Legendary blues musician Muddy Waters once took in a game at the Lemont Christmas Classic.
The late performer, who made songs such as Hoochie Coochie Man and Got My Mojo Working lived in Westmont and attended a game in the early 1980s to watch his son, Westmont High Schools Joe Morganfield, play in one of the games.
The tournament is now in its 31st year and gets rolling with eight games Saturday, Dec. 26. Triblocal teams who are participating include Westmont, Romeoville, Joliet Catholic, Lemont, Chicago Christian, Lisle, Hinsdale South, Stagg, Downers Grove North, Sandburg and Plainfield Central.
Lemont, Romeoville, Westmont and Chicago Christian have been in the tournament all 31 years and Lisle is participating in its 30th Lemont Christmas Classic.
Formert Lemont student Dave Laketa, who is the athletic director at the University of St. Francis, and Lemont athletic director John Young are running the tournament. But it was former Lemont coach John Jones who started the tourney up in 1978 with a unique format. It featured eight big schools and eight small schools in two divisions. Once each division champ was determined, the big school titlist would take on the small school champ.
This was Hoosiers many years before the movie came out.
Providence Catholic won the first Lemont title and Illiana Christian was the runnerup in 1978.
Jones, who now lives in Plainfield, is proud that the tournament is still around and filled with history. He said that during one era in the early and mid 1980s, the tournament featured four coaches who went on to make various halls-of-fame.
Will Slager of Chicago Christian, Len Sacduto of Oak Lawn, Jerry Tokarz of Richards and myself were all in the tournament at one time, Jones said. We also had Tom Richardson of Nazareth Academy who went on to coach at Illinois State University. Tom OMalley, who is now at St. Xavier University, coached in it. This tournament has a ton of history.
Some of the memorable players who participated include Providence Catholics Barney Mines, Walter Downing and Tavaras Hardy, Westmonts Morganfield, Tim Porter and Pierre Pierce, Chicago Christians Kevin Pittman and Derrick Sanders, Romeovilles Shaun Vandiver, Nazareths Sean Pearson, Neuqua Valleys Pat Brusveen, Plainfield Centrals Ryan Sharp and Alex Shimko and Hinsdale souths Eric Travis.
Laketa watched the first tournament when he was 9-years-old, helping his mother, Anne, taking stats while his brother, Peter, played.
Dave Laketa went on to play in the tournament with his team but admitted: I only played if we were up by 30 or down by 30. Now hes helping to run the tournament.
Laketa remembers how special the first tourney was.
It was something you could take pride in, he said. At the time, we didnt even have a McDonalds. We had one traffic light. For 16 teams to come to the areawhen I was 9-year-old, that was a big deal. All these people wanted to come to our school. In those days, the gym was packed. You couldnt get another person into the gym.
The Lemont Christmas Classic has grown over the years and so has the community.
When I first came there, Lemont was the best-kept secret in Cook County, Jones said. There were a lot of pros and cons about living in Lemont. It was considered rural America. At that time, it was like a big chicken with big wings and holding its kids in. I stayed there for 35 years. Now its grown and the high school has some of the best facilities around.
And one of the best tournaments, too.
By Jeff Vorva
Triblocal.com reporter
