105 years of the Macoupin County Basketball Tournament

By Tom Emery

On January 15-19, the Macoupin County Boys Basketball Tournament will be played for the 105th time. This year’s tournament will be held at Southwestern, and is one of the oldest continuous high school sports events in the state.

The first Macoupin County basketball tournament, in March 1919, was a five-team affair in Carlinville at the local Nathan Hall, which was owned by a local clothier. The facility, formerly located on the northeast corner of the square, then housed a 62 X 36 basketball court on the second story.

Benld High School captured that first tournament, which also fe...