1980
Tournament Most Valuable Player Ernest Hubbard scores 80 points in his first two games for Proviso East, with a 37-point performance against Libertyville followed by a 43-point showing the next night against Waukegan East.  The Pirates score 198 points in their first two games but are sidetracked by eventual tournament champion Saint Joseph 79-66 in the semi-finals.  The Chargers return to the victory stand by beating Lyons Township 54-42 in the championship game.  Dwayne King (11) and Daryl Thomas (10) guide Saint Joseph to the title.  The Lions Jeff Hornacek lead all scorers with 16 points.  The Final Four features an all West Suburban cast with Saint Joseph, Lyons Township Proviso East and Proviso West, with each team placing one player on the All-Tourney squad.  Results from 1980

TEAMS IN:  Joliet Central, Waukegan East
TEAMS OUT:  Argo, Elgin Larkin

 

   Lyons Township's Jeff
   Hornacek led the Lions
   to the title game in 1980,
   but Saint Joseph took
   the title.  Lyons turned
   the tables two years later
   and were crowned
    Proviso West champions.

 

1981
A new attendance record is set in the opening session as over 2000 fans come to watch Martin Luther King dismantle Fenwick 77-27 at 8:45 a.m. in the tournament opener. Third-ranked Proviso East had their 18 straight years of opening round victories snapped by Morgan Park 80-70 in one of the tournament's biggest upsets of all-time.  In a Dewey Defeats Truman scenario, a local paper doesn't wait for the outcome and assumes a Pirates' victory in the next morning's edition.  Two days later, the 14th-seeded Mustangs knock off Westinghouse 58-56 in the second round en route to an unpredictable third place finish.  Saint Joseph makes it four titles in five years with a 43-40 title game victory over Martin Luther King and 6'10" Efrem Winters in the lowest scoring championship game.  The Chargers' Daryl Thomas (10 points) is the only Saint Joseph player to reach double figures. In the Consolation Championship, Wendell Phillips' Bernard Jackson comes within a basket of Rick Howat's 15-year tournament scoring record, but misses a lay up in the final seconds.  King would later be forced to forfeit its victories due to using an ineligible player, Reggie Woodward, and would be not eligible to participate in the state tournament.  Results from 1981

TEAMS IN:  Morton West, Wendell Phillips
TEAMS OUT:  Joliet Central, Morton East

1982
Lyons Township shocks the nation's number one ranked Saint Joseph in the finale 56-54 behind a balance scoring attack that sees four Lions in double figures.  Neither team managed more than a five point lead during the 32 minute contest.  The Chargers won their first three games of the tournament by an average of 23 points.  Dave Satek's two free throws with two seconds remaining was the difference. Saint Joseph had a chance to tie the game from the free throw line, but missed and could not convert a putback as time ran out.  Coach Ron Nikcevich won his fourth Proviso West Tournament championship and became the first coach to win titles in three different decades.  For the only time in tournament history, the five man All-Tournament team featured no guards (Tony Reeder, Elmer Robinson, Bobby Worthington, Daryl Thomas and Anthony Young). Results from 1982

TEAMS IN:  None
TEAMS OUT:  None 

1983
The first ever use of three person officiating crews on the high school level debuts in the tournament semi-finals, with Reuben Norris, Ron Olesiak and Richard Reels working that game.  Olesiak would later referee in the NBA and Reels would officiate in the NFL.  Westinghouse beats King 78-65 in the first-ever all-Public League tournament final.  Hersey Hawkins scored 25 points in the championship game for the winners.  Laurent Crawford led King with 16.  The Warriors would later be forced to forfeit two of their four victories, but were allowed to remain tournament champion.  Current DePaul head coach Jerry Wainwright becomes only the second person to play and coach in the Proviso West Holiday Tournament, as he played on Morton West's teams in the sixties and coached Highland Park to the championship quarterfinals before falling to King. In the third place game, Phillips, trailing by four points in the final four seconds of regulation, scores a basket, commits a delay of game penalty, then makes two free throws after forcing a charge to send the game to overtime (and eventually wins 70-68) against Saint Joseph in one of the tournament's strangest endings.  Results from 1983

TEAMS IN:  Downers Grove South, Highland Park
TEAMS OUT:  Fenwick, Morton West


 

1984
The tournament is expanded for the first time since 1962, as a fifth place bracket is established.  Proviso East defeats Mendel Catholic 71-60 for the first ever fifth place award.  The quarterfinals feature back-to-back overtime contests as King defeats Proviso East 76-75 and Saint Joseph upends Westinghouse 57-53.  The semi-finals were broken up into two sessions with one in the afternoon and the other in the evening.  Proviso West snaps defending state champion, Simeon's 37-game winning streak in the early semi with a 63-62 victory.  The Panthers go on to win the title behind Player of the Year Michael Ingram (17 points), beating Martin Luther King 63-58.  Rod Parker (16), Robyn Davis (15) and Keith Sykes (10) join Ingram in double figures for Proviso West.  Levertis Robinson leads the Jaguars with a game high 18 points.  Simeon, upset with tournament officiating, announces that they will not return.  Coach Bob Hambric's comment on "everytime we leave the city this happens" is a bit more colorful for those present than what actually appears in the paper the following day.  Results from 1984

TEAMS IN:  Mendel Catholic, Simeon
TEAMS OUT:  Morgan Park, Zion-Benton

1985
King and Proviso West return to the championship game, this time with the Jaguars prevailing 72-64.  It marks the only time in the history of the Holiday Tournament that the same two team met in back-to-back championship games. Marcus Liberty nets 34 points in the title tilt.  The Panthers Rod Parker scores 18 for West.  The Jaguars made their third straight appearance in the title game, becoming the fourth team to do so.  King would go on to capture the 1986 Class "AA" state championship in  March.  In the consolation quarterfinals, Westinghouse beats Waukegan East 102-86 in the tournament's highest scoring game.  Two days later, Benet Academy defeats Mendel Catholic 36-33 in the tournament's lowest scoring game.  The tournament establishes an all-time record for gate receipts in the 25-year history of the event.  Highland Park's Peter Rudman scored the second most points by a player in a single game with 46 against Westinghouse in the Giants 76-72 loss.  Results from 1985

TEAMS IN:  Collins
TEAMS OUT:  Simeon

 

Marcus Liberty was Tournament MVP in 1985 and 1986
 

1986
After 22 consecutive years in the event, Lyons Township elects to move to the Elgin tournament for the Christmas Holidays and signs a two-year contract there.  In opening round action, Phillips shocks Saint Joseph 54-51 on Fleming Brewer's 40-foot buzzer beater, marking the Chargers first opening round loss in eleven years.  The two semi-finals were Instant Classics as Collins stuns Martin Luther King 74-71 and snaps the Jaguars 40-game winning streak behind Walter Bond's 27 points. Ninth seeded New Trier overcame a seven point deficit in the final 65 seconds of regulation to upset previously unbeaten Proviso West.  In the championship, Collins defeats New Trier 76-59 behind Gerald Rowan's 17and Walter Bond's 15 points.  Simon Lincoln added 23 for the Trevians.  The game is rebroadcast on "next day coverage" on Sports Vision, marking the first televised production of the tournament's title game.  Dan Capasso handled the play-by-play and tournament director Joe Spagnolo did the color.  Two teams, Evanston and Saint Joseph, are eliminated in second and third day Consolation Round play, but advance to the state tournament's Sweet Sixteen later in the season.  Results from 1986

TEAMS IN:  Evanston, Fenwick
TEAMS OUT:  Barrington, Lyons Township 

1987
Rockford Boylan becomes the first non-Chicago area team to ever play in the tournament.  The Titans finished third.  An eight-inch snowstorm delays the start of second day action.  When the scheduled officials fail to show, tournament director Joe Spagnolo and bench official Bruce Joslyn referee the game with instructions to get back on the time schedule as soon as possible.  The game goes into two overtimes and the rest of the day runs three hours late.  A total of four games in the tournament go into overtime, and more than half the games (14 of 26) are decided by five points or less.  Although, one contest seemed anything but close, when Proviso West recorded a 107-34 opening round victory against Libertyville -- which established records for most points by one team and the largest margin of victory.  The championship game saw Saint Joseph defeat Westinghouse 67-64, as the Chargers captured their fifth team title.  Carl Hayes scored 33 points for Saint Joseph.  Quitman Dillard added 20 for Westinghouse.  Results from 1987

TEAMS IN:  Rockford Boylan, Thonrridge
TEAMS OUT:   Benet Academy, Martin Luther King

1988
Two years at Elgin was enough for coach Ron Nikcevich and Lyons Township, as the Lions return to Proviso West and make it to the consolation final.  All four championship quarterfinal games and both semifinals each are decided in the last minute, marking the first time in tournament history that all six games are decided by single digit victory margins. The championship game did not enjoy that sme close finish, as  Thornridge beat New Trier 60-43, marking the first time in tournament history that a western suburban team or a Chicago Public League member did not  play for the title.  Junior Townsend Orr scores 23 points for the Falcons in the victory.  Results from 1988

TEAMS IN:  Lyons Township
TEAMS OUT:  Libertyville

Thornridge's Townsend Orr
made three straight
All-Tournament teams





 

1989
After a five year experiment, the tournament returns to a Final Four format by scheduling both championship semi-finals for evening play.  Townsend Orr leads Thornridge  to its second straight title game -- this time coming out on the losing end, but is named Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row and earns a spot on his third straight All-Tournament Team.  Saint Joseph wins their sixth title with a 56-52 victory over the defending tournament champions from a year ago.  Sophomore Jamal Robinson leads the Chargers with 18 points and Orr adds 21 for the Falcons.  Bloom's Brandon Cole, who only played in three games, set the single tournament record for three-point baskets with 17 treys.  Results from 1989

TEAMS IN:  Bloom, Chicago Vocational, South Shore
TEAMS OUT:  Downers Grove South, Highland Park, Rockford Boylan

 

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