Hoopsters take center court
as March madness sets in

SPECIAL SPECTATOR -- Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan enjoys a bag of popcorn while watching the boys' championship game in the Padre Serra Tournament March 23. He is surrounded by tournament volunteers who donate countless hours each March to make the event a success. (Catholic Herald photo by Sam Lucero)

ST. FRANCIS -- Mention Padre Serra to any Catholic school eighth grader in the Milwaukee Archdiocese and one thing comes to mind: basketball. Just as college hoopsters dream of going to the NCAA Tournament, Catholic school players have their sights set on the Padre Serra Tournament.

The tournament is named after the 18th century missionary, Franciscan Fr. Junipero Serra, who founded nine Catholic missions up and down the California coast. And while Serra would be a bit perplexed that his evangelistic accomplishments take second fiddle to hoops in the minds of Catholic youth, he would be proud of the hard work the Padre Serra Tournament organizers have invested to make the basketball tournament such a success.

The 45th annual Padre Serra Tournament, held at the Archbishop Cousins Catholic Center, concluded March 23 with the boys' and girls' championship games. This year's winners included the St. Jude (Wauwatosa) Bobcats boys' team and the Sacred Heart (Racine) Sonics girls' team.

On hand for the distribution of awards was Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan. According to tournament organizers, it was the first time a Milwaukee archbishop has attended the event, which is due in part to Dolan's desire to meet Catholics where they congregate.

Tournament organizers have helped build the event into what they claim is "the best grade school basketball tournament in the country."

This year's tournament featured 32 boys' and 32 girls' teams. This is the first year equal boys' and girls' teams have participated.

"We did that just in fairness," said Dave Sauceda, a member of the tournament committee and last year's tournament director. "We'd heard from a number of mothers and fathers over the years ... concerning the disparity" of boys' teams over girls'. "I coached my niece's team at Catholic East for a couple of years, and I just felt it was fair and most of the committee felt it was fair."

Sauceda said the tournament does not have an established number of teams that participate. "We've always had different levels of participants. We've tried to keep the level of competition equal to the stature of the tournament, and sometimes there were not that many teams," he said.

The Padre Serra Tournament Committee consists of nine devoted basketball fans: Ralph Brownlee, Frank Crivello, Jack Ewig, Tony Gahn, Chuck Poehlmann, Jim Riemann, Gary Romanowich, Greg Sarandos, and Sauceda.

Crivello, who along with Gahn, served as this year's tournament co-directors, has been a tournament volunteer since 1960. He has seen the evolution of this tournament, which began in 1959 as the "Catholic Midget League Playoff."

"It's just unbelievable how this thing has grown," said Crivello. "To come down and see the crowds -- it's incredible. I just can't believe it."

Crivello attributed the tournament's success, in part, to the improvement in girls' basketball.

"The teams have gotten better and better; and the competition, that just draws more people," he said. "When we started the tournament for girls (in 1982), we started with four, then it went to eight and 12. And they just keep expanding and getting better."

Another change in the tournament -- and the sport -- is a more upbeat game, said Crivello. "For a long time it would be a slowdown game. Now it's an upbeat and transition game."

And while fans -- who show up in droves to cheer on their favorite parish grade school squad -- walk away from the gym, practice court of the Milwaukee Bucks, with pleasant memories and smiles, the real grins are witnessed down the road at Saint Francis Seminary. That's because most of the tournament revenues go to the seminary and the vocations office.

Last year's tournament raised between $35,000 and $40,000, said committee member Brownlee, with $15,000 going to the vocations office and $5,000 to the seminary. Other donations went to the Legionnaires of Christ religious order in Center Harbor, N.H. ($7,500), the Society of Jesus in Milwaukee ($5,000), and Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, ($1,000).

Brownlee said the bulk of tournament funds comes from admissions. The remaining income is through sales and advertising of the tournament program and concessions.

"They've always had a strong relationship with the vocations office here in Milwaukee," said Fr. Bob Stiefvater, director of the archdiocesan vocations office. "Because of their funding, the Serra Club has impacted the three-prong vocations promotion in the diocese: vocations awareness, education and invitation."

Stiefvater said Padre Serra Tournament funds helped underwrite Vocation Awareness Week commercials aired on television and radio last January. "A large amount of that money also went directly to the development of a resource guide for teachers." He said 3,500 copies of the resource guide were mailed out to Catholic school and parish religious educators.

Serra donations also helped the vocations office develop an interactive CD-Rom. "It's a CD I send to prospective candidates who are interested in priesthood. It's got information, videos and music and an overview of seminary life. It's proven to be very helpful," he said. "Those are the very physical, concrete, measurable ways in which they've helped us in the past year."

Why the seminary connection? The tournament is sponsored by the Serra Club of Milwaukee, part of Serra International, a Catholic lay organization named after Junipero Serra and devoted to promoting vocations to the priesthood and religious life. There are over 700 Serra Clubs around the world.

The Serra Club's involvement in the tournament dates back to 1970, when the Serra Club of Milwaukee assumed sponsorship from the archdiocese. The name was changed from the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Catholic Grade School Invitational Basketball Tournament (its title since 1962) to the Serra Invitational Basketball Tournament. In 1985, the event was given its present name to better identify itself with Padre Junipero Serra.

Just as impressive as the tournament's history is the selection process that tournament organizers use to choose teams. A selection committee consisting of three former Catholic grade school coaches begins a scouting process at the beginning of the basketball season. They attend basketball games around the archdiocese and consult with leaders of the various Catholic basketball leagues.

Crivello, one of the scouts, said there are 16 basketball conferences in the archdiocese and about 10 participate in the tournament. "I'm really happy with the cooperation we get from the different leagues," he said. "I'll make contact and tell them we're ready to make the selections and we would like their input to pick teams. It's really been great the cooperation we get, and it makes it easier for us."

The selection committee sends out bids to teams in January. Games begin the first week of March and continue for three weeks.

One of the many attractions this tournament offers to basketball fans is the opportunity to see budding basketball stars, boys and girls who go on to play high school and college basketball, and even professional ball.

The list of names familiar to local basketball fans continues to grow.

One name recognized especially by Marquette fans is Steve Novak, who played for St. Margaret Mary School in the 1998 Padre Serra Tournament. Novak was named MVP in Marquette's NCAA Tournament win over Missouri last Saturday. The freshman backup sank three three-point shots in overtime to help the Golden Eagles advance to the Sweet 16.

Other Serra participants who are enjoying success as college players include Quemont Greer (led Catholic Urban Academy to the 1996 Serra championship), who is currently playing at DePaul University, and J.R. Morris, (was MVP of the 1998 Serra tournament while playing for Resurrection Catholic Academy), who is a freshman playing at Seton Hall.

Among the girls who moved on to successful high school and college careers are Liz Chudy (St. Matthias), Christine Gutierrez (St. Gregory the Great) and Shawna Nicols (Holy Cross), who played in the 1997 Serra tournament. They would later team up at Pius XI High School and become known as the "Fab 3" on Coach Joel Claassen's Final Four WIAA 2001 team. Chudy and Gutierrez received scholarships to play at UW-Milwaukee and Nicols is playing for UW-Madison.

Novak's sister, Andrea, also starred at St. Margaret Mary in the 1996 Serra tournament and was named MVP for the runner-up Lancers. She is now playing at Division II Michigan Tech University in Houghton, Mich.

Not to be outdone, even some of the Serra tournament coaches are well known. Rick Majerus, head basketball coach of the University of Utah Utes in Salt Lake City, coached at St. Sebastian School in the 1970s.

Ulice Payne, president of the Milwaukee Brewers and former Marquette University basketball star, coached the St. Matthias Lady Bulldogs to a second place finish in this year's tournament. Payne's daughter, Amber, is a member of the team and was named to the girls' all-tournament team.

Payne said the Serra tournament experience was memorable.

"I coached this group of girls for three years. We were the number one seed ... and lost in the championship game. But what a tournament. They take the top 32 girls' teams in the eighth grade from around the archdiocese. We played girls from Sheboygan to Waterford, to Racine. It's such a great opportunity for all of our girls to play in front of thousands."