Maguire University is a fictitious college invented in 1963 by a group of Chicago high school basketball coaches, for the sole purpose of securing tickets to the NCAA Final Four.
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Maguire "University" is born
The idea was hatched by then-Fenwick High School coach Len Tyrrell at Maguire's Pub in Forest Park, Illinois. The NCAA fell for it, and so did at least one real school: the United States Air Force Academy, which contacted Tyrrell (Maguire's self-proclaimed "Chancellor") and asked to play his nonexistent team.
Maguire (nicknamed "the Jollymen") received Final Four tickets for two years, until Bill Jauss wrote about the scam in the Chicago Tribune. The NCAA was not amused. The coaches then had to acquire their own tickets, and at least one of them has attended every Final Four (or, as they call it, Final 'Five') ever since. Maguire's motto, "We Play Hurt", is a reference to the hangovers accrued by Maguire's "students".
Tyrrell grew the faux-university's "enrollment" from the original eight members to well over 150 in the 30-plus years he ran the phony school. He was also named Maguire's first Hall of Fame member, after resigning his position in 2000. Kelly's Pub, on Webster Street in Chicago, serves as the college's "campus" since the closing of Maguire's Pub in 1988.
The Maguire University 50th Year Celebration in 2012 was held in New Orleans at the Hotel le Marais.
For the 2017 Final Four, Maguire U. will be based at the Saguaro Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona
Officers
Founder: John Maguire (Founder and President, 1961 - 1976)
President: Art Duffy (Hall of Fame, 1998)
Dean of Students: Meg Comer (Hall of Fame, 2013)
Director of Admissions and Alumni Relations: Jimmy Dillon (Hall of Fame, 2005)
Vice Presidents: George Hoey and Beth Larocca (Hall of Fame, 2004)
Recording Secretary: Shawn Roberts (Hall of Fame, 2008)