PITSBURG – Franklin-Monroe Athletic Director Tyler Rhodus recently announced a few changes to the Jet Holiday Boys Basketball Tournament scheduled for Dec. 28-29 at The Hangar.
Game times have changed with the first Junior Varsity game starting at 2:30 p.m. followed by the second JV game at 4 p.m. Varsity games will begin at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
The JV matchups are as follows: Mississinawa Valley vs. Brookville at 2:30 p.m. and Arcanum vs. Franklin-Monroe at 4 p.m.
The Varsity matches are as follow: Mississinawa Valley vs. Brookville at 6 p.m. and Arcanum vs. Franklin-Monroe at 7:30 p.m.
Rhodus also announced that due to having all four games back-to-back, ticket prices have changed for the event. The gymnasium will not be cleared between games and prices are now $8 for adults and $5 for students.
History of the tournament
This is the 56th annual tournament, which began in 1963 to make use of three new gyms in Darke County. The tournament was to be rotated among Franklin-Monroe, Arcanum, Greenville and Jefferson (Montgomery Co.) – a tournament of two Class A and two Class AA teams.
Before the first tournament, Arcanum decided it was no longer interested. Sidney Holy Angels replaced them, and the tournament was named the Jets-Green Wave Tournament using the nicknames of the host schools. Franklin-Monroe hosted the first tournament in 1963 and Greenville the second in 1964, after which Greenville withdrew. This left Franklin-Monroe as the lone host school. The tourney was renamed the Jet Holiday Tournament and Anna replaced Greenville. In the 1966 Tournament, Jefferson was replaced by Piqua Catholic.
After the 1969-70 season, Piqua Catholic and Sidney Holy Angels consolidated, forming Lehman High School. Lehman dropped out of the Holiday Tournament because of its football program. The 1970 Tournament introduced the Yellow Springs Bulldogs and the Houston Wildcats, with Westmont replacing Houston in 1971.
The 1972 Jet Holiday Tournament saw two new teams. Fort Recovery replaced Yellow Springs which had become a member of the Green County Holiday Tourney. Westmont and New Madison high schools consolidated that summer creating Tri-Village High School.
There have been nine team changes in the tournament since 1974. Versailles replaced Northwestern in 1975. Russia replaced Anna in 1978 and then was replaced by Marion Local two years later. Marion Local was replaced by Northridge in 1982. Arcanum joined the tournament in 1983 replacing Northridge. In the 2011 Holiday Tourney, Versailles was replaced by Troy Christian and then Troy Christian was replaced by Mississinawa Valley in 2012. For the 2013 Holiday Tournament, Tri-Village was replaced by Ansonia, and Ansonia was then replaced by Brookville for the 2015 Holiday Tournament.
Franklin-Monroe was last year’s tournament champion, and Brookville was champion the previous two years (2015-2016).
Information provided by Franklin-Monroe Athletic Department
