VALLEY CHRISTMAS TOURNAMENT COMES TO END; DISTRIBUTES $13,000 TO TEAMS, CHARITIES (September 30, 2025)

By TIM BIRNEY
Valley Sports Report
THE VALLEY — The Valley Christmas Tournament is no more, and this time it appears it won't be coming back.

Nearly 10 years ago, after a four-year absence, the Valley Christmas Tournament, which dates back to the mid-1960s, was revived in large part by Denny Thomas, who at the time was the Athens athletic director.

Thomas has remained active and chaired the Valley Christmas Tournament committee. On Tuesday night, Thomas announced the holiday tournament would not continue.

"It came to an end because it just got too difficult," said Thomas. "We brought Tioga in (to replace Towanda) and they ended up not having a girls team, and Sayre has struggled with numbers for its girls program.

"We were scrambling to get teams in the tournament, and that's not easy," he added. "Most schools already have their schedules set."

Thomas said he had planned on stepping away from chairing the committee as well.

"My business has taken off, and I'm not getting any younger. I was getting out anyway, so it's just all kind of came together."

The decision was not Thomas' alone, and ultimately came out of a meeting last spring with Waverly Superintendent of School Dr. Eric Knolles, and his counterpart in Athens, Craig Stage.

It was a really tough decision," said Thomas. "The Valley Christmas Tournament was a happening -- kids came home from college for it ... the games were always packed. It was a great thing for the Valley.

"It's sad, but I guess it's time to move on," added Thomas. "The school are going to do their own thing."

The Waverly boys and girls teams will be playing in the annual Palmer Tournament in Elmira, while Athens is hosting a Christmas Tournament of its own.

UNICO will be hosting the Unico Classic on Dec. 20 at Waverly High School. Waverly will host Windsor in girls action to be followed by an Athens-Waverly boys clash. 

Thomas also doled out $13,000 from the tournament's general fund.

The Waverly, Sayre, and Athens boys and girls basketball teams each received $1,000, as will Penn-York Opportunities, and the Valley Color Guard.

UNICO and CHOP will each receive $2,500.

"We were going to completely drain the fund, but we kept some money in there in case a student needs a pair of sneakers, something like that," said Thomas.

In the nine years since the Valley Christmas Tournament was re-organized, it has given $27,000 to the Valley basketball teams It's also donated $28,000 to Valley charities.

"I think over the years we did it right," said Thomas. "All nine of those years, the gyms were packed for the varsity games."

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