Tournament of Champions

The Kevin Brown Memorial Tournament of Champions (ToC) has become one of Washington’s crown jewels. Bringing in the nation’s best high school basketball teams together for a Thanksgiving-week tournament, the event has evolved and continually improved to become one of the best high school tournaments in the country.

In late 2005 Shawn Powell announced, along with the Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the creation of a new tournament in the area to be held at the Peoria Civic Center and Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse. The tournament promised to bring in teams from across the country as well as feature local teams.

Not everyone was sold on the idea. Peoria Richwoods coach Mike Ellis was quoted as saying “We’ll give it a year or two. It’ll never be too late if it ends up being a good event.” The Peoria Journal Star was tepid on the idea as well, with Wes Huett editorializing “I’m not sure getting some kid from Anytown USA who’s headed to Big City U is the best way to get 5,000 to Carver Arena and Robertson Memorial Field House. Especially at $18 and $12 a ticket. Maybe it will, and I’ll eat crow.”

As preparations continued, local teams made room for the tournament on their schedule. Both Peoria Manual and Peoria Notre Dame doubled up on their Thanksgiving commitments to participate in that first tournament, and Washington had fully committed.

By August 2006 the slate of games became clear for that first-year tournament. Powell compared the tournament to the St. Louis KMOX Shootout, where he had served as assistant director but left in 2005 to start the ToC. The St. Louis event would never occur again after 2005, clearing the way for more national teams to be available in the years to come.

Crowds were light during the 2006 tournament, magnified by their locations in college-size arenas. For the 2007 tournament, the site was moved to Washington and Pekin High Schools, which resulted in large crowds at Torry Gym and a mostly empty gymnasium in Pekin. Washington High School had been no stranger to Thanksgiving tournaments hosting one almost every year from 1968 until 2005.

In 2008 the ToC was moved to Washington as its central location, where it remains to this day. To the basketball fan, the list of fantastic players who have played in the tournament is impressive. Anthony Davis, Andrew Wiggins, DeAndre Jordan, Jerryd Bayless, Zion Williamson, & Reggie Bullock are just a few of the dozens of players that have played in the ToC that have went on to have a professional career.

On November 17, 2013, an EF4 tornado ripped through Washington. ToC officials were set to cancel the tournament, set to be held less than two weeks after the disaster. After Washington coach Kevin Brown met with Mayor Gary Manier, it was decided that the tournament had to be held, if for no other reason, as an event for displaced families to attend.

Teams from nine states attended that 2013 tournament. A team from California had a shipment of coats sent across the country for the community. A team from Missouri presented a check for $10,000 for tornado relief. Other teams brought donations of food, clothing, and other materials. It showed that as much as Washington loved the tournament and the teams that attended, the teams also loved Washington right back.

Another example of this can be seen from the fact that three members of the St. Louis DeSmet basketball team, who befriended a young ballboy from Washington when they attended the tournament in 2019, still texted him years later to check on him and maintain contact, even from their lofty positions as college basketball players.

During the 2018 tournament, Washington coach Kevin Brown returned from brain surgery to coach his Panthers for the final time in the ToC. His condition worsened in the coming months and he succumbed to brain cancer in June 2019. The following fall the tournament was renamed the Kevin Brown Memorial Tournament of Champions.

In 2020 the COVID pandemic forced the cancellation of the ToC with the exception of two games featuring only local teams and no crowd, but in 2021 the tournament returned in full force with record crowds and its usual bevy of national talent.

The ToC is tremendous for Washington. It provides a shot in the arm for local restaurants and hotels, and it also provides nationwide exposure for our little town. On the flipside, Washington is tremendous for the ToC. The city goes all-out to make the tournament a success from the legion of volunteers who make it all run smoothly to the community at-large supporting the event with their loyal attendance.