Illinois State Catholic Tournament
From Hoopedia
This article by Robert Pruter originally appeared on the website of the Illinois High School Association. It appears here with the consent of the author.
Illinois Catholic schools did not begin their first state tournament until 1928, when an organization of Illinois and Iowa Catholic secondary schools, the Central States Preparatory Conference, organized a tournament. The Central States league consisted of six Illinois downstate schools and seven Iowa schools, and had held tournaments previous years for both Iowa and Illinois schools, the winner becoming the representative to the National Catholic Interscholastic Basketball Tournament (NCIBT).
For the 1928 Illinois-only tournament, league officials divided the state into five districts-representing "outer Chicago," Rockford, Peoria, Springfield, and Belleville-from which a field of 16 was selected. St. Viator's College of Kankakee served as host. The first meet was held in early March 1928, and saw St. Mary's (Bloomington) beat Spalding Institute (Peoria) for the title, and St. Viator's Academy (Kankakee) defeated St. Joseph (Philo) for the third place trophy. The tournament winner, representing Catholic schools outside Chicago, subsequently participated in the NCBIT. With the second meet in 1929, when Spalding Institute beat St. Viator's Academy it began a four-year run of state titles for the school. That year Corpus Christi (Galesburg) bested St. Thomas (Rockford) for third place.
The tournament was held at St. Viator's College up through 1933, and thereafter various Catholic high schools in the state bid to serve as host to the tournament. By 1931, the state tournament had come under the purview of the Illinois Catholic High School Preparatory Association, which by 1934 called itself the Illinois State Catholic High School Athletic Association (ISCHSAA). That year, the association accepted a bid by Jacksonville Routt to host the tournament. Decatur St. Teresa hosted from 1935 through 1937; Quincy Academy in 1938, where the games were held in the Quincy High School gym; and Springfield Cathedral in 1939 and 1940.
The state Catholic tournament was limited to downstate schools during its fourteen-year life-span, except for one year, in 1935. Catholic schools on the outer edge of the Chicago metropolitan area, such as St. Patrick in Kankakee and Marmion of Aurora, had always participated. In any case, in 1935, Oak Park Fenwick of the Chicago Catholic League was allowed to participate, and the school, apparently to the dismay of the downstate schools won the championship. In February 1936, Rev. Phil J. Newman of the ISCHSAA barred Fenwick from defending its championship, and declared the meet would be open to only "downstate schools." He also declared the title won by Fenwick to be "vacated." Apparently the ISCHSAA felt threatened by the prospect of the big schools from Chicago taking over the tournament, and preferred to insulate itself from the threat. The actual dispute and justification behind the ban on Chicago Catholic schools has been lost to history.
By 1938, the organization had 26 members, of which 16 were chosen for the annual basketball tournament. The members were also organized into leagues, such as the Illinois Central Catholic High School Conference, formed in 1935.
The last state Catholic basketball tournament was held in 1941. In the history of the tournament, Peoria Spalding took five titles, Bloomington Trinity took four, including the first year's title when the school was known as St. Mary's.
The end to the State Catholic Tournament stemmed from the desire of the Illinois Catholic High School Association to have its schools affiliate with the IHSAA and participate in the state championships in basketball, tennis, golf, track, swimming, and wrestling, the sports being sponsored at that time. From its inception the Illinois High School Athletic Association, which dropped "Athletic" from its name upon reorganization in 1940, was limited to public schools, with the exception of those schools that served as "lab" schools in colleges and universities for purposes of teacher training. Non-member schools could compete against IHSA member schools, but not in any meet or tournament that involved three or more schools. This in affect excluded Catholic and private schools from participating in county, conference, invitational, and state tournaments with IHSA members. In 1940, the Illinois Catholic High School Association applied for membership, and at the IHSA Board of Control meeting a proposal for a new rule that would have the Catholic schools join in a three-year trial membership was voted down. The vote possibly indicated a whiff of anti-Catholicism still prevalent at that time. Executive secretary Charles Whitten immediately asked for a reconsideration and urged acceptance, and the Board took another vote and accepted the Catholic schools into membership, beginning on January 1, 1941. After the three-year trial period, the IHSA made Catholic and private school membership permanent, and moved it from the code of rules into its constitution.
Today many of the schools that participated in the Catholic state tournament are still around and participating in the IHSA, notably St. Teresa (Decatur), Routt (Jacksonville), Trinity (Bloomington) (now known as Central Catholic), St. Bede (Peru), and Marmion (Aurora). The tournament also brought to light many institutions that have disappeared or have been subsumed by mergers, notably Spalding (Peoria), St. Joseph (Cairo), Central Catholic (East St. Louis), St. Joseph (Philo), and St. Mary's (Carlyle).
Tournament Champions
- 1928 St. Mary's (Bloomington)
- 1929 Spalding (Peoria)
- 1930 Spalding (Peoria)
- 1931 Spalding (Peoria)
- 1932 Spalding (Peoria)
- 1933 Trinity (Bloomington)
- 1934 Corpus Christi (Galesburg)
- 1935 Fenwick (Oak Park)
- 1936 Spalding (Peoria)
- 1937 St. Teresa (Decatur)
- 1938 St. Bede (Peru)
- 1939 Cathedral (Springfield)
- 1940 Trinity (Bloomington)
- 1941 Trinity (Bloomington)
