I’m pretty sure that not many of you remember the old Minnesota private high school basketball tournaments. They were held from 1922 to 1974, off and on, and in various different formats.
Northwestern Catholic Tournament
First was the so-called Northwestern Catholic Tournament from 1922 to 1930. It was so-called because it included teams from western Wisconsin and the eastern Dakotas. Duluth Cathedral was the champion in 1923 and 1924, St. Thomas in 1925 and 1926, and St. Cloud Cathedral won 2 straight in 1928 and 1929. DeLaSalle and St. John’s Prep each won one title. This tournament was ahead of its time in having 2 classes, cleverly labelled as A and B, in 1925, 1926 and 1927. Class B titles were won by Bird Island St. Mary’s, Cold Spring St. Boniface and the St. Thomas JV.
An article in a Hennepin County history journal (you can find it online), unfortunately states that DeLaSalle beat St. Cloud Cathedral in the 1928 state final. This is incorrect. St. Cloud Cathedral defeated DeLaSalle 32-25, and they have that trophy in their trophy case to this day.
National Catholic Tournament
A national Catholic tournament was held in Chicago beginning in 1924, and Minnesota teams participated from 1924 to 1941. In 1931, DeLaSalle won 5 games by an average score of 22-18 to win the national title. Their star player was a Native American center named Ray Buffalo. Over the years, however, Minnesota teams won 16 games at the national tournament while losing 33. With the founding of a new state tournament in 1941, sanctioning to play in Chicago was rescinded. The Catholic schools petitioned for membership in the MSHSL in 1935 but were turned away.
Austin St. Augustine (now Austin Pacelli) claimed to have won 3 state titles in 1937, 1938 and 1939, but these were southern Minnesota only tournaments. Teams from the Twin Cities and points north were not invited to play.
Catholic League Tournament
A 2nd Catholic tournament was founded in 1940 and held through 1970. DeLaSalle won 9 titles, including a 4-peat from 1954 to 1957. In 1955, DeLaSalle was undefeated and was named the mythical national Catholic champion by the Chicago Tribune. In 1956 Mpls. Roosevelt won the MSHSL title with a 20-3 record and a historic 101-54 blow out of Blue Earth in the final. Two of Roosevelt’s 3 losses were to DeLaSalle. As of 1974 the Islanders had 10 state titles plus the 1931 national title. St. Thomas added 6 for a total of 8.
St. Cloud Cathedral won in 1947 and 1969 for a total of 4, while Duluth Cathedral won a 3rd title. Cretin won 3 by 1948, and Rochester Lourdes won 3 in 1966, 1967 and 1968.
Minnesota Independent School League (MISL)
A non-Catholic private school tournament was founded in 1946 and was won that first year by Shattuck School in Faribault. Minnehaha won a 4-peat from 1950 to 1953, 3-peats in 1958-1960 and 1962-1964, and a total of 11 of 25 championships. Shattuck won 7 including 3 straight from 1968 to 1970, and Blake won 4. Concordia won 2 and Southwest Minnesota Christian one. Minnehaha and Shattuck faced one another 7 times in the final, with Minnehaha winning 4 of those, outscoring Shattuck by an average of 41-40. The 2 of them were 11-3 against everybody else with an average score of 62-51.
Combined Private Tournament
The Catholic League and the MISL combined in 1971. Catholic schools won all 4 combined titles–Cretin in 1971 and 1974, Fridley Grace in 1972, and Rochester Lourdes in 1973.
Highlights
I saw many of the Catholic tournaments in the 1960s. Rochester Lourdes won 3 straight in what happened to be the 3 years that I played high school ball. Oh, yeah, and they were in my region. Steve Fritz starred for Lourdes in 1967. But, the best players I saw were Dave Lobb of Austin Pacelli and Tony Jenkins of Shattuck. I remember watching Lobb score maybe 35 points as Pacelli beat Winona Cotter 86-56 in the 1965 final. Lobb signed a pro baseball contract and never played college basketball. (I did not play against Dave Lobb.) And, then, there was Jenkins of Shattuck. Shattuck won the MISL tournament in 1966, 1968, 1969 and 1970, winning those 4 games by an average of 70-50. Jenkins went on to become the captain at Harvard. I played and lost to Shattuck in 1966, 1967 and 1968. And, yet, ironically, I had my highest scoring game of my high school career against Jenkins in my senior season of 1968. You’ll have to trust me on this. It was a fluke.
Top Schools
Minnehaha was 11-5 in MISL finals.
DeLaSalle was 10-5 in Catholic and combined finals, plus a national title in 1931 (won on the court; the 1955 national title was mythical, not won in tournament play)
St. Thomas was 8-5 in Catholic finals.
Shattuck was 7-5 in MISL and combined finals.
Cretin was 5-7 in Catholic and combined finals.
Rochester Lourdes 4-1 in Catholic and combined finals.
Blake 4-2 in MISL finals.
St. Cloud Cathedral 4-3 in Catholic finals.
Again, all of this was from 1922 to 1974. In 1975 the MSHSL invited private schools to join the MSHSL and they accepted.
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