History of the Frisco League
Tournament History of the Frisco League
Tournament
by Gary Knehans
Few high school baskeball conferences can boast of having a league tournament. Fewer still begin each season with a basketball battle of this sort. The Frisco League Tournament is one of Missouri's most unique!
Its orgin came on July 10, 1957, when Frisco League superintendent of schools convened a special meeting in Waynesville to reorganize the conference. Lebanon had just decided to drop out of the league and to join the Skyline Conference, leaving only Conway, Crocker, Dixon, Richland, Stoutland, and Waynesville in the league. A seventh school, however, had responded positively to the league's earlier call for additional membership. Thus, Licking replaced Lebanon in the Frisco's ranks.
It was during this meeting that the superintendents made the important decision to have an annual league tournament. The first tourney was scheduled for the first week in December in Waynesville. Waynesville officials were allowed to invite another team to round out a field of eight participants. They invited Plato.
And so, on December 3, 1957, the first Frisco League Tournament game took place between Waynesville and Dixon. The tigers, who were seeded first in the tournament, defeated the Bulldogs 73-to-31. Waynesville went on to take the tournament crown, winning the championshop game 45-to-40 over Richland.
The Tigers repeated as Frisco League Tournament champions in 1958, but lost to Conway 58-to-55 in overtime in the consolation trophy game in 1959, Waynesville's final season inthe conference.
Newburg joined the Frisco League in 1958. Conway eventually dropped out of the conference. Plato, Iberia, and Laquey became Friso League members at a later date. After becoming state champions in 1969, the Dixon Bulldogs dropped out of the conference for a season before refoining in time for the '70-71 competition.
The superintendents who established the Frisco League Tournament could not have foreseen the beginning-of-the season status the event has now attained. Before the Missouri State High School Association effected a rule change some time ago, high school basketball teams were allowed to begin official practice in early October and to play their first games in early November. With that rule change, official practice now begins around the first of November and the first games start about three weeks later. For some Frisco League teams, their first game of the season does not occur until the league tournament.