article A brief history of the Louisville Invitational Tournament

The 71st edition of the Louisville Invitational Tournament starts Monday at Valley High School. Held annually since 1948, the LIT is Kentucky’s oldest regular season high school basketball tournament and has evolved into a true city championship for teams in the Sixth and Seventh Regions.

The LIT was started by Louisville high schools because of a dispute with the All-Kentucky Conference, a state-wide conference that initially was made up of 16 of the largest high schools in Kentucky. Male, Manual and St. Xavier, the three public and parochial high schools then located in Louisville, were members of the All-Kentucky Conference. Starting in 1940, Male hosted the All-Kentucky Conference basketball tournament to which 8 teams from the Conference were invited. Flaget High School opened in the mid-40’s and, by 1947, was perhaps the best team in Louisville, but Flaget was not allowed to participate in the All-Kentucky Conference tournament because it was not a member of the Conference. As the other three Louisville schools wanted to participate in a tournament that included Flaget, those four then–existing Louisville schools (Male, Manual, St. X and Flaget) started the LIT as an alternative to the All-Kentucky Conference tournament.

The initial concept was that the LIT would be an 8-team tournament, comprised of the four Louisville schools, two teams from Jefferson County, and two teams from elsewhere in the state. However, the field for the initial LIT in 1948 consisted of the four Louisville schools plus Hall High School (from Grays Knob in Harlan County), Covington Holmes, Central City, and the eventual champion, Owensboro. That Owensboro team included future UK player Bobby Watson and future UK player and Hall of Fame member Cliff Hagan.

Inviting some of the best teams from outside Louisville became a staple of the LIT, with the number of non-Louisville schools participating in a given year fluctuating between four and seven. The goal was always to bring the best state teams to Louisville for the LIT. That became increasingly difficult through the years, and the tradition of inviting state schools ended in 2010, when it was decided to limit the field to teams from the Sixth and Seventh Regions. By that time, no school from outside Jefferson County had won the LIT in 13 years, and only two state teams (Marion County in 1993 and Owensboro in 1997) had won the LIT in the past twenty years.

The total number of teams also has fluctuated through the years, largely to accommodate the growing number of high schools in the Louisville area. The field was expanded to 12 teams in 1955 to include all 8 then-existing city schools (the four original schools plus Ahrens, Atherton, Eastern, and Shawnee). The field expanded again the following year to 16, which included the addition of the “county schools” of Fern Creek, Southern, and Valley. The field has been as large as 28, an effort to accommodate all Jefferson County public and parochial schools plus four non-Louisville schools. This year, the field has been reduced to sixteen.

In 1978, the LIT underwent a significant change when it was decided to use the Litkenhous ratings appearing in the Courier-Journal to determine the Jefferson County schools that would be included in the LIT field (at that point, the field consisted of 10 Jefferson County teams and 6 state teams). That was changed in 2010 when the LIT Committee decided to use the SETH rankings, a ranking system developed by JCPS Director of Athletics Jerry Wyman, to determine the field and the seeding for the LIT.

The LIT has been played at some of Jefferson County’s most renowned basketball venues. Starting at the old Male High on Brook Street (where St. Francis High School is playing its home games this year), the LIT called Freedom Hall home for a number of years but also has been held at Louisville Gardens, Broadbent Arena, Knights Hall at Bellarmine and, since 2013, at Valley High School.

Since its inception in 1948, 38 participants in the LIT have gone on to win the state tournament the year in which they played in the LIT. Those teams have included some of the Kentucky’s most fabled high school teams, including the 1952 Cuba Cubs, 1963 Seneca Redskins (now Redhawks), 1975 Male Bulldogs, and 1977 Ballard Bruins. Twelve teams have won the LIT and the state tournament in the same year (Trinity being the last to do so, in 2012), and Fairdale has twice won the LIT, King of the Bluegrass, and the state tournament in the same year (1990 and 1991).

The LIT also has hosted some of the best Kentucky high school players to have ever played the game. Three members of the Naismith Hall of Fame played in the LIT, Owensboro’s Cliff Hagan (1948), Seneca’s Wes Unseld (1963), and Newport Central Catholic's Dave Cowens (1966). Thirty-six Mr. Basketballs have participated in the LIT; in addition to Mr. Basketballs from Louisville such as Unseld and Darrell Griffith (Male, 1976), Jeff Lamp (Ballard, 1977), Winston Bennett (Male, 1983), and Allan Houston (Ballard, 1989), that list includes legendary Kentucky high school players such as Mike Casey (Shelby County, 1966), Jim McDaniels (Allen County, 1967), Jimmy Dan Connor (Anderson County, 1971), Jack Givens (Bryan Station, 1974), Rex Chapman (Apollo, 1986), and Richie Farmer (Clay County, 1988).

The 2018 LIT once again promises to be an outstanding event. And with the possibility of a rubber match between Trinity and Fern Creek in the championship game, it has the potential to be quite memorable.

It’s my favorite high school tournament. As said above, a TRUE city championship.

I wish it was played a little closer to the rest of the city, but I whine about that every year. The decay of the Gardens really hurt us on that one.

Great field this year and should be really fun.

Great stuff @Smallhoops.

I used to love to go to the Saturday morning semi-finals when the LIT was at Louisville Gardens. Those games were usually better than the state tournament semi's. Like Getslow, I wish it could be played in a more centrally located facility.

I asked this question earlier but received no response: Will the games be

streamed anywhere?

Thanks for the article, Smallhoops.

One of the best games ever was the 1989 Semifinals when #2 ranked Valley beat #1 PRP in 6OT. Both teams scored over 100 points and had several team members foul out. PRP went on to defeat Valley 75-70 in the Regional final at Valley and then capture the State Tournament Crown in Rupp, the first Jefferson County school to accomplish that feat.

Trinity and Ballard played a couple classics out there in recent years.

Trinity won 53-52 in the 2013 semifinals only to lose the final the next year in OT, 64-62. Two years after that, Ballard edged the Shamrocks 58-54 in the final.

Those years with Quentin Snider, Kelan Martin, James Quick, Ray Spalding, and so many other really fun players were a special time. Looking back through those scores reminds me of how much I enjoyed players like Malik Dow, Craig Owens, and Trey Ivory. I saw a lot of high school hoops during that time and it felt like a high point for the Trinity/Ballard rivalry.

Here’s hoping they can meet again this year in the semifinals.

I used to love to go to the Saturday morning semi-finals when the LIT was at Louisville Gardens. Those games were usually better than the state tournament semi's. Like Getslow, I wish it could be played in a more centrally located facility.

 

I asked this question earlier but received no response: Will the games be

streamed anywhere?

Thanks for the article, Smallhoops.

I don't know of any streaming. I will let you know if I find out differently.

Best game I saw was the Semi finals at Broadbent arena between the Richie Farmer led Clay Co. and the Allan Houston led Ballard. Classic game that Clay Co won I think in Two OT's. Clay ended up winning the LIT but But Ballard beat them in the state finals.

Best game I saw was the Semi finals at Broadbent arena between the Richie Farmer led Clay Co. and the Allan Houston led Ballard. Classic game that Clay Co won I think in Two OT's. Clay ended up winning the LIT but But Ballard beat them in the state finals.

I remember that game. It was two overtimes. Richie Famer ended up with 39 and Allan Houston had 32. Those Clay County-Ballard games were amazing.

A former Valley star, Jeff Cooper, has put together the scores of every LIT from 1960 through the present. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I share that info. PM me your email address if interested, and I'll send you the file.

A former Valley star, Jeff Cooper, has put together the scores of every LIT from 1960 through the present. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I share that info. PM me your email address if interested, and I'll send you the file.

I'm not Jeff Cooper but I've done the same thing over the last year. I wish I'd known someone else had already done it! :lol2:

Does anyone have a listing of the past winners of the LIT, say even since 2000?

1948 Owensboro
1949 Flaget
1950 Male
1951 Manual
1952 Manual
1953 Male
1954 Inez
1955 Male
1956 Berea
1957 Central
1958 Central
1959 Manual
1960 Central
1961 Elizabethtown Catholic
1962 St. Xavier
1963 Carr Creek
1964 Male
1965 St. Xavier
1966 Central
1967 Male
1968 Shawnee
1969 Central
1970 Clark County
1971 Male
1972 Central
1973 Male
1974 Bryan Station
1975 Male
1976 Male
1977 Ballard
1978 Apollo
1979 Lafayette
1980 Moore
1981 Bryan Station
1982 North Hardin
1983 Male
1984 Ballard
1985 Seneca
1986 Pleasure Ridge Park
1987 Pleasure Ridge Park
1988 Clay County
1989 Valley
1990 Fairdale
1991 Fairdale
1992 Pleasure Ridge Park
1993 Marion County
1994 Fairdale
1995 Male
1996 Male
1997 Owensboro
1998 Butler
1999 Pleasure Ridge Park
2000 Pleasure Ridge Park
2001 Ballard
2002 Male
2003 Eastern
2004 Seneca
2005 Trinity
2006 Eastern
2007 Ballard
2008 Manual
2009 Eastern
2010 Trinity
2011 Eastern
2012 Trinity
2013 Trinity
2014 Pleasure Ridge Park
2015 Ballard
2016 Ballard
2017 Fern Creek

Great article!

I wish they'd get back to the format of including top teams from around the state. It was the premier tournament in the state for nearly half a century but doesn't hold the statewide allure it used to. I wonder why it became more difficult to get top teams from around the state?

Smallhoops said:

1948 Owensboro
1949 Flaget
1950 Male
1951 Manual
1952 Manual
1953 Male
1954 Inez
1955 Male
1956 Berea
1957 Central
1958 Central
1959 Manual
1960 Central
1961 Elizabethtown Catholic
1962 St. Xavier
1963 Carr Creek
1964 Male
1965 St. Xavier
1966 Central
1967 Male
1968 Shawnee
1969 Central
1970 Clark County
1971 Male
1972 Central
1973 Male
1974 Bryan Station
1975 Male
1976 Male
1977 Ballard
1978 Apollo
1979 Lafayette
1980 Moore
1981 Bryan Station
1982 North Hardin
1983 Male
1984 Ballard
1985 Seneca
1986 Pleasure Ridge Park
1987 Pleasure Ridge Park
1988 Clay County
1989 Valley
1990 Fairdale
1991 Fairdale
1992 Pleasure Ridge Park
1993 Marion County
1994 Fairdale
1995 Male
1996 Male
1997 Owensboro
1998 Butler
1999 Pleasure Ridge Park
2000 Pleasure Ridge Park
2001 Ballard
2002 Male
2003 Eastern
2004 Seneca
2005 Trinity
2006 Eastern
2007 Ballard
2008 Manual
2009 Eastern
2010 Trinity
2011 Eastern
2012 Trinity
2013 Trinity
2014 Pleasure Ridge Park
2015 Ballard
2016 Ballard
2017 Fern Creek

Since the turn of the century I count this breakdown of championships:

Trinity - 4
Ballard - 4
Eastern - 4
Pleasure Ridge Park - 2
Male - 1
Seneca - 1
Manual - 1
Fern Creek - 1

In the last 18 years beginning in 2000 this event has been fairly dominated by 3 different schools; Eastern, Trinity, & Ballard who are all from the 7th region. They have won the event 2 out of every 3 years. PRP is the only other school that has won more than once. PRP and Fern Creek are the only two 6th regions schools to have won since 2000. I had thought Butler had won the LIT in the recent past, but I guess not.

What a great event and it will be exciting to see if Trinity or Ballard can add another title or could it be someone who has never won it like Fern Creek did last year for the first time? Next week at this time the 2018 champion will be known. Who is your favorite to emerge as the next LIT champion?

Smallhoops said:

The 71st edition of the Louisville Invitational Tournament starts Monday at Valley High School. Held annually since 1948, the LIT is Kentucky’s oldest regular season high school basketball tournament and has evolved into a true city championship for teams in the Sixth and Seventh Regions.

The LIT was started by Louisville high schools because of a dispute with the All-Kentucky Conference, a state-wide conference that initially was made up of 16 of the largest high schools in Kentucky. Male, Manual and St. Xavier, the three public and parochial high schools then located in Louisville, were members of the All-Kentucky Conference. Starting in 1940, Male hosted the All-Kentucky Conference basketball tournament to which 8 teams from the Conference were invited. Flaget High School opened in the mid-40’s and, by 1947, was perhaps the best team in Louisville, but Flaget was not allowed to participate in the All-Kentucky Conference tournament because it was not a member of the Conference. As the other three Louisville schools wanted to participate in a tournament that included Flaget, those four then–existing Louisville schools (Male, Manual, St. X and Flaget) started the LIT as an alternative to the All-Kentucky Conference tournament.

The initial concept was that the LIT would be an 8-team tournament, comprised of the four Louisville schools, two teams from Jefferson County, and two teams from elsewhere in the state. However, the field for the initial LIT in 1948 consisted of the four Louisville schools plus Hall High School (from Grays Knob in Harlan County), Covington Holmes, Central City, and the eventual champion, Owensboro. That Owensboro team included future UK player Bobby Watson and future UK player and Hall of Fame member Cliff Hagan.

Inviting some of the best teams from outside Louisville became a staple of the LIT, with the number of non-Louisville schools participating in a given year fluctuating between four and seven. The goal was always to bring the best state teams to Louisville for the LIT. That became increasingly difficult through the years, and the tradition of inviting state schools ended in 2010, when it was decided to limit the field to teams from the Sixth and Seventh Regions. By that time, no school from outside Jefferson County had won the LIT in 13 years, and only two state teams (Marion County in 1993 and Owensboro in 1997) had won the LIT in the past twenty years.

The total number of teams also has fluctuated through the years, largely to accommodate the growing number of high schools in the Louisville area. The field was expanded to 12 teams in 1955 to include all 8 then-existing city schools (the four original schools plus Ahrens, Atherton, Eastern, and Shawnee). The field expanded again the following year to 16, which included the addition of the “county schools” of Fern Creek, Southern, and Valley. The field has been as large as 28, an effort to accommodate all Jefferson County public and parochial schools plus four non-Louisville schools. This year, the field has been reduced to sixteen.

In 1978, the LIT underwent a significant change when it was decided to use the Litkenhous ratings appearing in the Courier-Journal to determine the Jefferson County schools that would be included in the LIT field (at that point, the field consisted of 10 Jefferson County teams and 6 state teams). That was changed in 2010 when the LIT Committee decided to use the SETH rankings, a ranking system developed by JCPS Director of Athletics Jerry Wyman, to determine the field and the seeding for the LIT.

The LIT has been played at some of Jefferson County’s most renowned basketball venues. Starting at the old Male High on Brook Street (where St. Francis High School is playing its home games this year), the LIT called Freedom Hall home for a number of years but also has been held at Louisville Gardens, Broadbent Arena, Knights Hall at Bellarmine and, since 2013, at Valley High School.

Since its inception in 1948, 38 participants in the LIT have gone on to win the state tournament the year in which they played in the LIT. Those teams have included some of the Kentucky’s most fabled high school teams, including the 1952 Cuba Cubs, 1963 Seneca Redskins (now Redhawks), 1975 Male Bulldogs, and 1977 Ballard Bruins. Twelve teams have won the LIT and the state tournament in the same year (Trinity being the last to do so, in 2012), and Fairdale has twice won the LIT, King of the Bluegrass, and the state tournament in the same year (1990 and 1991).

The LIT also has hosted some of the best Kentucky high school players to have ever played the game. Three members of the Naismith Hall of Fame played in the LIT, Owensboro’s Cliff Hagan (1948), Seneca’s Wes Unseld (1963), and Newport Central Catholic's Dave Cowens (1966). Thirty-six Mr. Basketballs have participated in the LIT; in addition to Mr. Basketballs from Louisville such as Unseld and Darrell Griffith (Male, 1976), Jeff Lamp (Ballard, 1977), Winston Bennett (Male, 1983), and Allan Houston (Ballard, 1989), that list includes legendary Kentucky high school players such as Mike Casey (Shelby County, 1966), Jim McDaniels (Allen County, 1967), Jimmy Dan Connor (Anderson County, 1971), Jack Givens (Bryan Station, 1974), Rex Chapman (Apollo, 1986), and Richie Farmer (Clay County, 1988).

The 2018 LIT once again promises to be an outstanding event. And with the possibility of a rubber match between Trinity and Fern Creek in the championship game, it has the potential to be quite memorable.

Fairdale won the King of the Bluegrass, LIT and State Tournament in 90-91 and 93-94...the only two teams to win all three in the same school year.