'We were the start of something big': 1973 Immokalee team honored at City of Palms

Before The City of Palms Classic had its name, the tournament had champions.

In 1973, the Immokalee High School basketball team defeated Riverdale 55-52 to win the local high school basketball tournament, then called The News-Press Boys Basketball Christmas Invitational and held at Edison Community College.

“It wasn’t the size it has become, but we were the start of something big,” said Leon Williams, who played on the championship squad.

For the 50th anniversary of the tournament, the players on that gritty, undersized team were honored as they awarded the 2023 City of Palms Classic championship trophy to Montverde Academy.

James Garvin, Leon Williams and Ronald Dehaney reminisced about their squad’s history-making run while in awe of how long the tournament has lasted and the spectacle it has become.

“I certainly can’t say it’s something I envisioned,” Williams said.

Garvin, who lives in Washington D.C., traveled to be honored alongside his former teammates.

“I flew in on Wednesday just to be a part of this because it’s something very, very special,” he said.

Of course, they wouldn’t be there without one particular shot Garvin hit.

The tournament started in 1973 when Edison basketball coach Hugh Thimlar organized a six-team, regional tournament in his gym with help from local high school coaches.

Immokalee was on the brink of elimination when Garvin hit a buzzer-beater against Cypress Lake to help the team advance.

“The thing about our team was we had a will to win, and no matter what the deficit was, we always felt that we could overcome that deficit,” Garvin said.

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The Indians weren’t the biggest or the most talented team around, but they found ways to compensate.

“We were pretty quick, fast break kind of team,” Williams said. “We moved up and down the court really fast.”

Beating Riverdale for the title is still a sweet memory for the players all these years later.

“Fifty years is a long time to do anything and to have 50 years to pass after a championship that we won, it’s just amazing for us to still be standing and moving around and doing the things that we do,” Garvin said. “It’s just a blessing to be a part of something like that. That was so special.”

Over the last 50 years, the Indians lost some of their teammates, including Lee Williams, who died last month at the age of 67.

Leon Williams described Lee as “an enforcer down underneath the basket.”

“Lee was one of the leaders on the team,” Garvin said.

Lee Williams went on to graduate from Bethune Cookman and later attended Howard University where he graduated with a Ph.D. in Electro Analytical Chemistry, according to his obituary.

With his recent passing, the opportunity to reunite in Fort Myers became even more meaningful.

“We’re fortunate to be here,” Leon Williams said.

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The 1973 champions were blown away by what their little tournament looks like in 2023. Showing how times have changed, Edison Community College was renamed Florida SouthWestern State College in 2014 and opened the 3,500-seat Suncoast Arena in 2016, where the tournament is now played.

“You got NBA scouts coming, you got NBA players’ sons playing, so it has turned into something very, very special,” Garvin said.

The players who participated in this year’s tournament could learn something from the Indians’ inaugural run.

“It’s perseverance right now for them and finding a way to move forward and digging deep within because the best team don’t always have to win, and certainly we weren’t the best team during that year, but we found the will to win,” Garvin said. “It takes guts, pride and patience for sure in terms of how you become champions.”

The Immokalee players could never have known the impact that would come from winning a holiday tournament in 1973. Their presence on the court following Montverde’s victory was a reminder for the tournament's latest champions to embrace the moment.

“They have the opportunity to look beyond the basketball court and basketball to enhance themselves in their lives and in the future,” Williams said. “We can look back 50 years and say, if we’re here tonight, 50 years later, just imagine where you can be 40, 50 years from now.”

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: The 1973 Immokalee champs honored on 50th anniversary of City of Palms Classic