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 2005, Emmaus won successive tournaments by defeating Northampton, Wilson Boro (2), Quakertown(2), 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 and Caleb Murphy were named Tournament MVP's. 

In the 2006 tourney, Warren Hills (NJ) hung on to defeat Saucon Valley to earn 3rd place honors while Emmaus won handily over Quakertown to achieve it's 10th straight title and it's 16th championship in the 25th Annual Christmas Tournament. Brian Hunter (EHS) was awarded the Tournament MVP honors. (The MVP trophy is named for Trevor Landis, former Emmaus High School athlete).

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 last year's 27th Annual Christmas Tournament, Quakertown pulled away and eased past the Franklin Learning Center (48-40) while host Emmaus soundly defeated the Germantown Friends School (65-45) on opening night to set up the final night's pairings.  In the final night’s consolation game, Germantown Friends squeezed past Franklin Learning Center (53-46) on the scoring of Anton Popov. In the championship game, Quakertown’s Dalton Nice hit (2) key 3 pointers in the fourth quarter to thwart Emmaus comeback hopes after a 10 minute drought.  He subsequently finished with a total of 16 points and a sure spot on the all-tourney team.  Frank Wiseley of Emmaus led all tournament scorers with 19 points and also gained a spot on the all-tourney team along with teammate Matt Johnson.  Quakertown’s Brett Roseboro was instrumental in leading the brilliant defense and was awarded the Tournament MVP trophy.  The other outstanding players nominated for the Team were Anton Popov (Germantown Friends) and Nasir Jones (Franklin LC).

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.