Dixie Classic (basketball tournament)

Dixie Classic

Sport	Basketball
Founded	1949
No. of teams	8
Country(ies)	United States
Ceased	1960
Most titles	7 – North Carolina State

The Dixie Classic was an annual college basketball tournament played from 1949 to 1960 in Reynolds Coliseum. The field consisted of the "Big Four" North Carolina schools, the host NC State Wolfpack, Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina Tar Heels, and Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and four teams from across the country.

North Carolina State head coach Everett Case originated the idea of the Classic. His assistant, Carl "Butter" Anderson provided the name. The tournament was played over a three-day period every December, just after Christmas, on North Carolina State's home court.^[1]

The Classic consisted of three rounds. In the first round the four North Carolina schools would each play a visiting team. The winners of the first round game would advance in the winners' bracket and the losers would advance in the losers' bracket. Each day would have four games played until the third and final day when a champion would be crowned. No team from outside North Carolina ever won the Classic.

The tournament came to an end after a point-shaving scandal in 1961 involving players from both North Carolina State and North Carolina.^[2][3]

In 2011 The Classic: How Everett Case and His Tournament Brought Big-Time Basketball to the South by Bethany Bradsher (ISBN 978-0-9836825-2-3) was published telling the story of the Dixie Classic.

Championship games

Year	Winner	Runner-up	Result	Most valuable player	Team
1949	NC State	Penn State	50–46	Dick Dickey	NC State
1950	NC State (2)	Colgate	85–76	Sammy Ranzino	NC State
1951	NC State (3)	Cornell	51–49	Lee Terrill	NC State
1952	NC State (4)	Brigham Young	75–59	Ernie Beck	Penn
1953	Duke	Navy	98–83	Rudy D'Emilio	Duke
1954	NC State (5)	Minnesota	85–54	Ronnie Shavlik	NC State
1955	NC State (6)	North Carolina	82–60	Ronnie Shavlik (2)	NC State
1956	North Carolina	Wake Forest	63–55	Lennie Rosenbluth	North Carolina
1957	North Carolina (2)	NC State	39–30	Pete Brennan	North Carolina
1958	NC State (7)	Michigan State	70–61	John Richter	NC State
1959	Wake Forest	North Carolina	53–50	Billy Packer	Wake Forest
1960	North Carolina (3)	Duke	76–71

• All games played at Reynolds Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Peeler, Tim (August 11, 2008). "Remembering Reynolds: The Dixie Classic". North Carolina State University. http://www.gopack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=45818&SPID=3731&DB_OEM_ID=9200&ATCLID=1552373. Retrieved November 25, 2008. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ "University Life". Biographical Conversations with William Friday. UNC-TV. http://www.unctv.org/biocon/wfriday/universitylife.html. Retrieved November 25, 2008. 
3. ^ Carr, A.J. (March 16, 2006). "Dixie Classic scandal left bad taste". The News & Observer. http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/418466.html. Retrieved November 25, 2008. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Retrospective on Dixe Classic by News and Observer
• The Classic: How Everett Case and His Tournament Brought Big-Time Basketball to the South by Bethany Bradsher