The All-College Basketball Classic is a

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

event that has been played during the winter holidays in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

since 1935. It is now held at the

Chesapeake Energy Arena Paycom Center (originally known as the Ford Center from 2002 to 2010, Oklahoma City Arena from 2010 to 2011, and Chesapeake Energy Arena from 2011 to 2021) is an arena located in Downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. It opened in 200 ...

. Although it has not followed a true tournament format since 2000, the All college Basketball Classic outdates even the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

, NIT, NAIA, and NBA tournaments. The All College Tournament was originally conceived by Henry P. Iba, the coach at Oklahoma A&M, and Bus Ham, sports editor of ''

The Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th large ...

''. The original purpose of the tournament was to increase interest in high school basketball in Oklahoma, and thereby to improve the quality of the college teams in the state. The first tournament included 16 teams from Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas, and was played at Classen High School; Oklahoma A&M won the first title game over

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

, 40–17. Two years later the tournament had grown to 32 teams. When the publisher of ''The Oklahoman'' made known its intention to end its sponsorship, the Oklahoma City All Sports Association was formed in 1957 to take over the tournament. The size, sponsorship, and success of the tournament varied over the years, shrinking to four teams in 1981. In 1999 it had what one report called "one of its worst fields ever" with three small college programs along with Oklahoma. The last traditionally-formatted tournament was played in 2000, with Oklahoma beating SMU 79–78 in the title game. Beginning in 2001, the event switched to a "classic" format, with a pre-determined schedule and no title game. In 2013 the event included women's basketball for the first time, presenting a doubleheader featuring the Oklahoma State men's and women's teams each playing a game against an out-of-state foe.John Helsley
"Oklahoma State basketball: All-College Classic to feature OSU-Louisiana Tech men, OSU-South Florida women"
''

'', August 4, 2013.

Hall of Fame of All College Basketball Classic

* Henry P. Iba *Ray Meyer *Ralph Miller *Jay Simon *Arnold Short *Jim Roederer *Bob Kurland *

Abe Lemons A.E. "Abe" Lemons (November 21, 1922 – September 2, 2002) was an American college basketball player and coach. As a head coach at Oklahoma City University, Pan American University and the University of Texas at Austin, he compiled a record of 5 ...

*Paul Hansen *John "Taps" Gallagher *Glenn Boyer *Bruce Drake *Cornell Green *

Pete Maravich Peter Press Maravich ( ; June 22, 1947 – January 5, 1988), known by his nickname Pistol Pete, was an American professional basketball player. Maravich was born in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, and raised i ...

*Stan Watts *Wayman Tisdale *Bill Russell *Thurman Medley *Stanley Draper Jr. *John Philbin *Billy Tubbs *Eddie Sutton

References

External links

Official website
{{NCAA men's college basketball tournament navbox Recurring sporting events established in 1935 History of college basketball in the United States Basketball in Oklahoma City College men's basketball competitions in the United States 1935 establishments in Oklahoma