When the original organizer of the Crossroads Classic Volleyball Tournament was looking for a town to host his tournament, George Wenthe, whose wife was the volleyball coach at Stewardson-Strasburg at the time, suggested Effingham.
“He said, ‘Why would I want to go to Effingham?’” Wenthe recalled. “I said we got two things Mt. Pulaski doesn’t have – motels and interstates. He said ‘Oh, yeah.’”
Wenthe took over organizing the tournament, and over 30 years later, it is still hosted in Effingham, bringing in 24 teams over two days. The tournament is played at Effingham High School, Effingham Junior High School and Sacred Heart School.
Over the years, teams have come from as far away as Grand Island, Nebraska, and Jonesboro, Arkansas. While many of the teams hail from all over Illinois, teams from Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri also currently come to compete.
The Crossroads Classic is part of a wave of sports tourism that has become a big draw in Effingham County, generating overnight stays and local tax revenue.
Wenthe doesn’t have figures for the number of overnight stays the tournament generates, but he said 22 of the teams would fall into that category. So, he takes the opportunity to market the local economy by including Effingham’s visitors’ guide in the informational packets he sends to those teams.
“So, they have info about restaurants, motels, activities and so forth,” he said.
Wenthe admits volleyball isn’t a big spectator sport, drawing mainly relatives, but he points to the caliber of teams that come out of the tournament.
“This was the 33rd year of the tournament. In the previous 32 years, 43 teams have come out of that field and finished their season with a state championship. Of those 43, only nine won this tournament in their state championship season. That speaks to the quality of the rest of the field,” he said.
That’s because early on, Wenthe began finding stronger teams to put in the tournament and has stuck with that approach.
“My operandi is to find teams that could be in at least the top half of that field,” he said. “In order to keep the level of competition the way we want it, it requires finding teams, not just waiting for somebody to call.”
Through research and following the sport, Wenthe and a committee work hard to find teams for the tournament. The tournament is played early in the season, giving teams an opportunity to play against good competition.
“It’s state tournament-level competition to see where they are, where they ought to be,” said Wenthe.
Wenthe doesn’t hear much feedback from teams or their families about their stay in Effingham, noting there’s little time outside the tournament for recreation. But in all the years of hosting the tournament, he has not heard any complaints either.
“If there was something they didn’t like, I would hear about that,” he said. “The more I think about it, the more that is a statement because throughout the tournament I talk to a lot of the parents.”
The comments he does hear are generally positive, though.
“They like the access from the interstates. They like the selection of motels. If they didn’t like something that was going on in this community, they would tell me,” he said.
Wenthe said the city’s tourism department has been very supportive in its contribution to the program, which he appreciates.
Southern Illinois Basketball Circuit (SIBC) Girls Basketball Tournament organizer Jeff Schafer is also grateful to the tourism department for seeing the economic value his tournament brings to the city, especially since the three days it is held – Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday – aren’t the most economically impactful days of the week when it comes to tourism.
The summer tournament draws in over 100 teams that have come from south of Chicago, Springfield, Indianapolis, Paris, Illinois, Carbondale and St. Louis to play at Effingham High and Junior High Schools.
The tournament began 20 years ago. Teams at the time would play in the American Youth Basketball Tour, with the fee to play going to the coordinators of the event. Schafer, a coach, was approached by two other schools to start a similar event. However, instead of the money going to the coordinators, it would go to the program and benefit the kids.
“The first couple of years I coached the kids in high school paid $425 each to play summer basketball, now we are able to allow every kid in our program – high school down to sixth grade – to play in all their summer events at no cost to the kids or their families,” he said.
When Schafer first started coaching girls 33 years ago, he quickly realized that money was not put into the boys’ and girls’ programs equally.
“The boys had four coaches and the girls had two coaches, so that was one of the first orders of business, to make ourselves self-sufficient so we could give the girls more and bring them up to the same level,” he said.
Teams are invited back to the circuit that participated the previous year, and 95% return each year. With great girls basketball locally, Schafer said they are able to match up teams to give them the best experience possible.
Schafer, who, along with his coaching staff and wife Sheri, runs the event, said he is complimented on how well the tournament is run, which he attributes to their efforts.
“They will do whatever they can to give the teams and coaches that attend the best experience they can have,” he said.
Aside from the tournament, Schafer said teams like coming to Effingham for the variety of restaurants. Schafer said most of the teams come from an hour away and will stay a night or two. He notes that the tournament also provides teams from smaller communities near Effingham with an overnight experience, allowing their teams to come together and enjoy more than just basketball.
“We also have great partners (sponsors) of our tournament that are always offering incentives for the kids to visit their businesses,” he said. “We are so thankful for those sponsors, many of whom have been with us for 20 years.”