No piece of music is quite identifiable with a sport as One Shining Moment is with college basketball. But the March Madness anthem that is celebrating nearly 40 years of treasured memories was the result of a serendipitous time crunch at Super Bowl XXI.
One Shining Moment was written and performed by David Barrett in 1986 after being inspired watching Larry Bird play basketball. After using Barrett’s version for several years, Luther Vandross recorded the iconic version now being used today in 2003. (The less we say about that Jennifer Hudson version, the better.)
And after the Michigan Wolverines won the 2026 National Championship on Monday night, there were millions of fans that likely stuck around long after the final buzzer to watch One Shining Moment and put the perfect capstone on another year of March Madness.
With the famous sports ballad nearing its 40-year anniversary, both Ryan McGee at ESPN and Jeff Eisenberg at Yahoo Sports have profiles about the song and Barrett’s composition. And both stories contain a detail that most sports fans may not be aware of – One Shining Moment was originally meant to be played at Super Bowl XXI.
As the story goes, Barrett passed the song to his high school friend, veteran sports reporter Armen Keteyian. He then passed the song to CBS Sports, where it was discovered by creative director Doug Towey.
Towey’s original vision was to use the song for the Super Bowl XXI matchup between the New York Giants and Denver Broncos in 1987. However, time ran out on the Super Bowl broadcast to actually play the song. So CBS did the next best thing and saved it for their broadcast of the NCAA Tournament. It then made its long-awaited debut after Keith Smart’s shot gave Indiana a thrilling national championship victory.
McGee’s ESPN story tells the details of how it all happened.
CBS even flew Barrett out to Pasadena, California, to watch the matchup between John Elway’s Denver Broncos and Lawrence Taylor’s New York Giants. During his postgame report, sportscaster Brent Musburger even quoted the song. “The New York Giants, their first Super Bowl triumph, a shining moment they will never forget …” The time had arrived. Barrett’s big break was happening!
But it never ran. The Super Bowl-winning Giants were a little too chatty in their postgame locker room interviews, so the broadcast ran long and time ran out. Barrett was crushed — until a second call from Towey.
“He said they wanted to use it for March Madness,” Barrett’s voice nearly exploded as he told the story. “So, my little song about basketball, you know what? It figured out a way to make sure it was still a basketball song.”
On March 30, 1987, “One Shining Moment” made its debut in the most perfectly shiny momentous manner.
It would be ironic for a song that starts with “the ball is tipped” and was written about basketball to be used for football. But one can only wonder what would have happened to One Shining Moment if it was used for that Super Bowl broadcast. Would it be a one-time use or would it become the generational feel-good tune that has been cherished by sports fans for decades?
Given everything that we know now, maybe it was just destiny. But Super Bowl XXI did not leave empty-handed when it comes to famous sports traditions. Phil Simms was the first player to utter the famous words, “I’m going to go to Disney World” after winning the big game that year.
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