One Shining Moment " One Shining Moment " is a song written by David Barrett about the NCAA Men ' s College Basketball Championship . " One Shining Moment " is traditionally played at the end of CBS Sports ' coverage of the championship game of the tournament . The song is played as the winning team ' s players cut down the nets , to a montage of highlights from the tournament . Notable artists . Barrett was the original artist ( 1987 - 1993 , 2000 - 2002 ) , but CBS has also broadcast remakes by Teddy Pendergrass ( 1994 – 1999 ) and Luther Vandross ( 2003 – 2009 , 2011 – ) . It is believed to be the last song Vandross recorded before his stroke and subsequent death . A version by Jennifer Hudson was used for the 2010 NCAA Men ' s Division I Basketball Tournament . The format of the Hudson video deviated from prior years by cutting away from the tournament highlight montage on several occasions to show footage of Hudson singing with a recording studio backdrop , drawing criticism from some fans and viewers . On March 29 , 2011 , CBS announced that they would be reinstating the Luther Vandross version for at least the 2011 Tournament . History . Barrett , a singer / songwriter from Michigan , wrote the song after seeing Larry Bird star for Indiana State in the 1979 NCAA tournament . In 1986 , he passed the song along to high school friend Armen Keteyian , an investigative journalist for CBS Sports and , at that time , " Sports Illustrated " , who in turn passed it to CBS Sports Creative Director Doug Towey . However , Towey originally planned to debut the song not after a basketball game , but after a football game , Super Bowl XXI . It was to have been the postgame montage from that contest , but CBS ran past the expected airtime and had a primetime show to debut in the next time slot , so the montage was canceled . CBS then asked Barrett for use of the song after the 1987 NCAA championship game , in which Indiana beat Syracuse . Towey decided to use " One Shining Moment " to close CBS ' coverage of the Tournament . The positive public response led to it becoming an annual feature . It has been used to end CBS ' coverage ever since . Doug Towey died on March 11 , 2009 and was remembered with a tribute on CBS . Lyrics . The first verse is about inspiration and hard work . The second verse deals with adversity , accompanied by highlights of injured players and missed shots . The bridge includes lines such as " Feel the beat of your heart " , often shown with players thumping their chests , and " Feel the wind in your face " , with video of drives towards the basket . There is a claim that the first line in the song was changed from " The ball is kicked " to " The ball is tipped . " However , Barrett said " My daughter informed me that they claim that the initial line was the ball is kicked . That ' s not the case . It never was . The original line was , the gun goes off . . . which I changed to suit the tournament . Ironically - I wrote the song about basketball ( after watching Larry Bird ) but for some reason ( who knows what I was thinking ? ! ? ) I didn ' t write it into the original first line . And so having the first line fall into place as it did was poetic and true . " The Chicago White Sox used the version with " The Gun Goes Off " to close their telecast on the final game at Comiskey Park on September 30th , 1990 .