All Native Basketball Tournament

The original All Native Tournament back then was called the Northern British Columbia Coast Indian Championship Tournament started in 1947 - 1953. The first 1947 Tournament was held in the Roosevelt Gymnasium and there were 400 spectators. The Tournament was cancelled from lack of interest. It was rekindled in 1959 to have the first Tournament on March 2nd, 1960 to present day. This Tournament was started by the Prince Rupert Basketball Association with leadership coming from Irwin Garfield. Garfield and a small committee then organized the first All Native Tournament with 10 Senior Teams and 5 Intermediate teams and was a 4 day tournament.Now, 58 years later the tournament has 4 divisions with the largest tournament being the 50th Anniversary tournament that had 68 teams competing.