Single-class basketball produced true glory

Bill Benner’s [April 30] column on our multi-class basketball tournament versus returning to a single-class tournament was right on point. The horrible decision in 1997 cannot suddenly be reversed. Too many schools and student athletes have tasted the “glory” of winning their own class tournaments. I grew up attending and participating as a player in one of the best sectional tournaments, in Anderson, in one of the true classic venues, the Wigwam. The place would almost always be standing room only, more than 9,000 people, for the sectional final. To even be in that game was far more glorious than now being a class state champion, when a year later, no one can recall who won. As a casualty of that 1997 decision, that gym sits empty and will almost certainly be torn down. It is certainly true that the multi-class tournament is indicative of our society—we legislate competitiveness, and along with it comes a sense of entitlement.

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Steve Schug, Pendleton