The History of the Christmas Basketball Tournament:
In the 1982 inaugural tourney, Emmaus defeated Salisbury to be the 1st tournament champions. The first all tournament MVP was Brian Banke of Emmaus. In 1984, '85 and '86, Emmaus won successive tournament with Duke Scott, Matt Roberts and Howie Renner honored as MVP's.

The 1992 and 1993 tournaments saw Salisbury and Emmaus trading places for the championship with Antoine Hubbard (Salisbury) and Andy Shaver (Emmaus) capturing MVP honors. The 1994 and 1995 tournaments featured an 8 team format where Parkland defeated Salisbury and Quakertown, respectively to take tournament honors. Corey Trainer of Salisbury and Dak Krimmel of Parkland were awarded all tournament MVP'S.

In 1996, the tournament changed to a 4 team (3)day round robin format. Northampton, Quakertown and Emmaus finished with identical (2-1) records and were all granted tournament trophies. Brad Kocher of Emmaus was named tournament MVP.

From 1997 through 2006, Emmaus won 10 successive tournaments by defeating Northampton, Wilson Boro (2), Quakertown(3), Southern Lehigh(2) and Dieruff and Academy Park (District1) High Schools. Doug Spadt , Greg Roetting, Dave Spadt (2), Aaron Gray (2), Mike Brusko, Ryan O'Donnell, Caleb Murphy and Brian Hunter were named Tournament MVP's. 

In the 2007 tournament, Franklin Learning Center (Philadelphia) narrowly defeated the Emmaus Green Hornets in the 26^th Annual Christmas Tournament.  Khalelf Trawick of the FLC won the MVP honors. (The MVP trophy is named for Trever Landis, former Emmaus High School athlete).

In the 2008 tournament, Quakertown narrowly defeated Emmaus in the 27th Annual Christmas Tournament. Quakertown’s Brett Roseboro won the MVP trophy on his defensive play. 

In last year's 28th Annual Christmas Tournament, Upper Dublin defeated Bethlehem Catholic (87-75) while host Emmaus defeated Germantown Friends (60-50). In the final night's consolation game, BECA squeezed past Germantown Friends (52-50) on the scoring of Al Blount who hit the game winning bucket from the top of the key with 1 second remaining. In the championship game, Upper Dublin's Jamil Brown hit a jumper with 3 seconds left to defeat Emmaus (50-48). he subsequently finished with a total of 26 points and the Tournament MVP honors. Anthony Palencar of Emmaus gained a spot on the all-tourney team along with teammate Bobby Campbell. the other outstanding players nominated for the All Tournament team were Anton Popov (Germantown Friends), Al Blount (BECA), and James Newman (Upper Dublin).

The Exchange Club of Western Lehigh hopes that everyone enjoys the 2009 Emmaus High School Christmas Tournament.  We appreciate your support of the Emmaus Christmas Tournament and the National Exchange Club's Child Abuse Prevention Programs. Please support our Tournament sponsors. If anyone is interested in becoming a member of the Western Lehigh Exchange Club, please refer to the membership portion of this web site.