Blast to the past

Every now and then we’ll take a look at a past game/team/event that was making headlines in county sports.

The Lake County Winter Classic started in 1999 as a companion tournament to the Record-Bee Hoop Classic, a junior varsity and varsity boys basketball tournament that originally featured all of Lake County’s high schools competing in a round-robin format during a week-long competition. It turned into a huge moneymaker for the host school. The Lake County Winter Classic featured all the county’s JV and varsity girls teams playing in a round-robin format as well, but was held in early January instead of mid-December like the Hoop Classic. Unfortunately the tournament only lasted six years because the North Central League I began scheduling league games in early January (at that time), leaving no week for the tournament to be played. Like the boys Hoop Classic, which continued on for two decades, it was a big moneymaker as well.