SANGAMON COUNTY, LINCOLN LAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE OCTOBER 19, 2023 EVENT RECAP
Sangamon County is well known for Abraham Lincoln and being the home county for our state capital. It is also known for its rich basketball history. Thus, the Basketball Museum of Illinois traveled to Lincoln Land Community College to host a celebration of their county tournament which will be 98 years old this winter.
Coaches and fans came to listen to our Sangamon County basketball historians. For two hours, our audience listened to stories covering from the 1920s to the present. Sangamon County basketball fans enjoyed every minute of our two-hour event.
A bonus for the evening was having Kent Coultas speak on the Winchester Invitational Tournament which is 102 years old. This makes it the oldest high school basketball invitational tournament in the United States.
Sangamon County Basketball historians: (L-R) IBCA Media Hall of Famer, Tim Schweizer who is well known for his magical voice in the Springfield Region, Cliff Cameron is retired from coaching and won two Class A State Championships at Pleasant Plains High School, Dave Kane is an IBCA Media Hall of Famer who has reported to the newspapers countless basketball games over the decades, and Phil Shadid who is a well-known basketball historian for our state and especially for Sangamon County.
Sangamon County High School Coaches over the decades. Front row: (L-R) Jim Bandy, Al Taylor, Paul Nonneman, Cliff Cameron & Kyle Weber. Second-row: Steve Allen, Bill Lamkey, and Steve Dilley.
Two great Pleasant Plains Coaches. On the left is Pleasant Plains High School Coach Kyle Weber, who has won five Sangamon County Titles. On the right is Cliff Cameron, who won an incredible ten Sangamon County Championships.
Ken Coultas, Winchester Invitational Tournament historian, shared with us that back in the 1920s, to get their team to the tournament on time, a school bus driver once drove over a frozen Illinois River because the bridge was out. Yikes!
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