Divide and conquer. That’s how the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission has approached telling the story associated with 100 years of the Boy’s High School Basketball Tournament.
The committee’s work will culminate Tuesday night at special dinner at the Charleston Civic Center marking the tournament’s history.
SSAC Assistant Executive Director Butch Powell says considering the history of the state tournament can be overwhelming but they approached it with a plan.
“We took our 12 to 14 member committee and we broke them up into small subcommittees,” Powell said. “We had a group that worked on the picture book that I wanted to get published. We had a group to work on the banquet and we had a group to work on the memorabilia we wanted to collect.”
The book is done; the banquet is ready to go and the memorabilia ready for display.
“We really had an outstanding time working with some very dedicated people who really took this project to heart,” Powell said.
The banquet, which will start at seven o’clock Tuesday night, will feature six speakers from different eras of the tournament.
“We’ve asked them to tell a little bit about a memorable moment at the state tournament when they either played or coached or officiated and to kind of relive some of those memories. And how did those memories help shape these individuals as they went into adulthood,” Powell said.
Organizers expect 800 for the dinner, which will be held just hours before the 100th tournament tips off Wed. morning with Charleston Catholic taking on Buffalo.
“We hope that on Wednesday morning that Lewis D’Antoni, 99-years-old who won a state championship back in 1955, is going to throw up the first jump ball. Once we get underway we are going to continue to have this year’s tournament and we think it’s going to be a big success as well,” Powell said.
The tournament began in 1914 at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon when Wheeling battled Elkins. The Tigers claimed the first trophy.
MetroNews is the exclusive voice of the Boy’s State Basketball Tournament. All games will be streamed live with real time statistics at wvmetronews.com.