Many of us will at least have vague memories of Senior Men’s basketball here in Southern Alberta. True Senior men’s basketball.  It began being played in Southern Alberta not long after the game made its way here in 1904. I’ve been able to find records of Senior Men’s ball being played for Provincial Championships as early as 1908. The earliest reference to an Alberta team was in 1915, and the first Southern Alberta team was in 1918 and it was just called “Lethbridge”.

By 1920 the Lethbridge team was called the “Coal Diggers” who beat Medicine Hat in the provincial semi finals. On the other side of the Provincial Championship tournament, the University of Alberta beat a team from Cardston named the “Brownings” to meet the Lethbridge “Coal Diggers” in the Provincial final. After the U of A “Golden Bears” won the Championship, the governing body of Basketball in Alberta, the Alberta Basketball Association stepped in and changed everything, throwing out the previous games.

Now the Edmonton YMCA All-Stars beat the University of Alberta “Golden Bears” then the Calgary YMCA in the new semi final before facing the Lethbridge “Coal Diggers” in the Provincial Finals. Lethbridge promptly objected to having to now face an All-Star team which included two of the U of A players. It had been a substantial period of time since Lethbridge had eliminated Medicine Hat and their team had basically disbanded, so they asked for some time to get the team back together. Edmonton agreed to travel to Lethbridge and promptly won game 1.  Game 2 was never played as Lethbridge objected and simply didn’t show up, so they forfeited, giving the 1920 Provincial Senior Men’s Championship to the Edmonton “All-Stars”.

The next season, in 1921, it was the University of Alberta “Golden Bears” that beat the Raymond “Huskies” for the Provincial Championship. The 1922 season saw the Raymond “Huskies” win the Provincial Championship by beating the University of Alberta “Golden Bears” in a two game total point series.  In 1923 the University of Alberta defeated Camrose in one semi-final, and in the other semi-finals, the Calgary YMCA defeated the Raymond “Union Jacks”. The finals saw the U of A beat the Calgary YMCA. All the series were two game total points series.

In 1924 the Canadian Amateur Basketball Association was created so that Canada would be able to have a National Senior Championship tournament and a National Champion named. The organization’s new President from Edmonton, Cecil Race, insisted that all provinces would be eligible for the National Championship, although Saskatchewan and Manitoba had yet to organize Provincial associations.  Prior to the formation of the CABA, the Canadian Amateur Athletic Union, oversaw only a measure of interprovincial competition.

In the first truly National Senior Men’s Championship tournament for the 1923-24 season, the newly named Raymond “Union Jacks” became the first truly National Champions.

Southern Alberta teams didn’t make the National Championship game again until the 1958-59 season when the Southern Alberta “Chinooks”, out of Lethbridge, would become National Champions. They would do it again two more times, this time under the name of Lethbridge “Broders” in the 1960-61 and 1961-62 seasons, they were also named Dominion Champions. The very next season another Lethbridge team, the Lethbridge “Nationals” would win the 1962-63 Canadian Championship. The “Nationals” would also represent Canada at the 1963 Pan-American games in Sao Paulo Brazil as well as the 1963 World Basketball Championships also in Sao Paulo Brazil. The Lethbridge “Nationals” was a team made up of players who were either Canadian born or landed immigrants which is what lead them to be able to represent Canada in international competitions. 

Although Senior Men’s basketball continued to be played into the late 1970’s, early 1980’s, Southern Alberta teams were no longer in the upper echelons of the national scene. With the advancement of the College and University as well as the different age grouped National teams, Senior Men’s basketball has also taken its place in the history of not only Southern Alberta Basketball in Alberta but all across Canada.