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The coronavirus pandemic has deprived millions of Americans from enjoying beloved holiday traditions this year.
For Chris Neibch and his extended family, that means being unable to enjoy their favorite Christmas basketball tournament.
The Bill Neibch Falcon Classic is one of the oldest high school girls basketball tournaments in the state. It is named after former Wheaton North athletic director Bill Neibch, who started the tournament in 1984.
The 16-team competition has provided fans with 32 games over four days every year since then. But the 37th edition will not be held this year.
Nobody will miss it more than Chris Neibch, who has followed in his father’s footsteps. The 1997 Wheaton North graduate is the athletic director at Waubonsie Valley, which is one of the schools that competes in the Falcon Classic.
“It’s so special,” Chris Neibch said. “I grew up on that tournament.
“I was a gym rat and as a kid I remember vividly looking forward to going to that tournament with my dad every day. The games would start at 8 a.m. so he would tell us sometimes don’t come until 10, but I wanted to be there all the time.”
Bill Neibch, who died of cancer at age 64 in 2002, was Wheaton North’s athletic director from 1977 until 2000. A member of the Illinois Athletic Directors Association Hall of Fame, he was instrumental in expanding girls sports at the school.
“He did play a big role,” Chris Neibch said. “When he first got there, there weren’t many girls sports. He introduced a number of them.”
All five of Bill Neibch’s children played basketball for the Falcons, including oldest son Mark. His daughters Mandy, Allison and Julie – who is Chris’ twin – all played in the Falcon Classic, as did Chris’ wife Michelle, who now teaches at Wheaton North.
The family played a big role at the tournament both on and off the court. Bill’s wife Kala Jo, who like most of the family still lives in Wheaton, was in charge of the hospitality room for decades. Her cooking, especially her chili, was savored by coaches, officials and reporters.
“For our family, I don’t think people realize how important (the tournament) is to us,” Chris Neibch said. “My mom cooked home-cooked meals all day, every day.”
The late 1990s produced some special memories for the family. The kids had all graduated but Bill was still alive and the whole clan would help out.
“When I was in college, I would work the scorer’s table for every game,” Chris Neibch said. “I’d have a buddy from college come with me and we’d work the scorebook and the scoreboard for the entire tournament.”
Meanwhile, Chris Neibch’s sisters ran the concession stand, which is still referred to as “The Falcon Feeder” by longtime public address announcer Bob Zinke.
Chris Neibch, who has three children who eventually will attend Wheaton North, still attends the Falcon Classic each year, both as a fan and in his capacity as Waubonsie Valley athletic director, alternately cheering on his alma mater and his meal ticket.
While his mother no longer cooks for the tournament, which is now run by Wheaton North athletic director Matt Fisher, meals are still a treasured part of the tournament for Chris Neibch and something he will miss this year.
“On Dec. 9th we were supposed to have the Falcon Classic dinner,” he said. “It’s one of the rare tournaments where they have a dinner with the seeding meeting. My dad started that toward the end of his tenure.”
But the food and the hoops will have to wait until next year.
“I’m sad for many reasons,” Chris Neibch said. “I’m sad for all our athletes that can’t participate right now and the people that want to watch some basketball games.”
Chris Neibch has seen some great players and great teams at the Falcon Classic. In the early years, he watched Dave Power coach Immaculate Heart of Mary, which he led to the 1987 state championship before later starting the girls program at Fenwick and winning two more titles.
Wheaton North had some good teams in the early 1990s and Lyons Township and Hinsdale Central were dominant in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The list of terrific players who demonstrated their skill at the Falcon Classic is topped by Dominique Canty, who played for Whitney Young in the 1992 tournament and later played in the WNBA.
Chris Neibch also remembers Maggie Acuna and Morgan Kasperek winning multiple Falcon Classics for Hinsdale Central, which they led to the 2002 state championship. Acuna later played at Illinois, while Kasperek continued her career at Iowa and coached Glenbard South to a Falcon Classic titles in 2017 and 2019.
More recent stars include Hersey’s Megan Rogowski, who played at DePaul, and Hinsdale Central guard Toni Kokenis, who led the Red Devils to the 2010 Falcon Classic before playing at Stanford.
Wheaton North has had its share of standouts, including Chrissy Baird, who found success as a walk-on at UCLA, and her younger sister Nikki, a current Belmont sophomore who teamed with North’s career scoring leader Hannah Swider to lead the Falcons to the 2016 Falcon Classic crown.
But the player who sticks out most for Chris Neibch is former Waubonsie star Ashley Luke, who led the Warriors to the state quarterfinals in 1999. The prolific 3-point shooter played at Penn State and DePaul and coached Mother McAuley to second place at the 2019 state finals.
Luke played against Julie and Michelle Neibch in a 1996 Falcon Classic quarterfinal that had a memorable ending.
“We were up by 2 at the end and Luke had the ball with like three seconds left and made the shot from court,” Chris Neibch said. “To this day, my wife and my twin sister are like, ‘It was the after the buzzer.’ I was like, ‘It was close.’ But Waubonsie won the game.”