The Little Ten is the oldest continually running high school basketball conference in Illinois, organized during the 1919-20 school year with Earlville, Hinckley, Leland, Paw Paw, Plano, Rollo, Sandwich, Shabbona, Somonauk and Waterman as its charter schools. A conference tournament has been an annual event every season, one for many years held at the end of January.

Sheridan was added in 1930, but dropped in 1939 with Serena taking its place. Rollo closed in 1954. Hinckley consolidated with Big Rock in 1957 to form Hinckley-Big Rock. In 1967, Sandwich and Plano left, and Newark and Malta joined. Shabbona and Waterman consolidated to form Indian Creek in 1993, thus shortening the conference to nine teams. LaMoille joined in 1996. Malta closed in 2000. Kirkland Hiawatha joined in 2006, and that same year Earlville and Leland combined athletic programs to form Leland-Earlville, but went back to separate programs in 2019, while Paw Paw joined with Indian Creek. DePue joined the league in 2020, and Illinois Math and Science Academy this season.

In the previous 102 LTC Tournaments, Newark has walked away as champion a record 22 times, followed by Serena with 16 titles, Waterman 15, Somonauk 11, Shabbona and Hinckley-Big Rock 10 each, Earlville 7, Indian Creek, Paw Paw, Leland, Plano and Sandwich two each, and Malta one.

Waterman holds the record for consecutive tournament championships with seven (1929-37). Newark has had a pair of streaks reaching four (1985-88; 2015-18) and Serena one such streak (1963-66).

Here’s a dive into history and a recounting of some of those interesting tournaments in years ending with the number two, viewed a decade at a time:

1922

At the third annual event played in Earlville, the hosts defeated Plano and Sandwich in their opening two games before running past Waterman, 37-24, in the semifinals and topping Leland, 32-24, in the championship game for the second of three straight championships. Earlville ended the season with a 20-2 record.

1932

Waterman, under legendary coach Ernie Eveland and on its home floor, had little trouble winning the fourth of seven consecutive titles. The Red and Black rolled past Hinckley (40-15), Sandwich (30-19) and Leland (46-15) in the semifinals. In the championship against Earlville, Waterman used an 11-2 fourth-quarter advantage and eight points from Bill Randles to wrap up a 27-13 victory. Randles later coached at Somonauk from 1936-1947, helping led the Bobcats to 31 wins and a state quarterfinal appearance in 1945.

Rollo defeated Leland, 24-22, in three overtimes to take third place.

1942

On its home court, Somonauk opened with a 38-24 triumph over Earlville, then survived three potential game-tying shots in the final 20 seconds to give Waterman – which had won the championship the previous three years – its first loss of the season, 25-23. In the title game against Shabbona, the hosts led 18-10 at the half and increased the advantage to 29-15 after three quarters in a 31-21 victory. Al Denilauler scored 11 points and Bill Westbrook 10 for the Bobcats, while Merriman netted 14 for the Indians.

Waterman rolled past Leland 47-21 in the third-place game.

1952

Top-seeded host Hinckley and No. 2-seeded Somonauk were both 6-0 in league play entering the tournament, but the Hawks had beaten the Bobcats twice in holiday tournament and nonconference contests. The seeds played out, as Hinckley – after pulling off come-from-behind, fourth-quarter wins over Sandwich (64-59) and Earlville (56-51) – met Somonauk, which reached the title game with wins over Paw Paw (67-42) and Waterman (68-61). The Hawks trailed the Bobcats 31-28 to start the fourth quarter, but used a 19-12 advantage to earn a 47-43 win to capture its first tournament title in 25 years. Jim Dellenback scored 17 points for Hinckley, while Ron Anderson netted 15 for Somonauk.

Waterman won the third-place game over Earlville, 74-63.

1962

Top-seeded Shabbona reached the championship game after easy wins over Hinckley-Big Rock (72-46) and Serena (90-71), while No. 2-seeded and host Plano – which hadn’t won the top prize since back-to-back titles in 1946 and 1947 – defeated Leland, 73-53, before slipping past Earlville, 64-62, in overtime. The Indians broke open a tight game with a 16-8, third-quarter spurt to eventually defeat the Reapers, 73-57. Ron Johnson scored a game-best 24 points for Shabbona, while Bill Heller posted 22 points for Plano.

Serena topped Earlville, 70-57, in the third-place game.

1972

State-ranked host Shabbona entered the the tournament undefeated (14-0) and left it the same way (17-0). The Indians defeated Newark (62-38) and Hinckley-Big Rock (54-43), while Waterman reached the title game after tough wins over Earlville (48-42) and Somonauk (63-59). In the championship game, Shabbona held a one-point lead with a minute to go in the third quarter before using a 9-0 run over the next 5 1/2 minutes to all but sew up a 55-41 triumph. The Indians were led by 12 points from Dan Anderson, followed by 11 from Dave Sanderson and 10 each from Bruce Jordal and Denny Morton. Waterman’s Jeff Overmyer paced all scores with 21 points.

HBR won the third-place game over Somonauk, 62-56.

1982

Newark, the No. 2 seed, reached the championship game with wins over Malta (80-45) and Hinckley-Big Rock (62-52). Cinderella team Serena, the No. 8 seed, defeated Waterman (52-44), then upset top-seeded host Somonauk (60-55) and No. 4-seeded Paw Paw (40-39). The Norsemen trailed 31-30 at halftime of the title game but regrouped to outscore the Huskers 37-25 in the second half on the way to a 67-56 triumph. Newark was led by 22 points from Bruce Johnson and 20 from Scott Anderson, while Serena was paced by Randy DeCoursey’s 19 points, with Paul Nitiss adding 13.

The Royals won the third-place game over the Bulldogs, 64-46.

1992

Top-seeded host Somonauk used wins over Leland (79-40) and Shabbona (73-64) to enter the title game, while No. 3-seeded Newark topped Earlville (75-67) and Hinckley-Big Rock (101-83). The Bobcats trailed 27-26 at the intermission, but outscored the Norsemen 41-32 in the second half to claim a 67-59 victory. Somonauk was led by 16 points from Tom Stahl, 13 from Tom Stout and 11 from Aaron Grandgeorge. Newark’s Rocky Mitchell popped in a game-high 22 points, while Scott Leitner added 16.

Shabbona defeated HBR, 87-80, in the third-place contest.

2002

Top-seeded Newark used a layup by Dan Clausel off a Kerry Carlson assist with 16.7 seconds left in overtime to cap an exciting 63-61 championship win over No. 2-seeded Hinckley-Big Rock at Somonauk. The Norsemen had reached the title game after rolling to wins over Paw Paw (84-36) and Indian Creek (75-54), while the Royals – who saw their two final potential game-tying shots fall short – had topped LaMoille (77-40) and Leland (44-35). Carlson had a 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation to tie the game, and H-BR’s J.P. Baunach’s triple knotted the game in extra time with 24.2 to go. Clausel finished with 14 points, Dan Shields 12 – including a pair of dunks – and Carlson 11. Tim Peffer poured in a game-best 34 points, including seven 3s, for the Royals.

The Timberwolves slipped past the Panthers, 41-39, in the third-place game.

2012

Hinckley-Big Rock, the top seed, advanced to the title game after wins over LaMoille (68-10) and Indian Creek (50-38), while No. 3-seeded Somonauk defeated Serena (57-38) and Newark (52-50). The Royals led 13-2 after the opening quarter, then extended the advantage to 28-15 at halftime and 42-25 heading to the fourth on the way to a 58-39 win. Bernie Conley led HBR with 16 points and four assists, with Jared Madden adding 10 points. Jacob Krischel paced Somonauk with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Newark took the third-place game over the Timberwolves, 52-49.