The Notre Dame Bookstore Basketball Tournament, an annual campus landmark event, concludes Saturday, April 27th. The tournament was for many years the largest five-on-five basketball tournament in the world, and since its inception in 1972, it has attracted great attention both on and off the Notre Dame campus.
April 1972 observer The first report on this event was originally named the “Bookstore Hysteria Tournament.” The tournament was founded by Fritz Heffer ’72 and Vince Meconi ’75 as part of Morrissey Manor’s annual En Tostal Festival. The tournament has gained attention throughout its developing years due to its resilient style, come rain or shine. The creation of the women's division in 1978 added an entirely new division to the tournament, allowing even more spectators to participate.
A common tradition in bookstore basketball tournaments is for contestants to choose comical team names. In the April 1991 issue, observer ranks the top 10 bookstore basketball team names for the 20th annual tournament, featuring names like “All We Had Going for Us the Name and They Censored It” and “Two Rosses Don't Make a Right” . In this year's tournament, names like “Double Dribblers,” “Jenkins' Retirement Party,” and “Mary and the Apostles” are just a few of the teams that competed in the men's, women's, and Kolek tournaments, respectively. .
Another Bookstore Basketball Tournament tradition that has stood out over the years is the team's game costumes. In April 2002, observer It reported how the team formed for that year's tournament, Cuidad Piso Mojado, wore “bright yellow cardboard road signs the size of the body” as costumes. Similarly, teams from this year's tournament were also seen wearing them. He took to the court wearing a “Care Bears” themed uniform. Another team was seen wearing full shark costumes.
For this iteration of the Bookstore Basketball Tournament, co-chairs Daniel O'Shea and Kayleigh Doyle, and vice-chairman Nick Parten, have worked together to maintain the tournament's much-loved traditions while also adding even more. We introduced new aspects to attract participants.
“This year, we added a joint rec tournament that requires men and women to play on the same team,” O’Shea said in a text message.
Organizers hoped that adding yet another slot would attract even more contestants and viewers.
Freshman Sam Thornton competed with his friends in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday, April 2nd.
“Although I lost, I competed against members of three different dorms across five different academic majors and a bunch of graduate students studying completely different things,” Thornton said. “The basketball experience in the bookstore is a testament to the unique community we have here on campus.”
Despite the fact that the tournament is centered around basketball and its competitive nature, the Bookstore Basketball Tournament is also a fundraising event.
“We will build a sense of community on this campus while providing Jamaican children with the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of the game along with teamwork, leadership, respect and hard work,” Doyle said. “We are planning to send a bookstore officer or committee member to Kingston, Jamaica to assist.”
Teams that have not yet been disqualified will compete to advance to the finals next Saturday, April 27th.
“This year, just like last year, the tournament finals will be broadcast via Notre Dame Studios. Another new thing is that we will have food trucks at the finals for people to enjoy. I hope we can get some ceremonial information from some famous people,” O'Shea said.