1941 Kansas State Classifications BOYS BASKETBALL                                                            March 13, 2011     HOME

         The KSHSAA revamped their classification system used for Boys Basketball in 1941. Prior to this year, all schools above 200 in enrollment competed in Class A and all the other schools competed in Class B. It became obvious from 1925-1940 that the smaller schools of Class A rarely made it to the State tournament and almost never made it to the final four.

         The new system had all schools with an enrollment over 475 competing in Class AA. There were 36 schools in this category. Class A was made up of the 96 high schools with a population between 151 and 475. Class B contained all the other schools 150 or less - about 510 schools. A few schools that were Class B under the old system were moved up to Class A and had won Class B championships (e.g. Haven, Salina-Sacred Heart.) None of the high schools that remained in the new Class A had ever won a KSHSAA tournament.

        Here is how the State championships played out over 70 years ago.

CLASS AA

  36 Schools

       The champion and runner-up from each regional advanced to the State tournament. The KSHSAA paired regional champs with runner-up teams in first round games. The third place game caused a lot of controversy as Coach Lindley (Newton) and Coach Breen (El Dorado) were not fans of consolation games. Both teams went through the motions of playing a game and both were heavily criticized in the press and officially by the KSHSAA.

CLASS A

96 Schools - two teams chose not to participate ( Effingham and St. John) , so there were 94 teams in the mix for 1941.

   The winner of each regional automatically qualified for the state tournament and the association invited four teams to fill out the 16 team bracket.

CLASS B

Approximately 510 high schools in this class ( Marion district information is incomplete). The sensation of the tournament was Sublette and their star player Otto Schnellbacher. Tiny Olivet had 18 students and all 10 boys were on the team. One could not suit up as rosters were limited to nine players. The winner and runner-up in each of the 50 district tournaments automatically advanced to regional play. The association extended invitations to many 3rd and 4th place teams to fill out the 14 regional brackets. The winner of the regional advanced to the State tournament. Harveyville and Haven were invited to fill out the 16 team bracket .