| 4/29/2005 3:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | House seeks adding single-class hoops tourney
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana House passed a resolution Thursday asking the Indiana High School Athletic Association to create a new single-class state basketball tournament.
“I think the public really wants this,” said Republican Rep. Larry Buell of Indianapolis, the resolution’s sponsor.
The resolution asks the IHSAA to create a single-class tournament during or before the regular basketball season, but does not specify whether such a tourney should be started for both boys and girls teams. The current class tournaments at the end of the season, which began in 1998, would stay intact, Buell said.
IHSAA Commissioner Blake Ress said he knew the resolution had been filed in the legislature, but had not talked with any lawmakers about it. He did not know what steps the organization would take.
“We will see what it has to say and analyze it,” Ress said.
Rep. Jerry Denbo, D-French Lick, said a second tournament that could be entered by all schools, regardless of enrollment, would be popular and that ISHAA should respond to public opinion.
“I hope they would wake up sometime, realize what they’re doing,” Denbo said. “I would urge the ISHAA to start listening to what the people want.”
Rep. Eric Turner, R-Marion, said the four-class tournament system has been exciting and have drawn good crowds. But he said a single-class tournament would also be popular.
“It in no way takes away from the class system,” Turner said. “This resolution just urges them to look at this. Basketball is important in Indiana.”
The House passed the resolution on a voice vote without taking a roll call.
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