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In 1939, the
Oregon Webfoots, coached by the visionary Howard Hobson, stormed through the first NCAA basketball tournament, which
was viewed as a risky coast-to-coast undertaking and perhaps only a one-year experiment. Seventy-five years later, following
the tournament's evolution into a national obsession, the first champions are still celebrated as "The Tall
Firs." They had astounding height along the front line, but with a pair of racehorse guards who had grown up across
the street from each other in a historic Oregon fishing town, they also played a revolutionary fast-paced game. Terry Frei's track record as a narrative historian in
such books as the acclaimed Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming (Non-Fiction), plus a personal connection as an Oregon native whose father, Jerry, coached football at the University of
Oregon for seventeen seasons, make him uniquely qualified to tell this story of the first tournament and the first champions, in
the context of their times. Jerry Frei was the former World War II fighter pilot who, as the Ducks' head coach, requested
his teams be called the Fighting Ducks -- a nickname that now often appears on the basketball team's uniforms. Plus, Terry Frei long has been a fan of another central
figure in this drama -- Clair Bee, the Long Island University coach who later in life wrote the Chip Hilton Sports Series books, mesmerizing young readers
who didn't know the backstory told here. In 1939, the Bee-coached LIU Blackbirds won the NCAA tournament's rival, the national
invitation tournament in New York -- then in only its second year. Frei assesses both tournaments and, given the myths
advanced for many years, his conclusions in many cases are surprising. Both events unfolded in a turbulent month when it was becoming increasingly
apparent that Hitler's belligerence would draw Europe and perhaps the world into another war . . . soon. Amid heated
debates over the extent to which America should become involved in Europe's affairs this time, the men playing in
both tournaments wondered if they might be called on to serve and fight. Of course, as some of the Webfoots would demonstrate,
the answer was yes. It was a March Before the Madness. There's much more to this book than
the Oregon Webfoots, but for those intrigued
by the Oregon angle, please consider Terry Frei's novel based on being raised in Eugene as the son of the University of Oregon's head football coach in tumultuous campus and national times. The Witch's Season
"Carefully crafted, fast-moving and refreshing ... Frei's study is quite memorable."
"Terry Frei has told an amazing, riveting story of how
a group of basketball coaches started a loosely organized tournament that Oregon won that first year. Of course, it eventually
would grow into an even that captures the nation's attention each March. As a young NCAA administrator, I was the tournament
director in the 1960s -- and I have to say this taught me a lot I didn't know." -- Chuck
Neinas, president, Neinas Sports Services; former executive director, College Football Association; and former commissioner
of Big Eight and Big 12 Conferences "From humble beginnings, Oregon's ‘Tall Firs’
became the best basketball team in the country, helping to break the New York monopoly on an increasingly national game, and
the NCAA tournament became an unstoppable financial juggernaut. Once again, Terry Frei has vividly captured a pivotal moment
in history, for the world of college basketball and for a world about to go to war. The exploits on the court are enthralling
not only for their drama, but held up for comparison against what the tournament has become today—as well as the danger
lurking only a few years away." -- Luke DeCock, sports columnist,
Raleigh News & Observer
"Few writers are able to put sports into real-world context like
Terry Frei. Reading March 1939 is like crossing ESPN with the History Channel. Frei brings the '39 Oregon Webfoots
to life and takes us inside their victory in the first NCAA basketball tournament -- played as Germany and Japan marched the
world (including a hesitant United States) to the brink of war." -- Steve Luhm, Salt Lake Tribune
"What is unique about Frei's account is that he places the reader solidly in the world of 1939.
This is basketball history, for sure, but also world history." "Frei bookends March 1939 with the history,
before and after 1939, of the young men and coaches who made up the Oregon squad. Frei depicts these 'Tall Firs' as charming
small town Americans (David to the national power Goliaths) through skillful word play and research. There's a sense
of pride at the end of the book for these gentlemen who went on to make their world a better place." -- George Krieger, Washington Independent Review of Books (Full review) "Frei is untouchable in his niche of researching and writing glimpses
of sports history that would otherwise have been forgotten. His Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming and Olympic Affair:
A Novel of Hitler's Siren and America's Hero are on my list of favorite sports books and Before the Madness
is right alongside them." -- Dwight Jaynes, Comcast
Sports Northwest "Well written and thoroughly researched . . . [T]hose
interested in basketball’s early years and the origins of the NCAA Tournament will find much to interest them and a
lot of new information." -- Library Journal Excerpts
2015 Oregon Spring Game
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