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• 2001 will be the 6th year of the annual Les Schwab Invitational basketball tournament.
• The Les Schwab Invitational presented by Fred Meyer highlights the top Oregon basketball programs and brings in top teams from all over the United States.
• This year the LSI is again in the Memorial Coliseum, to provide plenty of seating.
• The four-day tournament will feature many exciting promotions that will allow fans in attendance to win lots of fun prizes and provide entertainment for the entire family.

Top Teams:

• Oak Hill Academy from Mouth of Wilson, Virginia--The defending national champions are again ranked nationally this year and are expected to contend for the top spot.
• Churchill High School--Defending Oregon (OSAA) champion.
• Benson High School--OSAA 2001 tournament runner-up.
• National powers Little Rock, Mater Dei and St John Bosco are also invited.

Past National Participants:

Dominguez, Compton, CA (2000) Tampa Prep, Tampa, FL (1998) Christ the King, Queens, NY (2000) Fairfax HS, L.A., CA (2000) Torre Pines, San Diego, CA (1997) Evergreen, Vancouver, WA (1997) Rice HS, Manhattan, NY (1999) Crenshaw, L.A., CA (1998)

Redondo Union, Redondo Beach, CA (1999) Oak Hill Academy, Mouth of Wilson, VA (1997) Vancouver College, Vancouver, BC (1997) Southern Lab, Baton Rouge, LA (1999) East Anchorage, Anchorage, AK (1996) Lexington Catholic, Lexington, KY (1996) Laguna Hills, Laguna Hills, CA (1996)

Past Les Schwab Invitational Champions:

• Dominguez Dons (2000)
• Jefferson Democrats (1999)
• Crenshaw Cougars (1998)
• Oak Hill Academy Warriors (1997)
• Beaverton Beavers (1996)

Tickets will be available at the Rose Quarter Box office (503-797-9600)
Tournament Passes are available on October 19th. 
Single Session Tickets will be available on December 3rd. 
Prices will be announced at a later time.

• By purchasing a tournament pass, you will be guaranteed the same seat, in the lower-reserved section, for all eight sessions (morning and evening) of the tournament for a total of 32 games.
• With a Tournament Pass, you will save over $21 off the normal adult Session-ticket price to attend all 8 sessions.
• A tournament pass is the only reserved-seat ticket. All session tickets will be General Admission.
• Session Ticket is good for either one morning session (4 games-begin 9AM), or one afternoon session (4 games-begin 4PM). No splitting a Session Ticket between morning and afternoon session games.

Wednesday, December 19 - Opening Round at Memorial Coliseum
Thursday, December 20     - Second Round at Memorial Coliseum
Friday, December 21           - Third Round, Semi-finals, Memorial Coliseum
Saturday, December 22      - Fourth Round, Finals at Memorial Coliseum

For several years, the notion of having a highschool basketball tournament in Oregon during the Christmas holidays was being bounced around. The idea came from Oregon high school teams traveling to large Christmas tournaments around the country. These tournaments allowed high school teams that participated to play other top-notch schools from around North America.
Because of the late start in the media on basketball due to Oregon's five-week football playoff system, it was discussed at the Oregon High School Basketball Association meetings on how to get fans involved in the season sooner. Usually, it isn't until the first week of January before the first basketball polls are released. Radio and television also don't pay attention to what happens until teams are almost half way through their season, so fans don't really know much about individual teams or players in Oregon.
In order to combat this problem, Barry Adams and the Oregon High School Coaches Association underwent the long process of proposing a solution to the Oregon School Activities Association. They suggested that Oregon teams could play in one tournament each year and play up to four games. These four games would only count as 2 against their 22 game maximum schedule. Many other states already have these similar rules. For example, in California and Nevada teams can play in two tournaments each year with no game limit.
The hope was not to play more games, but to bring in some of the best high school teams in the country to play against the best high school teams and players in Oregon. This would then jumpstart the media and fan interest in December instead of January and help fill the stands in March for the State High School basketball tournament.
After about two years of letters, phone calls, meetings and lobbying, the OSAA Delegate Assembly agreed to try this for several years. The go-ahead, coupled with help from many sponsors such as Les Schwab, allowed the creation of the first high school holiday basketball tournament in the state of Oregon. The 1996 Oregon Holiday Invitational tournament was step one, and the hope is to make it better each year to help both basketball and athletics in Oregon. NOTE: This year $30,000 (increased from $24,000) has been guaranteed by the sponsors of this event to be split evenly between the participating teams, to help curb the budget cuts which are so drastically affecting today's athletic programs. This donation made possible by the generous support of the official Les Schwab Invitational presented by Fred Meyer sponsors: Les Schwab, Fred Meyer, Nike, The Oregonian, and NECA/IBEW.

In year 2000 the Oregon Holiday Invitational name was changed to The Les Schwab Invitational to reflect the broader scope of the event and to reflect the high level of support from Les Schwab Tires. The Venue was also moved to the Memorial Coliseum to accommodate more basketball enthusiasts. In 2001, Fred Meyer was added in title as the presenting sponsor. This event will continue to grow in local and national recognition.