Cotton States Interscholastic Basketball Tournament
From Hoopedia
Cotton States Interscholastic Basketball Tournament
1922-1929
Alabama Polytechnic Institute (later Auburn University) inaugurated the first interstate basketball tournament in the South in 1922 with the Cotton States Interscholastic Basketball Tournament. The tournament was designed to draw from all of the southeast section of the South, but in its first year the teams were drawn only from Georgia and Alabama. The South being legally and socially segregated at the time, tournament officials never invited any teams from African American schools. Some 20 teams were invited for the two-day event held in the third week of February. The final was an all-Atlanta, Georgia one, with Tech High beating University School for the title.
The next year, three days were allotted for the competition, which ended up in yet another all-Atlanta final, with Georgia Military Academy besting University School for the title. In its third year, 1924, tournament organizers settled on the rational 16-team format, and Tennessee sent representatives. An Alabama school, Birmingham Simpson (AL), broke the Georgia monopoly by beating Georgia Military Academy for the tournament championship. By 1927, the tournament was drawing teams from five states, after Florida and Mississippi had begun participating.
Tournament organizers believed the Cotton States tourney was useful not only in widening interest in the sport but also it had an impact among southern leagues and athletic associations in that “more attention has been given in standardizing eligibility rules and business way of conducting athletics in the preparatory schools.” The winning team was given the President’s Cup trophy, and smaller trophies were given to the second, third, and fourth place team. Gold medals were presented to players of the winning team, and silver medals to the players of the second-place team.
During the 1920s, Georgia teams dominated the competition, taking seven of the nine first place championships, and eight of the nine second-place titles. In 1929, the Cotton States tournament had become truly representative of its section, when a Mississippi school, Monticello (MS), beat a Tennessee school, Cleveland Bradley (TN) for the title. Unfortunately, it was the final year of the tournament.
Tournament Champions
1922 Atlanta Tech (GA)
1923 Georgia Military Academy (Atlanta, GA)
1924 Birmingham Simpson (AL)
1925 Marshallville (GA)
1926 Georgia Military Academy (Atlanta, GA)
1927 Vienna (GA)
1928 Vienna (GA)
1929 Monticello (MS)
