Trinity was scheduled to play in this event.

 

 

Tournament organizer Alexander Getta told media outlets Friday evening the Gulfshore Invitational was officially canceled because not enough teams agreed to participate.

A last ditch effort Friday by one of the organizers of the troubled Gulfshore Invitational high school basketball tournament appears to have done little more than add further confusion for the 22 teams originally committed to the event.

At least three of the schools who had committed to the Gulfshore — Charlotte (N.C.) Olympic, Louisville (Ky.) Trinity and Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict’s Prep — had already purchased airline tickets and could be out from $8,100 (Olympic) to $11,000 (St. Benedict’s).

http://www.news-press.com/article/20121215/SPORTS01/312150024/Gulfshore-Invitational-officially-canceled

That's awful. You wonder if the airline tickets can be refunded? If they can't, could Trinity find another tournament in Florida or at least find a few teams there to play?

Wow that is horrible. That really puts a black eye on our state here in Florida. We have the top and some other of the top high school tourneys in country. That is my first of hearing they were even having problems. They just put their website up a few weeks ago for the tourney. I was even thinking about going down for the final 2 days. I wish I coached farther South in Florida as I would try to throw together a last minute one heck of a tourney with some of these teams including Trinity. I used to run a nice tourney in Panama City that we have had quite a few Kentucky teams come to when I coached at Bay HS. I sure hate to read about this!!!

I thought this was a tournmnet where the tournament paid all the travel and lodging expenses. Could be that the participants get reimbursed afterwards from the proceeds, though, and there are going to be no proceeds now.

Steve Jones ‏@SteveJones_CJ

 

Trinity bball team will play in the Stop DWI Holiday Classic in Binghamton NY 12/27-30

Yes, the tournament was picking up expenses. They had some of the top teams in the country...all of which will not travel without everything being paid. In 1982 the King of the Bluegrass was one of only three or four national tournaments in the US. In 1982. we had Baltimore Dunbar, the #1 team in the nation, and the #1 player in the nation with Reggie Williams. They came to the KOB for 1/17th of the gate which was $937. The next year we had Dobbins Tech (#5) vs Louisville Seneca (#3)nationally in our finals. Five years later they had three first round NBA draft picks from that team. Then several years later sports promoters came in the picture with open wallets. The big four were City of Palms, Beach Ball, King Cotton and Slam Dunk to the Beach. Some high schools like Mater Dei in California put all four tournaments in a bidding war. It was then that tournaments like the Kingdom of the Sun (the first national tournament), the King of the Bluegrass and other high school sponsored tournaments couldn't get the "Big Boys".

We established a National High School Tournament Committee and we all agreed that we would notify our President and he would post which teams were committed to which tournament...well the "Big $ Boys didn't follow the rules. At one meeting the big four that I mentioned, all thought they had Mater Dei and two of the four said they would never deal with that school again, then the bidding wars begin. Several years ago the King Cotton and Slam Dunk to the Beach (the biggest spender of all) closed the doors. Their wallets weren't as big as their mouths. For several years the KOB struggled to get the great out-of-state teams. Then Steve Canfield stepped up and we have now gotten to the point where we can get top notch talent once again, but the big boys still want 100% of thier bills paid, plus $$$$. The Gulfshores Invitational went down because they went after the big timers plus some other great programs like Trinity. They were to have 18 of the top 100 players coming. Out of 22 teams invited only two were Florida schools. There wasn't any way they could have survived. They must have a National Sanction but as of last week they didn't have that because they didn't have a venue contract. I am proud to say that Trinity and Coach Szabo are nothing short of a class act and I am so proud to have them in the King of the Bluegrass. Once again "outsiders", that didn't know what they were doing let their egos get out of hand and a lot of young athletes were punished by losing a lot of money which they had to fund raise to make the trip. Also, in Florida the state association will not let you have a tournament without a contract with a hotel which guarantees the teams a place to stay when they get to the Sunshine State. To Trinity, I say good luck to you in the DWI Tournament and we look forward to seeing you next week in the King of the Bluegrass.

Edited December 15, 201213 yr by King of the Bluegrass