THE FITZ TOURNAMENT

ABOUT

The Dan Fitzgerald Memorial Basketball Tournament (“The Fitz”) is a premier high school basketball tournament held in Spokane, Washington to honor the memory of Dan Fitzgerald. Dan was a legendary basketball coach at Gonzaga University, Santa Clara University and Archbishop Mitty High School. Dan’s success on the court was as much about the man that he was off the court than anything else. Wins and losses were measured more in the lives that he touched than in the final score of any contest. Dan was very active with local charities including the Spokane Gospel Mission Outreach, Boys and Girls Club of Spokane and local youth sports organizations among others. He also dedicated countless hours to many local high school and youth coaches to share his philosophies on basketball and life.

To keep his legacy of service and commitment alive, the net proceeds of The Fitz Tournament will go to deserving charities selected by the Fitzgerald family every year. In addition, each student athlete participant spends volunteer hours at a local charity giving back to the community in the tradition of Dan and Darleen Fitzgerald. To date The Fitz has raised over $100,000 to benefit charities that the Fitzgerald family supports.

2019: The 9th annual Dan Fitzgerald Memorial Tournament collected almost $900, and over 900 pounds of food for Second Harvest Food Bank. Combined, that provided over 5,000 meals during the holiday season for families in the Spokane area.

THE BANQUET

  • The Fitz Tournament will tip-off with our 10th Annual Fitz Banquet at Northern Quest Resort and Casino on Thursday, December 1st.  The event will be open to the Spokane community including all the members of the participating teams and their families. The banquet will celebrate the life and values of Dan Fitzgerald a beloved coach, mentor, and friend to the community. Highlights of the banquet include:
  • Banquet dinner served by the award-winning staff at Northern Quest.
  • This year we will have a special twist on 3-point shooting contest featuring a player from each team. There will be two contests – one for the 4 girls teams, and one for the 4 boys teams. Resulting in one champion from each of the divisions, and immediately followed by the two winners shooting for the privilege of being first in line for the buffet!  Will it be the girls or the boys this year?
  • Each team’s head coach will tell the crowd of over 300 attendees, about their team and share their individual experiences with Coach Fitzgerald.

ADMISSION –

  • Teams – players, and coaches – included in tournament package.
  • Cost for additional individuals is $20.

Seating is limited. We recommend purchasing tickets ahead of time. 

Tickets can be purchased at the door or by contacting Cajer Neely at cajer.neely@comcast.net

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

This year’s speaker will be Dr. Ken Anderson. Ken played for Coach Fitzgerald from 1979-1981. Currently, Ken is the Dean o f the Gonzaga School of Business and is in his 37th year as a faculty member.

 

Past speakers at the banquet include:

  • Former Santa Clara coach Carroll Williams. Fitz was an assistant to Carroll  at SCU.
  • Former Santa Clara coach Dick Davey, who was a Bronco assistant with Dan.
  • Eddie Taylor, who played guard at GU for Fitz and is now the vice provost and dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs at the University of Washington.
  • Mary Nile-Hepfel, an All-American and still the all-time leading scorer for men’s and women’s basketball at the University of San Francisco, and the winningest coach in 19 years as the head coach of the Don’s women’s eam who was mentored by Dan.
  • Former Zag and former Executive Director of Hoopfest in Spokane, Matt Santangelo.
  • Award winning sportswriter and columnist John Blanchette.
  • Former Zag guard Jeff Condill.
  • Gloria Navarez, the Commissioner of the West Coast Conference.
  • Jim Fitzgerald Sr., Dan’s brother.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

One of Coach Fitzgerald’s favorite community organizations – that he supported with his own volunteer hours – are the Union Gospel Mission and the Ronald McDonald House. Again, this year both the boys and girl’s teams will be serving meals at the venues chosen by the Fitz Committee.

THE 2022 SCHEDULE

The tournament itself will be a showcase format. Each team will play two games, one on Friday and one on Saturday. We are very excited about the overall caliber of the teams and the competition they will bring to our tenth event. In conjunction with 2nd Harvest Food Bank, admission to all games will be two cans of food.

All games will be played at Lewis & Clark High School.

 

5 of our 8 teams made their respective state tournaments this year:

Lake City (boys) – Idaho 5A state champs

Mead (girls) – WA  3A  3rd place

Tahoma (girls) – WA 4A 3rd place

Union (boys) – participant

West Linn (girls) – participant

 

SCHEDULE:

Friday, December 2                                                                

                3:30 (Girls) – West Linn (OR) vs Lewis & Clark

                5:00 (Boys) – Bothell vs Lewis & Clark

              *  6:30 (Girls) – Tahoma vs Mead (Televised on SWX)

             *   8:00 (Boys) – Union vs Lake City (Televised on SWX)

Saturday, December 3

                9:30 (Girls) – West Linn (OR) vs Mead

                11:00 (Boys) – Union vs Lewis & Clark

                1:00 (Girls) – Tahoma vs Lewis & Clark

                2:30 (Boys) – Bothell vs Lake City

Division 1 fitz tournament alumni

Aspyn Adams – Mt. Spokane – Loyola Marymont University
Joy Akaegbu – Gonzaga Prep – St. Mary’s University
Fran Belibi – Regis Jesuit – Stanford University
Tyschal Blake – St.Mary’s – Weber State University
Brett Boese – Shadle Park – Washington State Univerisity
Ellie Boni – University Colorado State University
Keeli Burton-Oliver – Eastlake – Arizona State University
Hannah Caudill – Gonzaga Prep – Montana State University
Tanner Christianson – University – University of Idaho
Javary Christmas – De La Salle-North – University of Idaho
Taya Corosdale – Bothel – Oregon State University
Tyson Degenhart – Mt. Spokane – Boise State University
Sydney Erikstrup – Beaverton – Arizona State University
Laura Erikstrup – Beaverton – University of San Diego
Tahlia Garza – Archbishop Mitty – University of California at Irvine
Otiona Gildon – Gonzaga Prep – University of Oregon
Riley Grigsby – Archbishop Mitty – Seattle University
Dani Guglielmo – Archbishop Mitty – University of California at Irvine
Niveya Henley – Mt. Spokane – Butler University
Daryn Hicks – Grant – Weber State University
Heleyna Hill – Archbishop Mitty – San Jose State University
Maddy Holland – Archbishop Mitty – St. Mary’s University
Peyton Howard – Central Valley – Seattle University
Haley Jones – Archbishop Mitty – Stanford University
Ben Kone – Archbishop Mitty – Oregon State University
Coreen Labish – Mead – University of Wyoming
Riley Lupfer – Lewis & Clark – Boise State University
Gina Marxen – Eastlake – University of Idaho
Tyler McCliment-Call – University – University of Portland
Jacksen McCliment-Call – University – University of Portland
Martina McCowan – St.Mary’s – Long Beach State University
Michael Mitchell – Archbishop Mitty – Pepperdine University
Jabe Mullins – Mt. Si – St. Mary’s University
Jayda Noble – Mt. Spokane – University of Washington
Karisma Ortiz – Archbishop Mitty – Penn State University
Tyler Patterson – Mt. Si – Montana State University
Naje Smith – Lewis & Clark – Boise State University
Connor Turner – WV-Yakima – Idaho State University
Evina Westbrook – South Salem – University of Conneticut
Katie Williams – South Salem – Oregon State University
Sue Winger – Mead – University of Idaho
Jordan Woodvine – South Salem – Boise State University
Bendu Yeaney – St.Mary’s – Indiana University