 Blackburn established Dayton as a national basketball power, winning the National Invitation Tournament in 1962, reaching the NIT finals six times during the 1950s and early 1960s, and securing a #2 AP ranking for most of the 1955–1956 season.The foundation established by Blackburn led to Dayton being the most successful Division I basketball program through the 1950s and 1960s.Tom Blackburn became ill with terminal lung cancer during the 1963–64 season.