All-Church tourney provided great basketball
Teams played hard in remarkable era for sports in Utah
Paul and his lifelong friend Allen Brown know exactly how Paul was able to make that unusual leap. They give all the credit to a remarkable era in Utah sports history, the now-defunct All-Church Basketball Tournament.
From 1929 to 1971, the best boys' and men's basketball teams in the wards of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gathered from around the country each year in Salt Lake to determine church champions. Some came from as far away as the church "colonies" in Mexico, which produced some formidable teams.
Players included a young Thomas S. Monson, now president of the church.
The level of competition was high and so was the tournament's profile, a staple on the sports pages of the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune.
"The All-Church tournaments were covered just about as much as any other basketball by the newspapers," Brigham Young University historian Jessie Embry said this week during a campus lecture.
Paul, now 76, and Brown, 77, played for Salt Lake's mighty Edgehill Ward, a basketball factory fueled by ward leaders like Paul Hansen, who oversaw a program that included as many as three teams in each age group.
"So few really make high school teams, it provided for us a chance to feel a sense of belonging. We were as proud of our ward teams as our East High team."
Paul grew into a player wanted by legendary U. coach Jack Gardnerafter Paul played service ball in the Air Force and played against and coached Finnish teams while serving an LDS mission in Finland.
The year Paul played with the Utes, the team reached the National Invitational Tournament, which was bigger than today's NCAA tournament.
While Edgehill regularly reached All-Church, Paul and Brown never played on a team that won the championship game.
The roots of the tournament reach back almost to the invention of basketball by James Naismith in 1891. In 1906, the 20th Ward of Salt Lake's Ensign Stake formed two teams of young men.
By 1908, all the wards in the Ensign Stake had teams and played in a stake tournament. That same year, U. physical education professor E.J. Milne wrote an article for the church's "Improvement Era" magazine encouraging wards to build gyms for activities. He emphasized basketball, "the greatest of all indoor games in the country, and especially in the state of Utah."
Recent comments
Our stake has already started playing basketball this season. We…
Murray Stake Basketball | Oct. 10, 2008 at 12:28 p.m.
Our ASU Institute team made it to the Church tournament in the mid…
Rusty | Oct. 6, 2008 at 12:57 p.m.
Does anyone know out there if Uncle Rico ever played church basketball?
Neopoleon | Oct. 5, 2008 at 10:46 p.m.
