwest) by late February.
Games were contracted with the home universities, with no real NCAA supervision- only one game took place outside the East Coast, and Army and Navy showed up frequently because their scheduling fit with that of ABC.
Any details concerning these broadcasts or corrections to the following listings will be much appreciated.
Regular Season
Saturday 12/12:
Yale-Navy, 2:30, ABC. Bob Finnegan
Saturday 12/19:
Yale-Syracuse, 2:30, ABC. Announcers unknown
Saturday 12/26:
American-Hofstra, 2:30, ABC. Announcers unknown
JANUARY
Saturday 1/2:
Bowling Green-Loyola [IL], 2:30, ABC. Announcers unknown
Saturday 1/9:
Army-Fordham 2:30, ABC. Announcers unknown
Saturday 1/16:
Penn State-Navy, 2:30, ABC. Bob Finnegan
Saturday 1/23:
Manhattan-Army, 2:30, ABC. Bob Finnegan
Saturday 1/30:
Duke-Navy, 2:30, ABC. Bob Finnegan
FEBRUARY
Saturday 2/6:
Syracuse-Army, 2:30, ABC. Bob Finnegan
Saturday 2/13:
Maryland-Navy, 2:30, ABC. Bob Finnegan
Saturday 2/20:
Notre Dame-Navy, 2:30, ABC. Bob Finnegan
Saturday 2/27:
Navy-Army, 2:30, ABC. Bob Finnegan
MARCH
Saturday 3/6:
Lafayette-Rutgers, 2:30, ABC. Bob Finnegan
NIT
No clear evidence of syndicated games- the Dayton Daily News of 3/7/1954 indicates that WHIO-TV in Dayton aired the Dayton-Manhattan game the previous night (with Charlie Hinkle serving as television commentator) and the Dayton Journal Herald of 3/8/1954 has WHIO-TV as scheduled to air the Niagara-Dayton game that night beginning at 9:30 (with Charlie Hinkle and Bud Palmer calling the game), but, in the case of the former game, with the implication that these broadcasts were special arrangements rather than picking up an existing feed. Similarly, the Tyrone [PA] Daily Herald of 3/13/1954 claims that WJAC-TV in Johnstown was scheduled to air the NIT championship game between Holy Cross and Duquesne starting at 9:30- however, there seems to be no television listing for this game in New York City (though WMGM aired it on radio), nor have references to any other television stations picking up this broadcast been found.