Toby Yoho Classic not a run of the mill holiday tournament for Eastern Greene basketball

Each December for more than a decade, the Eastern Greene girls’ basketball program has closed out the year by hosting a holiday tournament. The Thunderbirds break their typical routine, retreating to Eastern Greene Middle School where they host a bounty of quality foes for two days of seemingly non-stop basketball.

This event, the Toby Yoho Classic, has become a staple of the local basketball scene and an annual opportunity for the Eastern Greene community to come together.

“It’s definitely a different atmosphere from the regular season. We look forward to it every year,” Eastern Greene senior Indy Workman said. “We love hosting it, we love seeing all of our fans who come out, and it’s a great opportunity for us to play some bigger teams that we don’t play in the regular season to prepare us for sectional time.”

Loaded field provides on-court growth

The most obvious benefits come on the court.

Looking at the 2021 field, the teams in attendance included last year’s Class 1A State Runner-up Loogootee, as well as defending Western Indiana Conference champion Edgewood, Class 1A No. 8 Trinity Lutheran and the host Thunderbirds who were ranked 11th in Class 2A ahead of the event.

Other attendees included Brownstown Central — the team that actually won the championship this season, and North Knox — the team that finished second, as well as other teams primed to make runs at conference and sectional titles such as Paoli and South Knox.

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The quality and depth of the competition means everyone gets a tough matchup.

Loogootee finished eighth out of the 12 teams in attendance, but they nearly beat the eventual champion, Brownstown Central, on the tournament’s opening day. The difference between them was just four points.

Environmental impact makes a difference

There’s also the environment and intensity to account for, which is unique to two times of year — the holidays and the state tournament. All the teams involved push themselves to their limits and get ready for the postseason.

“It’s huge. Having this type of atmosphere with this quality of teams is huge,” Eastern Greene coach Greg Burton said.

“Our athletic director Aaron Buskirk has done a fantastic job with this. He’s here 15 hours straight two days in a row, but he also has to plan this and prepare for this for months beforehand. The amount of good teams that are here is awesome, the two games in a day format is awesome. Hopefully we can get to that situation at some point in the state tournament with a regional, but that’s looking way too far ahead. It does prepare you for that, though.”

The variety of opponents and differing styles of play helps build experience for the post-season, which isn't far off.

“We just went from playing Loogootee, who plays a 1-3-1 trap and ran a triangle-and-two at us, shows a lot of different things and has been in the state championship game the last two years, to playing somebody who’s all man-to-man,” Burton said. “It gives you different looks, which we love. It’s just different basketball everywhere you go so it’s always nice to have.”

Thunderbirds honor the Classic’s namesake

The Toby Yoho Classic is also rich with meaning because its an opportunity to honor the man for whom the tournament is named.

Toby Yoho was a teacher and coach at Eastern Greene Schools for nearly three decades and he served the community in a number of different ways. The most prominent was serving as thevarsity girls’ basketball coach. Between 1980 and 1998, his teams compiled a record of 204-144, but he didn’t just win games — he also made an impact as a mentor and leader.

In 2001, Yoho lost his battle with cancer at the age of 53. Shortly after, the gymnasium at what is now Eastern Greene Middle School (formerly the high school) was named for him. It still bears his name, hence the reason the tournament is played there.

“It definitely adds meaning,” Workman said. “He was an especially big part of the girls’ basketball program, so it really means a lot to be able to represent him well and represent his family.”

For Buskirk’s part, he’s made sure that those in attendance know exactly what Yoho meant to the community. On the final day of this year’s event, he made a speech about Yoho’s impact and legacy before handing out individual awards to the tournament’s brightest stars.

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With the event a casualty of the pandemic last season, this year's event attracted a large crowd. One of the returning spectators was Toby Yoho’s widow, Nellie. Following Eastern Greene’s final game of the tournament, a loss in the fifth-place game to Edgewood, the Thunderbirds welcomed Nellie onto the court where they presented her with a signed game ball, a token of their appreciation for her support.

“It was great to have it again and we hope to continue it for our girls and for this community,” Buskirk said. “It felt really, really good to actually have fans in the stands and it was extra special to have Nellie come this year. We appreciate her showing support for the girls and for our schools.”

Classic's effect spans gene

In addition to honoring Yoho, the event also serves as a way to bridge the gap between generations in the Eastern Greene community. It seems that no matter where you look, there are connections to be made, even between Yoho and Eastern Greene’s current players.

“He did so much for this school and this basketball program. This is the least we could do to try to honor him,” Burton said. “We’ve got a couple of kids on our team whose moms played for him so it goes deeper than just the name on the gymnasium and I think that it’s really cool. He had some family members here that came and watched — we really appreciate that support — and we’ve got a relative of the Yoho family on our team in Brynlee Perkins, so it’s just awesome. Hopefully we can make that family proud by doing this.”

For some of Eastern Greene’s current players, the Yoho Gymnasium is where their parents played ball when they were in school. Take Kenady and Keylee Hudson for example, the latter of whom was named to the All-Tournament Team. Their father, Eastern Greene boys’ basketball coach Jamie Hudson, spent his varsity basketball career in the Yoho Gymnasium.

Things like that add extra meaning to the event for the Thunderbirds.

“I think there’s really a sentimental value to it because it makes you realize how many people played on that court, on both of those courts really, and we get to play for something bigger than ourselves,” Workman said. “We get to play for Toby, the Yoho family and all of the people who have done so much for our Eastern community. It really means a lot.”

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“The family aspect is what we were looking for and I think we managed to bring some of that this week,” Buskirk said. “Hopefully we can build on that for the future including the rest of this season. We were just happy to be able to have it this year.”

Contact sports reporter Auston Matricardi via e-mail at amatricardi@tmnews.com or on Twitter at @amatricardiTM.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Toby Yoho Classic not a run of the mill holiday tournament for Eastern Greene