On March 27, 1939, it was impossible for anyone to comprehend how much of an impact the National Collegiate Basketball Championship would have on the American sports landscape.

The first title game featured the University of Oregon against the Ohio State University Buckeyes in Patten Gymnasium on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The event recently was selected as one of the Top 25 Defining Moments in NCAA history.

A sell-out crowd of 5,500 packed the arena during Oregon’s 46-33 victory. Even so, the good attendance did not keep the National Association of Basketball Coaches, which administered the event, from losing $2,531.

The NCAA — at the time an association with no paid staff — agreed to cover the financial losses in exchange for sponsoring future tournaments. That turned out to be a pretty good deal. Today, the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, anchored by the Final Four, is the centerpiece of an 11-year, $6 billion television rights package with CBS.

It all began modestly in 1939. There was no Final Four back then; only Oregon and Ohio State advanced to the final site after winning two games in the tournament. It was hardly an awe-inspiring start to what is now an American sports treasure.

Oregon was a sleek basketball team that ran its opponents into submission. The Ducks also carried the catchy nickname “The Tall Firs,” given to them by Portland Oregonian sports columnist L.H. Gregory.

A particular point of pride for coach Howard Hobson was that he and all of the five starters were born in Oregon.

The Ducks featured a lineup of 6-8 center Urgel “Slim” Wintermute, 6-4 forwards Laddie Gale and John Dick, and fiery guards Bobby Anet and Wallace Johansen.

Hobson is quoted in the book “The Final Four” about how he wanted his team to compete. “Our fast break was a little unusual in that we looked for it on every possession,” he said. “We used it all the time until the opportunity closed.”

Hobson was also a noted strategist. In the Western playoff final against the University of Oklahoma, he had the Ducks open in a zone defense.

Later he switched to a man-to-man, but he instructed his players to keep their hands high all the time to create the illusion of being in a zone. The ploy confounded Oklahoma and led to a 55-37 victory.

Oregon used the same tactic successfully against Ohio State. During that game, Anet hustled for a loose ball and crashed over the table upon which the championship trophy sat. The figure of a basketball player at the top of the trophy was knocked loose. Thus, during the ceremony after the game, the Ducks were presented their spoils in two parts.

When they arrived home by train days later, they were met by thousands of students and fans. They also took the trophy to a jeweler to mend it into one piece.

From that inauspicious beginning, the NCAA tournament grew to become one of the elite events in American sports. The “Final Two” of 1939 became a “Final Four” in 1952 in Seattle. Dynasties came and went — none bigger than when UCLA won 10 championships from 1964 through 1975 (including seven in a row from 1967 through 1973).

The bracket expanded to 32, then 40, then 48, then 64 and then 64 with a play-in. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson headlined a 1979 national championship game that attracted a television rating of 24.1, still the gold standard for NCAA championship viewership.

In 1982, the Final Four was held in New Orleans’ Superdome — a controversial decision since the 1971 Final Four in Houston’s Astrodome had been a public relations snafu. In that game, many spectators didn’t have clear sight lines to the raised court, and others were simply too far away from the action. Indeed, the idea of holding the event in a dome was taboo to many committee members. But the Association stuck with the idea.

“It was nerve-wracking,” said Dave Gavitt, a member of the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee chair from 1979-84 and former Big East Conference commissioner.  “We were hesitant to leave the conventional buildings because of all the atmosphere. But the demand for tickets (especially from the four participating institutions) was so great we really felt we needed to at least explore sharing this event with more people. We took seven trips as a committee to just walk the arena. We offered to refund anybody’s money. There were only about seven tickets returned.” 

In that 1982 final, a crowd of 61,612 watched in the Superdome as the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, defeated Georgetown University, 63-62, in one of the most memorable championship games of all time. Freshman guard Michael Jordan hit the game-winning jump shot and Georgetown’s Fred Brown mistakenly threw the ball to Tar Heels all-American James Worthy in the final seconds.

The public liked what it saw. Finals Fours in Domes became the norm and then the requirement.

These days, prospective improvements focus on such features as in-venue radio broadcasting (the ability to hear home radio calls of the teams involved) or ways of channeling additional information through the use of technology. The constant quest is to improve the experience for student-athletes and fans.

“It is forever a work in progress,” said Greg Shaheen, NCAA vice president of Division I men’s basketball and championship strategies. “And every off-season is spent contemplating how to make it a better experience.”

And it all began modestly in a campus gymnasium 67 years ago.