Origin of the ‘Sweet 16’: Term associated with NCAA Tournament traces back to Kentucky
As the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments narrow their respective fields from Sweet 16s to Final Fours, here’s a reminder that the former has its roots in Kentucky.
For many across the nation, the Sweet 16 is a term exclusively tied to the second weekend of college basketball’s March Madness. However, the trademarked term can be traced to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s annual state basketball tournament.
According to KHSAA records, the first boys’ state high school basketball tournament took place during the 1917-18 season, just one year after the organization formed. At the time, 18 member schools participated in the event.
According to Chad Collins, general counsel to the KHSAA and its board of control, the term Sweet 16 (also written as Sweet Sixteen) first reared its head in the early 1930s, following the state’s division into 64 athletic districts and 16 athletic regions, as well as its elimination of separate classifications for schools.
While the first girls’ state basketball tournament occurred during the 1920-21 season, it was discontinued for the 1931-32 season. So when the term “Sweet 16” grew in popularity and usage, it applied, at first, to just the boys’ tournament.
“This usage was emphasized and documented more thoroughly in the late 1950s,” Collins said. “For example, Sweet 16®/Sweet Sixteen® appeared in the KHSAA publication, The Athlete, as early as 1958 in reference to a contest being held in conjunction with the tournament.”
A poem which referred to the Sweet 16 also appeared in the tournament program as early as 1960.
When the girls’ tournament resumed in 1975, the Sweet 16 label was also attached to that tournament and has been used for it ever since.
The KHSAA did not take any legal action to register a trademark for this term until the late 1980s.
“The KHSAA,” Collins explained, “successfully registered the marks Sweet 16® and Sweet Sixteen® in June of 1988 after applying to register the marks in 1987 with the United States Trademark and Patent Office.
Not until the late 1990s did the NCAA reach out to the KHSAA, as the term “Sweet 16” became common among broadcasters during the NCAA Tournament.
Per Collins, in March of 1998, the KHSAA and NCAA entered into a licensing agreement that allowed the NCAA to use the marks “Sweet 16” and “Sweet Sixteen” in conjunction with the third round of the NCAA Tournament. This agreement continues to be in effect today.
MADNESS OF MARCH
Similarly, the term “March Madness” isn’t an NCAA original, either.
According to attorney Jeremy Kahn, author of “NCAA Trademarks: Think Twice Before Advertising ‘March Madness,’” it was another high school athletic association that can take the credit.
“An executive officer of the Illinois High School Association is credited with first using the phrase in a 1939 essay about the Illinois high school basketball tournament published in the IHSA’s magazine,“ Kahn said in his article.
Per the IHSA, assistant executive secretary Henry V. Porter also wrote a poem titled “Basketball Ides of March” in 1942. That poem was also published in the March 1958 edition of the KHSAA’s publication as “Modern Ides of March.”
Despite “March Madness” not being used as a reference to the NCAA Tournament until 1982 by broadcasters, the IHSA and the NCAA found themselves in a battle of ownership.
According to Kahn, the NCAA attempted to trademark “March Madness” in the 1990s, but the IHSA had already bought the trademark rights from a “Chicago-based television production company.”
“The IHSA later sued an NCAA licensee to enjoin it from using the term ‘March Madness,’” Kahn wrote. “The IHSA lost, with the Seventh Circuit ruling that ‘March Madness’ had become a ‘dual-use’ term, referring to both the IHSA and NCAA basketball tournaments.”
The NCAA later bought out IHSA’s ownership share.
