Centennial moments, 1935-45

The following events helped shape the NCAA from 1935 through 1945.

* 1937 (April 2) — The first National Collegiate Boxing Championships are conducted at the University of California, Davis.

* 1937 — Ohio State University Athletics Director Lynn St. John concludes 25 years of service on the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee (including 18 years as chair).

* 1938 (April 16) — The first National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships are conducted at the University of Chicago.

* 1938 (July 4-9) — The Intercollegiate Tennis Championships are first conducted under the auspices of the NCAA (after sponsorship by the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association beginning in 1881); Frank Guernsey of Rice University wins his first of two singles titles.

* 1938 (November 22) — The first National Collegiate Cross Country Championships are conducted at Michigan State University.

* 1939 (March 27) — The first National Collegiate Basketball Championship is conducted at Northwestern University. The University of Oregon wins the first title.

* 1939 (April) — The University of Illinois, Champaign, led by eventual seven-time individual titlist Joe Giallombardo, wins the first of eight National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships titles between 1939 and 1958 (four under coach Hartley Price, who also coached two championship teams at Florida State University, and four under coach Charley Pond).

* 1939 (June 24-29) — The Intercollegiate Golf Championships of the United States are first conducted under the auspices of the NCAA (after sponsorship by U.S. Golf Association beginning in 1887). Vincent D’Antoni of Tulane University wins the individual title and Stanford University wins the team title.

* 1939 (December 29) — Longtime NCAA Secretary-Treasurer Frank W. Nicolson of Wesleyan University (Connecticut) resigns after 30 years in that position.

* 1941 (March 29) — The first National Collegiate Fencing Championships are conducted at Ohio State University.

*  1945 (June 25-30) — Francisco “Pancho” Segura  of the University of Miami (Florida) becomes (and remains) the only three-time singles titlist in NCAA tennis championships (the only other three-time collegiate titlist is Malcolm Chace, who competed in the pre-NCAA Intercollegiate Tennis Championships for Brown University and Yale University from 1893 to 1895).