HUTCHINSON, KAN. (March 21, 2026) – The Colorado Collegiate Chronicle has traveled over 400 miles from its roots to cover the 2026 National Junior Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division I Men’s Basketball Championships at the Sports Arena.
The 23-game, 7-day event started on Saturday and concludes on March 28, with 24 schools from 16 districts competing in the 79th annual tournament, which Hutchinson is hosting for the 78th time.
So why is the Colorado Collegiate Chronicle attending the hoop fest in the central plains of Kansas? Well, 65 seasons ago, a Colorado school (Pueblo Junior College) captured the crown by defeating Tyler of Texas 79-66 in the finale. It was the third of five team basketball titles won by a school in the Centennial State. CSUP ANNIVERSARY ARTICLE
For full disclosure, my father (Harry Simmons) was the coach of the national championship team. The then-Indians were 31-2 that season and were competing in their fifth NJCAA tournament in a seven-season span.
As for me, the 1961 Hutchinson event was the second of three I attended with my father. The first was in 1960, when Pueblo JC placed eighth. The third was in 1962 when the Indians were defeated in the regional semifinals in Sterling by Northeastern Junior College.
Trinidad State won the 1962 Region IX title (now called the Northwest Plains region) by defeating Northeastern in the playoff finale. On that Northeastern team was a guard from Sterling named Joe Folda.
A quarter of a century later, Folda became the coach at the University of Southern Colorado (the former Pueblo JC) in 1987. He is the all-time winningest men’s basketball coach in school history (now Colorado State Pueblo), sporting a 314-196 (61.6 percent) record from 1987-2005.
Folda then transitioned into the Director of Athletics role full-time and was the longest-tenured athletic director since Harry Simmons, who served in the post for 16 years from 1964-80. He was officially at the helm of Pack Athletics in 2005, after serving two interim stints in 2001 and from 2003 to 2005.
Folda’s son, Mike, played two seasons at Northeastern after a standout career at Pueblo East High, where he averaged 19 points and seven assists per game in leading the Eagles to the Class 4A “final four”.
While Joe Folda never played in the JC national tournament, Mike Folda played on the Plainsmen 2000 qualifier as Northeastern rebounded from an opening setback to win three straight consolation games to place seventh nationally.
After two seasons, Mike joined his father at CSU Pueblo and played in 54 games during his ThunderWolve career (2001-2004). He was also the eighth of 28 recipients of the Simmons scholarship in 2003.
After graduating, Mike Folda joined the Trinidad State staff in 2004 and became the Trojans’ head men’s basketball coach at the start of the 2010-2011 school year. Nearing the end of his 16th season at Trinidad State, he has compiled a 253-214 (54.1 percent) record and has led the Trojans to five-straight national tournaments.
“I was making plans for spring break,” said Mike Folda Saturday as he and his father were watching the opening games of the NJCAA tourney. “We put everything together in the post-season and gathered steam with each of the three playoff victories to reach the finals.”
In the title Region IX championship game, Trinidad State (17-16) posted a 101-91 victory over in-state rival Lamar on March 7. The Trojans defeated host Northeastern 74-70 on March 5, followed by a 74-73 victory over Northwest of Powell, Wyo., the next evening. READ MORE
On Sunday, Mike Folda’s Trojans meet Snow College (30-1), which is located 120 miles south of Salt Lake City in Ephraim, Utah. The Badgers were ranked first in the final NJCAA poll at the end of February and earned an at-large bid into the tournament. TSC FACT SHEET / SNOW COLLEGE NOTES
Sunday’s game tips at 11 a.m., with the winning team meeting Butler Community College (24-9) of El Dorado, Kan., on Tuesday.
To keep the Trinidad connect going, Zach Ruebesam, who just completed his first season at Colorado State Pueblo with a 22-8 record, benefited from one of Mike Folda’s Trojan players, Kyren Allen.
Allen, from Commerce City, Colo., played on Folda’s third and fourth NJCAA qualifying teams. As a ThunderWolve this season, Allen started the last 10 games (CSUP were 9-1) and finished the season averaging 7.0 points and 4.9 rebounds a game. He shot over 70 percent from the field (85-121).
One last note: Harry Simmons began his collegiate coaching career in Trinidad before joining the Marines in 1942. Harry’s wife (Mary Elizabeth) and son (Jim) were born in Trinidad.
With the completion of World War II, Harry Simmons joined the Pueblo Junior College staff on December 28, 1945. He remained at the school until the summer of 1980, when he retired to Aurora, Colo., with his wife.
Simmons passed away prior to the 1990 NCAA Division I Championships, with his celebration of life the afternoon before the national championship game on April 2, where UNLV defeated Duke 103-73 at McNichols Sports Arena.
