Monroe City Tournament 100th Anniversary Celebration

 

It was my pleasure to serve as the committee chairman for the Monroe City Tournament’s 100-year anniversary celebration.

Monroe City basketball history raises a lot of comparisons and a lot of spin-off theories. This town has been for many years blessed with good high school basketball. The paradise MC hoops has become is, to put it tepidly, getting extremely crowded. It is concurrently fun, thought provoking, frustrating, controversial, but also next to impossible when discussing different teams and eras to honor all deserving in 15-minute segments spread over only six nights. We needed the Dream Team of committees, and we found it.

If you want public credibility in the community of Monroe City, get Sister Suzane Walker to sign on. Her communication and organizational skills contributed mightily.

We wanted our celebration to be inclusive of the entire community. We identified early on that we needed a confluence of the three education entities that today are the Monroe City school district: Holy Rosary School, Washington School, and the Monroe City public schools. John A Hays, Howard Pruit and JR Chisham are masterful advocates of the three. Their passion for their Alma maters shone brightly throughout the week.

Joyce Adams and Linda Geist have great community spirit. They know, and appreciate, the history of their hometown inside and out. Their communication and writing skills are well known and they used these talents to communicate very effectively the historical information that fueled the enthusiasm we saw throughout the week.

Tony DeGrave, Ed Talton, Brock Edris and Darin Yager were our administrative link to the school district. Their approval of our agendas was the first and the last sign offs. They also took care of the stressful day-to-day logistics for the weeklong program. Your local district is in good hands.

I am not a big fan of Committees. They slow me down. I have personally searched 48 state capitals and most National Parks- and found no statues of Committees. This task needed talented individuals invested in this town, not long meetings. We identified their areas of expertise and then stayed out of the way as they went to work. The only way this type of Macro-Management can succeed is if all check their egos at the door. I knew this group would, and they did.

OLD SCHOOL TOUGHNESS

Back in the 80's team's feared the Monroe City Panthers. Style points didn’t matter. Bloody elbows along with skinned and scabbed knees did. Then that old school toughness went into a near two-decade hibernation. But now, over the past dozen seasons, Coaches Edris and Baker have orchestrated its return. As I have witnessed twice this week, it manifests itself in small ways: back cuts, help side defensive rotation and making the extra inside out pass. This year's team is young but deep. They share the ball and guard like maniacs, full open throttle.

A LITTLE HOOP A LOT OF HOLLER

Saturday evening the MC Panthers captured the championship of the 100th Monroe City Tournament, the oldest in the state, with a comeback overtime win over the Evil Empire to the east, Palmyra. The two rural Missouri towns are huge rivals, 20 miles apart.

Although the local leaders will tell you different, the rivalry is edgy. For the true Monroe faithful, who from cradle to grave curse the color Orange, it does not come any better than Saturday night.

A true fan must love rivalry games. Sports should not become routine. It should be about passion, always. However, the relationship between two good high basketball programs, like Monroe City and Palmyra, who are year after year bitter rivals is one of complexity. School administrators are on constant vigil knowing they are one misstep away from bad blood spilling over into the educational process. That cannot happen.

Civic leaders in the communities of Monroe City and Palmyra claim the competitive climate between the two neither generates nor harbor any bitterness. The two sides support each other, often as economic and social allies. Marriages between an MC grad and a PHS grad are common. Five years ago, when popular Monroe City coach Jamar White died in a traffic accident, the show of support for MC from the Palmyra school and community was overwhelming and heartfelt.

However, don't kid yourself. Bottom line, they really don't like each other. One can sense neither side would hesitate to grab the last piece of barbeque at the company picnic, leaving the other standing in line with an empty plate.

If you grew up in a small-town crazy about high school basketball, like Monroe City, count yourself fortunate. How many yards did you mow to buy your first pair of Chuck Talylors? The gymnasium is a sanctuary. When within, for a child, everything is good and right and perfectly to scale. The clanky wobbly pullout wooden bleachers packed to the rafters for frenzied rivalries.

 Some towns are known for their emphasis on schoolboy athletics. The collective community chest will swell to busting button proud when the local boys apply another “butt whipping” on those less skilled from a nearby town. Bragging Rights are never subtly applied here. Monroe City is such a town, and no apologies are made. They do here like to brag about their boys.

Monroe City’s love affair with its basketball tournament has lasted now 100 years. It remains the abiding interest of the whole small crossroads town; it is the fulcrum of wintertime social life around which the entire town will be in the small gym for the tournament (capacity 800) from 3:30 pm to 10:00 pm Monday through Saturday.

And last week was magical. Both the first seeded Panthers from Palmyra and the second seeded Panthers from Monroe City cruised through the first two rounds to set up the much-anticipated final match. It was an instant classic. Palmyra had the game all but tucked away several times with under two minutes left in regulation. But they missed an incredible ten free throws in the 4th quarter and the four minute overtime session. It was just meant to be.

 

MONROE CITY BLOGS

https://myemail.constantcontact.com/-Monroe-City-Blog...

 The Monroe City Tournament has for 100 years been part of a bigger local narrative. Monroe City has always treated their tournament like it matters, because it does. Using the tournament as an anchor - how events, actions, and people have intersected to build the town of Monroe City, is what we this week celebrate. There are legends behind every legacy. Now we pay civic tribute to those legends. Above is a link to 21 blogs I have written over the past two years on the legends behind the legacy of educating the youth of Monroe City.

 ORGANIZED NIGHTLY EVENTS

For the past 12 months we have had a committee of ten who have worked on organizing the 100th year Monroe City Tournament Celebration. We wanted the weeklong event to be a celebration of the legacy of not only the tournament, but the entire Monroe City community. Inclusion of the three historical education entries of the community: Holy Rosary schools, Washington School and Monroe City R-1 School District, we deemed early as paramount. Throughout the week the boys and girls Panther varsity basketball teams will wear shooting shirt/warmups with logos of all three schools whose merging over the years give us the confluence today that is the Monroe City Panthers.

The 100th tournament celebration is now a mere couple of weeks away and here is what we have planned: each tournament night will have a special 15-minute recognition ceremony, to be held between the evening’s second and third games, approximately 6:45 each evening. Monday December 9 will be Holy Rosary Night. Sister Suzanne Walker and John A. Hays will prepare the ceremony. Tuesday will be Washington School Night. Howard Pruitt and Ed Talton will present the honors. Wednesday Night will be Monroe City R-1 Night. JR Chisham, Darin Yager and Brock Edris will be the presenters. Thursday will be Team Night. We will recognize the 1956-57 Holy Rosary and Monroe City boys’ teams and the Monroe City girls’ teams of the 1998-2000 era. Dave Almany, J.R. Chisham, Howard Pruitt, Linda Geist and Joyce Adams will oversee the ceremony. Friday evening will be Legends Night, and we will honor four individuals who have been major contributors to the Monroe City Tournament, but also to the education and social development of the community. The late Galen Lankford and Cliff Talton, along with Dan Mudd, and Sister Suzanne Walker will be recognized. Saturday will be legacy night with recognition given to the tournaments oldest living male and female alums and area dignitaries. Tony DeGrave, Brock Edris, Linda Geist and Joyce Adams are preparing the evening’s program.

Make plans now to attend this once in a lifetime celebration.