bletree Hotel Downtown (616 W. 7th Street, 918/587-8000). Twenty teams will stay at the Doubletree and 12 teams will stay at the Tulsa Southern Hills Marriott (71st & Lewis, During my sophomore and junior years at Wayne State College (Wayne, NE), I was a member of basketball teams that qualified for the NAIA Tournament held in Kansas City, Missouri at the Municipal Auditorium. My memories include the great hospitality provided to us by our team sponsors. This included going to dinner with them at a great Kansas City restaurant and eating a fabulous steak (I can still taste it). Maybe my most vivid memory is walking from our hotel to the arena through the labyrinth of crowded tunnels. Hundreds of fans and teams (in their colorful warm-ups) would be walking to and from the games and the excitement was palpable. On the first night of the tournament (Monday), the opening ceremony took place. The cornerstone of that ceremony was a parade of all the teams (32 teams from all over the nation who had played their way into the tournament). Those teams, in a combined effort, spelled the letters N-A-I-A on the court, just before the 7:00P game. What a thrill it was to participate in that opening ceremony. I fell in love with Kansas City because of my NAIA experiences and I have been fortunate enough to live in this great city since 1976. I look forward to going to the tournament this year and watching great basketball played by true student athletes. I’ll also let my mind wander back in time to those great March days in 1969 and 1970 when I was treated like a celebrity, even if I played sparingly. Thank you for bringing the NAIA back home! OBU's Return to Kansas City Touched By HistoryRay Fink, Oklahoma Baptist UniversityEditor's Note - Oklahoma Baptist has qualified for the 2002 tournamentThe NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament returns to Kansas City next month and the Bison of Oklahoma Baptist University will bring a lot o...
