Boys Basketball History & Champions

Boys basketball was the first conference sport to hold a tournament. It was held on January 26,27,28, and 29 1927. There were multiple sites for the first few rounds of the tournament. It was set up as a double elimination tournament with Lostant taking home the first trophy from the conference.

It had eight participating teams that first year. It included Granville (Hopkins), Hennepin, Lostant, Magnolia, McNabb Swaney, Sparland, Tonica, and Varna. Henry had a scheduling conflict that year, so Hennepin played for them in the tournament even though they were not in the conference.

Conference awards were not established until 1955 (1955-56 school year). Wenona had joined the conference by then and took home the first conference trophy that year. First, second, and third place winners were acknowledged for both the conference and the tournament for many years. However, schools were running out of space to house all their “hardware” so changes were made. Trophies were awarded for the tournament play, but bars were awarded for the conference play. Each school had a plaque for the boys sports as well as the girls sports. First and second place winners were awarded a bar that stated the sport, place finish, and year. Those were hung from the plaques at each participating school. As the years progress, bars are added. This practice saves a lot of storage space while still acknowledging the teams accomplishments.

The boys basketball program has been well documented by many before this website was developed. So, we can not take all the credit for tracking down the history of this particular sport. Thank you to those who played a part in that endeavor.

*A slash (/) indicates Co-Op Teams