| Type: | NAIA men's basketball tournament |
| Year: | 1961 |
| Teams: | 32 |
| Finalfourarena: | Municipal Auditorium |
| Finalfourcity: | Kansas City, Missouri |
| Titlecount: | 1st |
| Champgamecount: | 1st |
| Champffcount: | 1st |
| Gamecount: | 1st |
| Runnerffcount: | 2nd |
| Finalfourcount1: | 1st |
| Finalfourcount2: | 2nd |
| Coty: | Rex Pyles |
| Mvp: | Charles Hardnett |
| Mvpteam: | Grambling |
| Hustle: | Dick Vories |
| Hustleschool: | Georgetown (KY) |
| Attendance: | unknown |
The 1961 NAIA men's basketball tournament was held in March at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 24th annual NAIA basketball tournament featured 32 teams playing in a single-elimination format.[1] The championship game featured the 13th seeded Grambling and the third seeded Georgetown. For the first time since seeding, in 1958, the third-place game featured the first and second seeds, Northern Michigan, and Westminster.
Many of the records set by the 1961 tournament have been broken, and many of the awards were established much later:
The third-place game featured the losing teams from the national semifinalist to determine third and fourth places in the tournament. This game was played until 1988.