1961
Walt Sawosko had an idea -- to fill the need for a high caliber tournament
close to home which would eliminate overnight expense, and often hazardous
road conditions, for teams and fans traveling downstate. Holiday
Tournaments at that time were bring held in places like Pontiac, Centrailia
and DeKalb to name a few. Eight teams made up the initial Proviso West
Tournament field: Downers Grove North, East Leyden, Maine East, Morton West, Niles East, Niles West, Proviso
West and West Leyden. Since all of the teams in the initial event were
within one hour of Proviso, it gave local fans an opportunity to follow and
support their favorite team. A single winner and losers bracket champion was
crowned, as no third place award was given. The ten games were
conducted in three days. Eventual champion Maine East beat West Leyden
59-44 in the tournament's first ever game. The Demons went on to
capture the title with a 62-58 victory over Morton West. Steve Smith
and Bill King both scored 16 points each for Coach Bernie Brady's champions.
Niles West beat Niles East for the consolation trophy. Morton West's
Jim Vopicka was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player and teammate
Frank Tully led all scorers with 67 points in three games. Probably
the most notable player in the event was Niles West's Jim Hart, who would
later play quarterback in the NFL for 19 years and have four Pro Bowl
appearances. Results from 1961
Niles West's Jim Hart
would later play in the NFL
Souvenir program from
1962 Tournament
1962
With a year under its belt, the Proviso West Holiday Tournament would double
in size, expanding to sixteen teams. Morton West makes it to the
championship game for the second time in two years -- this time winning the
title over Maine West 51-48 outscoring the Warriors 14-9 in the final frame.
Morton's Carl Gatlin leads the Falcons with 16 points in the title game and
makes the All-Tournament Team, as Maine East's Al Walters, the tourney MVP,
is held to only nine points in the final. Hinsdale's Bill Koch
establishes the single game tournament scoring record with a 35 point
performance against Forest View in the first round.
Results from 1962
TEAMS IN:
Elgin Larkin, Forest View, Glenbard
East, Glenbard West, Highland Park, Hinsdale, Maine West,
Riverside-Brookfield
TEAMS OUT: None
1963
Proviso East makes their initial
appearance and makes the most of it with their first tournament championship
under legendary coach Tom Millikin.
Pirate junior forward Al Nunness scores 24 points in the Pirates 55-53 title
game victory over Maine West, which finished as runner-up for the second
straight year. Riverside-Brookfield's Tom Kondla becomes the first
player to be selected to first team of the All-Tournament Team two years in a row, and
would later become the tournament's first professional basketball player
playing with the Minnesota Pipers and Houston Mavericks of the American
Basketball Association. Results
from 1963
TEAMS IN:
Glenbrook South, Naperville, Proviso
East
TEAMS OUT: Elgin Larkin,
Forest View, Glenbard East
Riverside-Brookfield's
Tom
Kondla played in the ABA
1964
Proviso East becomes the first school to win back-to-back titles,
defeating Morton East 62-50 in the championship game, behind Al Nuness' 20
point performance. Morton East guard Dan Vashinko would
later become the first person to play and coach in the tournament, as he would
return to his alma mater as the head coach of the Mustangs in 1978 and 1979.
Lyons Township makes the first of their 22 straight appearances and wins
their initial game 97-76 over Downers Grove, setting the record for most
points in a game by a team. East Leyden, despite losing
two games in the tournament --
would later advance to the Sweet Sixteen in March -- the first team in Proviso
West Holiday Tournament history to do so. Results from
1964
TEAMS IN:
Elgin, Lyons Township, Morton East
TEAMS OUT: Highland Park, Maine
West, Niles East
1965
East Leyden defeats Lyons Township 72-64 in the title game
for Coach Norm Goodman's only Proviso West title. The Eagles' Jim
Bradoff scores 20 for the champions. Proviso
East's 10 game tournament win streak is snapped in the semi-finals by the Lions
77-66, maring the Pirates first ever loss in Holiday Tournament play.
Proviso East's Joe Watts establishes the all-time tournament rebound record with
79 in four games which would stand until 1983 when the evaluation of game
statistics revealed that more rebounds were credited than missed shots and the
effort was removed from the record books. Legend has it that Watts' girlfriend took statistics during the tournament.
Results from 1965
TEAMS IN:
Maine West, Oak Park, West Chicago
TEAMS OUT: Glenbrook South,
Maine East, Naperville
Imagine Rick Howat's
numbers if there was a
three point line in 1966
1966
Downers North's Rick Howat scores a tournament record 38 points in the
Trojans semi-final victory over East Leyden and then tallies 35 points in the
title game against Proviso East the next day, as Downers North claims their
only tournament title with a 71-50 win. The 21-point victory in the
championship game still remains the largest margin of victory in the final
and the Trojans become the first team in tournament history to score over
300 points in the four game event. Howat shatters the all-time scoring
record with 127 points, a record that he will hold for the next 25 years.
Results
from 1966
TEAMS IN:
Lake Forest, Rich Central, Thornridge
TEAMS OUT: Glenbard West, Niles
West, West Chicago
1967
Hinsdale Central, a charter member of the original Proviso West Tournament
field, defected from the tournament after playing too many conference
opponents. Enter: Evanston. The Wildkits won their first three
games by a collective 96 points and then eked out a 50-48 overtime victory
against Proviso East in the championship game before an estimated crowd of
4800 people -- the most to ever watch any Proviso West Holiday Tournament
game. The widely anticipated clash draws so many fans that the doors
are locked prior to the start of the game, but unruly spectators break open
a door allowing the all-time attendance figure to be set. The title
game becomes a physical clash between two future NBA goliaths in the Wildkits Bob Lackey and the Pirates Jim
Brewer. Lackey leads all scorers with 13 points in the defensive
half-court struggle. Evanston would later go on to capture the state championship --
winning each of their state tournament games by an average of 22 points.
Results
from 1967
TEAMS IN:
Evanston
TEAMS OUT: Hinsdale Central
Bob Lackey - Evanston
Jim Brewer -
Proviso East
1968
Proviso East and tournament MVP Jim Brewer redeem themselves
with a 67-51 title game victory over Lyons Township. In the final
game, the Pirates become the tournament's first team to have all five
players score in double figures in a championship game clash. Walt
Williams leads the balanced quintet with 17 points. The Pirates also
establish another tournament first -- as they win all four of their
Christmas clashes, each by at least 10 points. Later in
the season, Proviso East goes on to capture
the state championship, as coach Tom Millikin retires from coaching to
become the school's principal, and finishes with three Proviso West
Tournament titles and set the
tournament's best winning percentage (.875) with an astounding 21 tournament wins in 24 tries.
Results from
1968
TEAMS IN: Willowbrook
TEAMS OUT: Rich Central
1969
Coach Ron Nikcevich moves from Riverside-Brookfield to
Lyons Township as the Lions win their first Proviso West Tournament with a 61-45 victory over
Downers North. Lyons Township becomes the third team in as many years to win
both the Proviso West and state tournament crowns in the same season.
Lyons completes a perfect season with a 31-0 record. The Lions are so
dominating they win every game by double digits. In their 60-32
quarterfinal victory over Oak Park, the Lions Owen Brown grabs a tourney
record 22 rebounds. Defending state
champion Proviso East is stunned 58-56 in the quarterfinals by Willowbrook
as George Thoreson scores the game winner with no time left in overtime.
The loss marks the first time in tournament history that the Pirates did not
advance to the Final Four. In the Holiday
Tourney title game LTHS guard Scott Shaw sets the single game assist mark with
12. Morton West's Bill McClure makes 24 free throws in a single game
-- an individual tournament record that may never be broken.
The tournament program carries the tagline of "See College Stars of Tomorrow
in Action" for the first time and still costs 25 cents.
Results
from 1969
TEAMS IN:
Highland Park, Joliet West, Saint Joseph,
Wheaton Central
TEAMS OUT: Evanston,
Maine West, Morton East, Thornridge
Lyons
Township's Dave Wehrmeister would later
pitch in the Major Leagues