It all started in the beginning of the 20th century, in the state of Indiana, in the United States, where the tradition of cutting nets came to be. At the end of a school basketball game, the winning team would bring some people onto the court under the basketball nets. The goal? Climb up to the basket and, with a pair of scissors in hand, cut a sample from the basket to keep a souvenir of the victory. The tradition continues and is now known as "cutting the nets".
The person who popularized this tradition was Everett Case. In high school in 1919, Case had said he wanted to become a basketball coach. However, this was not considered a real profession at the time. The NCAA or even the NBA did not exist yet. It was inconceivable, if an individual wanted to make a success of his life, that he would become a basketball coach.
But he did not give up so easily. At the age of 22, E. Case was selected to coach the Frankfort High team. Just in three years, thanks to Case, the high school basketball team quickly climbed to the state championship and even won it three times! As always, at the end of every game, E.Case would tell his players to keep a souvenir of the game by cutting a strand from the net.
After taking care of the high school team, he became a coach in the Navy and then head coach at North Carolina State University. He continued the tradition of "cutting the net".
His North Carolina State University team lifted him up in one of their last games so he could, himself, cut the net.
In 1964, he was diagnosed with melanoma and died at the age of 65 in 1966. As for his collegiate tradition of "cutting the net", it never died and continues on to this day.
Even today, he is considered one of the most successful coaches in the history of North Carolina State University. He even has a bronze statue of him with a piece of net in his hand that has even been erected at the Reynolds Coliseum at NC State University.
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