The sign on the north wall of the gymnasium welcomes
spectators to the 97th Monroe City Invitational Tournament, proclaiming the
event to be, “Missouri's Oldest Tournament.” Arcadia Valley High School in the
southeast part of the state disputes that claim, and maybe a few others, but 97
years of the same tournament is a lot of dribbles, bad officiating and uniform
styles. In Monroe City, the second week of December means tournament week. It
is a wall-to-wall week of nonstop basketball with both boys' and girls'
divisions. It is a full community effort. The support for the Monroe City
tournaments is based upon its deep-rooted traditions. It is an accepted social
function in this town. First comes Thanksgiving, then the tournament, then
Christmas. That’s the way it has always been, at least since December 1938,
when the tournament was shifted from February to December.
The first Monroe City Invitational was held on February 27 and 28th, 1925. Girls’ teams entered were Holy Rosary, Monroe City, Paris, Shelbina, Leonard, and Menden. Boys’ teams participating were Holy Rosary, Monroe City, Paris, Shelbina, Leonard, New Holland and Holiday. The winner of the girls’ division was Holy Rosary, who defeated Leonard by a score of 20-16. The boys’ “loving cup,” as trophies in those days were called, went to Paris, who bested New London by the score of 22-19.
With the exception of the host school, none from the
inaugural year are entered in the 2021 tournaments. Incredibly, most of the
schools who participated in the 1925 tournament do not even exist today. This
tournament has outlasted most of its original guests.
Over the years, the tournaments changed in many ways. By
1930, it had grown so large with 15 girls teams and 16 boys teams, some games
were played at the Holy Rosary Gymnasium. Games began at 8 AM, ran throughout
the day, then late into the night. As the tournaments popularity grew so did
its reputation. Teams from all over the state were attracted and in 1928,
Crystal City High School, made the almost 300 mile round-trip by train in order
to return home with the third-place trophy in the boys' division. Other such
far off communities such as Elvins, Lancaster, Herculaneum, Leadwood,
Rossville, Brashear, Bearing, St. Joseph’s of Edina, Hurdland and McCooy, to
name a few, sent their young people to Monroe City to compete in this
tournament.
Throughout the years, the tournament has suffered only one
interruption, 1942 and 1943, when due to restrictions placed upon public
transportation because of World War II, the tournament was canceled. Not even
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor could interfere. On December 9, 1941, two
days after the bombing and one day after President Roosevelt declared us to be
in a state of war, the 18th annual tournament began right on schedule.
There have been outstanding individual and team
performances: from the undefeated state champion Madison boys team of 1939 to
the Shelbina boys of 1954, a squad coached by future College Hall of Fame Coach
Gene Bartow, the first tournament team to break the 100 point barrier; to the
state championship teams of the Palmyra boys and girls and South Shelby girls
in the 1970s and 80’s, followed by the MC state championship girls teams of the
90’s and 2000’s. In 1939, the Harrisburg girls team took second with a roster
of only six. The one sub never once entered a game.
Missouri basketball legend and former University head coach
Norm Stewart played four years in the Monroe City tournament, representing
Shelbyville. In the 1953 championship game, legend has it, nobody really knows
who won. The game was played on the stage of the old Junior High Gymnasium.
Three of the out of bounds lines were the walls and the
fourth was the orchestra pit. Under such tight restrictions, and trailing by
four points, Stewart and his teammates staged a furious last-minute rally.
Utilizing an all-out full court press, Stewart stole the ball and scored a
layup and then instantly stole the inbounds pass and scored another layup to
tie the score as time expired. Or did he? The Shelbyville faithful claimed that
Stewart was so fast that the scorekeeper fell behind and did not record his
last two points. With no video backup in 1954, justice was in the eye of the
beholder. Monroe City claimed the first-place trophy. Shelbyville claimed highway
robbery. After a disagreement that eventually got the local school boards
involved, the game was declared a tie and the two schools co-champions. So the
story goes.
A great Scavenger Hunt assignment: find the first-place trophy from the 1953 Monroe
City Basketball Tournament.
