Charger Classic truly is Memory Lane
Twenty-five years.
The Charger Classic, which begins Wednesday at Dundee-Crown, is one of those things the holidays just would not be complete without.
The Charger Classic is about more than just basketball, although basketball is at the center of creating all the memories, some of which we share on these pages today.
From its humble beginning in 1983, an idea conceived on a late-night bus ride home from the Glenbrook North tournament by D-C coach and Charger Classic icon Joe Komaromy and his longtime friend and former assistant Tom Smith, then hatched with the assistance of administrators Doug Duval and Buck Sayre, has turned into the state's best Christmas tournament for girls basketball, one that still draws interest from teams around the Midwest as well as throngs of college coaches.
I haven't been to every Charger Classic but I have had the privilege of covering 22 of them and the one thing that always stands out at D-C is the class with which the tournament is run, which is one of the reasons the Daily Herald is proud to call itself a longtime sponsor of the event.
There have been so many great players, coaches and moments in the Charger Classic, one could probably write a book. But there won't be any statistical data for the author -- no one thought 25 years ago the tournament would become what it has and records weren't kept from the first year on. All we know for sure when it comes to data is who won each tournament, and the fact New Trier and Dundee-Crown are the only schools remaining from that first 16-team event in 1983, in which not every team got to play four games.
But stats aren't memories. Things like remembering that actress Jenny McCarthy played in the tournament for Mother McAuley, that baseball great Carlton Fisk's daughter played for Lockport, that Lockport coach Dick Dystrup ended up being the mayor of Lockport, that former Bears great Otis Wilson came out to watch Brooke Besinger play for D-C the winter the Bears won the Super Bowl in 1985 … those are memories.
Komaromy has his, too. I asked him for his top five and here they are:
No. 1: "Every Christmas Day, going out to school with my family to get things set up," he said. "Some years we even had to pull out the bleachers. We'd put the music on and that was and still is a part of our family Christmas every year."
No. 2: "Before the championship game the first year, "Komaromy recalled, "Doug Duval was up on the roof stuffing towels in the cracks to stop the leaks."
No. 3: "Making adjustments for weather," Komaromy said. "The year Lockport won it (1985) we had to delay the semifinals for about an hour and make some other adjustments."
No. 4: "The (1989) championship game between McAuley and Maine West. They were hangin' from the rafters. That was incredible. There were so many great athletes on the floor and such great coaching." Derril Kipp's Maine West team beat Diane Darrah's Mother McAuley squad in that game.
No. 5: "The Fenwick-Naperville Central championship game (in 2002). That was another incredible atmosphere that I'll never forget." Naperville Central beat Fenwick in that game in front of more than 2,600 fans.
The Daily Herald's senior girls basketball writer John Leusch, who has covered all but one or two Charger Classics, has his own favorite memory.
"The 2001 title match between Stevenson and Fenwick because it was Dundee-Crown's first championship game between unbeaten teams," Leusch said. "The nationally-ranked Friars won 46-43 before a standing-room only crowd of 1,200 (in the old gym). That game lived up to its hype as both teams played their best basketball and came away feeling good about themselves. Fenwick hit its first three shots and led 8-2 but Stevenson got back into contention and it was exciting to the finish.
"I also remember that was Candace Parker's first appearance in the tourney as a freshman and she wowed the record crowds at Dundee-Crown. As a 14-year old phenom you could see she was headed to stardom."
I have my favorite memory as well. It was the 2002 tournament and prior to the championship game, D-C athletic director Dick Storm recognized me in front of that huge crowd of 2,600-plus for my induction into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Humbling is a mild word for what I felt, and admiration and respect are not strong enough words to describe how all of the people at Dundee-Crown have made fans, players, coaches, officials and the media feel so welcome over the years.
Happy Anniversary, Charger Classic! May you have another great tournament.