Eastern States Scholastic Basketball Tournament

From Hoopedia

Eastern States Scholastic Basketball Tournament

1920-1955

The Eastern States Scholastic Basketball Tournament began in 1920 under the name Northeastern States Scholastic, and was designed to serve public and private schools in the New England and Middle States sections of the country. Beginning with the 1926 tournament it was called the Eastern States Scholastic. Each year the tournament was held in Glens Falls, in upstate New York, for eight representative schools. Schools from Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Rhode Island were the principal participants, but in the later years, schools from Washington, DC; West Virginia; Virginia, and North Carolina participated. Most of the participants were from New York State during the history of the tournament.

The New York Times did not report the results in the tourney’s first two years. The third year of the tournament saw Holyoke (MA) edge Christian Brothers Academy (Syracuse, NY) by a score of 21-19.

One of the great Passaic (NJ) "Wonder Teams", under Hall of Fame coach Ernest Blood, participated in the 1925 tournament, beating out Christian Brothers of Syracuse 32-26 for the title. Passaic's boys could not have been in a good mood at this tournament. Their five year-long winning streak had been snapped at 159 games on February 6, 1925. The next two years Christian Brothers got their revenge, defeating Passiac, both times for the title.

Private schools continued to dominate the tournament until Mont Pleasant (Schenectady, NY) won in 1932. The next three years saw public school winners, one of which was Eastern (Washington, DC) in 1935, representing the first champion from the South, although some might say Middle Atlantic. In 1936 Brown Prep (Philadelphia) began a string of private school winners through 1939. In 1940, Durham (NC) represented not only a return to a public school holding the title, but also the first champion from the Deep South. Catholic schools won the last two years of the tournament before the World War II interruption—Memorial (West New York, NJ)in 1941 and La Salle Military Academy (Oakdale, NY) in 1942.

Tournament officials announced in early March of 1943 that the Eastern States tourney would have to be canceled due to wartime conditions. The tournament did not resume until 1947, and continued until at least 1955, when the New York Times did the last reporting on the tournament. By this time the Eastern States Catholic Invitational at Newport, Rhode Island, was drawing many Catholic schools away from the Glens Falls tournament.

Tournament Champions

1920  ?
1921 ?
1922 Holyoke (MA)
1923 St. John's Prep (Brooklyn, NY)
1924 St. Joseph's (Pittsfield, MA)
1925 Passaic (NJ)
1926 Christian Brothers Academy (Syracuse, NY)
1927 Christian Brothers Academy (Syracuse, NY)
1928 York Collegiate Institute (York, PA)
1929 St. Mary's (Westfield, MA)
1930 Cook Academy (Montour Falls, NY)
1931 Hun School (Princeton, NJ)
1932 Mont Pleasant (Schenectady, NY)
1933 Union Hill (Union City, NJ)
1934 Oswego (NY)
1935 Eastern (Washington, DC)
1936 Brown Prep (Philadelphia)
1937 Brown Prep (Philadelphia)
1938 Vincentian Institute (Albany, NY)
1939 Seton Hall (South Orange, NJ)
1940 Durham (NC)
1941 Memorial (West New York, NJ)
1942 La Salle Military Academy (NY)
1943 no tournament
1944 no tournament
1945 no tournament
1946 no tournament
1947 Dwight Morrow (Englewood, NJ)
1948 Emerson (Union City, NJ)
1949 West Catholic (Philadelphia)
1950 Carteret (West Orange, NJ)
1951 St. Thomas More (Philadelphia)
1952 Seton Hall (South Orange, NJ)
1953 Staunton Military Academy (Staunton, VA)
1954 St. Francis Prep (Brooklyn, NY)
1955 Greenbrier Military Academy (Lewisburg, WV)