City of Palms Classic

City of Palms Classic

The City of Palms Classic is an annual high school basketball tournament held in Fort Myers, Florida.

The tournament began in 1973 as a high school boys' basketball tournament with a seven-team format. The earliest editions featured teams primarily from the Fort Myers News-Press' high school coverage area, but there were some quality teams from around the state, including Lakeland High, Brandon, Pompano Beach, Glades Central and Okeechobee.

In 1985, Bill Pollock, a Fort Myers resident whose son, John, was a rising senior at Fort Myers High School, became involved in the tournament, as did the News-Press' preps editor, Donnie Wilkie. The two have teamed ever since, and the tournament, sponsored by Bank of America (formerly Barnett Bank and NationsBank), quickly skyrocketed into a major national event. Pollock's son led Fort Myers to the 1985 tournament championship against a still-mostly-local field. Currently, the tournament consists of a 16-team national bracket, with selected "Sunshine Series" games (featuring additional high school teams from Florida and Georgia) dotting the schedule throughout the typically five- or six-day event.

Among the early breakthroughs for the tournament was a rivoting, triple-overtime championship game in 1989, in which Flint Hill Preparatory School (Falls Church, Virginia), led by Randolph Childress, Cory Alexander and Serge Zwikker, defeated Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn, New York), led by Norman Marbury and Tchaka Shipp, 70-68, on a last-second 3-pointer by Childress, who went on to stardom at Wake Forest University.

Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia) made its lone appearance (the Florida High School Athletic Association will no longer sanction them to play) in 1991, finishing third after losing to Franklin Learning Center (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) in the semifinals. But two years later, in 1993, the tournament made history with a field that included Danny Fortson, Ron Mercer, Tim Thomas and future NFL quarterback Daunte Culpepper—all in consolation brackets! Crenshaw High School (Los Angeles, California) won that year's tournament, scoring 117, 99 and 98 points in three of its four games, and finished the season ranked No. 3 in the nation by USA Today. St. Augustine High School (New Orleans, Louisiana) won the following year and went on to capture USA Today's mythical national championship in boys' basketball.

The tournament has remained a highlight on the national schedule ever since, drawing the interest of major-college coaches and recruiting analysts alike. Currently, 74 McDonald's All-Americans (including six in each of the past four games) have played in this pre-Christmas event, and as of Dec. 1, 2007, there were 38 former participants on NBA rosters, including 2004 NBA Finals MVP Chauncey Billups and Detroit Pistons teammate Tayshaun Prince, Joe Johnson (Atlanta Hawks), Gerald Wallace (Charlotte Bobcats), Udonis Haslem (Miami Heat), Chris Duhon (Chicago Bulls), Al Harrington (Golden State Warriors), Martell Webster (Portland Trail Blazers), Luke Walton (Los Angeles Lakers), twins Jason and Jarron Collins, and teammates Leon Powe and Glen "Big Baby" Davis of the NBA Champion Boston Celtics.

The tentative 2008 field (Dec. 18-23) has already been called "potentially the greatest in the history of high school basketball tournaments" by Clark Francis of HoopScoopOnline.com. It includes national top-20 programs Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, California), St. Patrick High School (Elizabeth, New Jersey) Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn, New York), Wheeler High School (Marietta, Georgia), Duncanville High School (Duncanville, Texas), Westchester High School (Los Angeles, California), Roman Catholic High School (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Word of God Christian Academy (Raleigh, North Carolina). Appropriately, with the 2009 McDonald's All-American Game scheduled to be played in Miami, as many as 11 rising seniors who are considered likely participants (Lance Stephenson, John Wall, Dexter Strickland, Malik Wayns, Leslie McDonald, David & Travis Wear, Noel Johnson, Ari Stewart, Shawn Williams and Kenny Boynton) are slated to play in the 2008 City of Palms Classic.

Contents

Locations

The event has had five hosts in its 36-year history, including Edison Community College (Fort Myers, Florida) from 1973–83 and twice more in 1990 and '93, Cape Coral High School (Cape Coral, Florida) in 1984, Fort Myers High School (Fort Myers, Florida) from 1985–89 and the Harborside Convention Hall in downtown Fort Myers in 1991 and '92. But the tournament found a long-term home when a new, 2,300-seat gymnasium was built at Bishop Verot High School (Fort Myers, Florida), and it has been played there every year since 1994.

Past winners

Alumni

City of Palms alumni currently on National Basketball Association rosters (as of summer 2010)

References


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