O'Boye's McDonald's Shootout has stood the test of time

Jim O'Boye never planned to run a girls basketball shootout for 25 years. But when the 25th Annual McDonald's Shootout commences at Willowbrook High School Saturday morning, O'Boye's event will have come full circle.

From its humble beginnings on Jan. 11, 1991 at Welsh-Ryan Arena on the Northwestern campus, the McDonald's Shootout has become the marquee event of Martin Luther King weekend, even as more and more events of its kind have popped up around the area and the country.

"Girls basketball was fairly young at the time and I thought bringing in teams from other states would be unique because at the time nobody was doing it," said O'Boye this week. "In 1991 there were no girls teams traveling to anything. I was running a boys basketball Christmas tournament at the time but with Proviso West and others around it was the wrong time to be running a boys Christmas tournament."

O'Boye had begun a relationship with former Chicago Sun-Times girls basketball beat writer Steve Tucker and a couple of coaches still involved in the event, Maine West's Derril Kipp and Fenwick's Dave Power, who was then the head coach at Immaculate Heart of Mary, where O'Boye's daughters Shannon and Jackie played.

"Steve Tucker knew I had daughters coming along, and then Kipp got involved and then Power got involved and those three were like, 'build it and we will come play.'

"I said OK, I'll do it for four years and move on, and it's just never stopped."

After the first event, which was called the Chicagoland Prep Classic, O'Boye moved the shootout to Alumni Hall at DePaul for four years. This weekend's event will be the 20th at Willowbrook. For three years, Ameritech sponsored the event, a connection O'Boye made through Tom Richards, the father of former Barrington standout Lindsay Richards, who is now an assistant coach at Pitt. McDonald's has sponsored the event for the past 20-plus years.

One of the staples of the event has been O'Boye's ability to bring in top teams from out of state and match them up against top teams from Illinois. Teams from places like Pickerington, Ohio; Kokomo, Ind.; Crown Point, Ind., and South Bend, among others, have brought future college All-Americans and future WNBA stars to Willowbrook.

He has also been able to play mediator with some coaches who wanted their teams to play each other but couldn't agree on where, citing games between Loyola and Chicago Marshall as well as Naperville Central vs. Neuqua Valley as examples.

This year's event includes Kokomo again as well as St. Joseph's of St. Louis and Divine Savior of Milwaukee, which features one of the top 10 players in the country in 5-foot-9 senior guard Arike Ogunbowale, the two-time Wisconsin player of the year who is committed to Notre Dame. The Dashers will play Burlington Central at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

"I've got a method down," said O'Boye of getting the best teams from out of state he can. "I know so many coaches from Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Wisconsin that it's not as hard as it used to be. I can call coaches, use the Internet and it's not hard to find the best teams. Scheduling is tough sometimes though. Illinois is far more liberal in the number of games it allows teams to play than most other states."

In this year's event, Maine West will play St. Ignatius. They are the only schools that have been in all 25 events yet they have never played each other in the showcase. Additionally, O'Boye will honor one of the first marquee matchups between Rossville, Ind., and Mother McAuley. Jennifer Jacoby, Miss Basketball in Indiana in 1991, and Megan Lucid, Miss Basketball in Illinois that same year, are both expected to be in attendance Saturday when Kokomo plays McAuley. Kokomo will also feature the first mother/daughter combo of the event. Kokomo coach Tamie Steiner played in the 1992 and 1993 shootouts and her daughter, Kaila, is a junior at Kokomo this year.

O'Boye prides himself on running a fair event for all the teams.

"I believe in tradition and taking care of those who take care of you along the way," said O'Boye, who for several years produced the telecast of the IHSA state boys and girls state tournaments through his former company, KOST Broadcast Sales.

"I put a big emphasis on fair officiating and not having the homers and no cheating. I keep an eye on that and I think it helps. Coaches talk and it helps your reputation if you treat people right."

O'Boye admits it has become tougher the past few years to get the marquee matchups as more and more shootouts and tournaments have popped up on MLK weekend.

"What is amazing to me today is that there are just a plethora of shootouts all over the country," he said. "All kinds of people have copied what we've done. It has mushroomed, certainly in this area and state and I would imagine across the country. I think our event triggered all the events you see today.

"Personally it hurts a little because I can't get the great games we used to get because there's so many of these events now and they don't have to travel to Willowbrook to play. Overall though it's a positive and it's good for girls basketball. I know this event started a lot of this stuff."

As for the future of the McDonald's event O'Boye, 67, says it's year-to-year, just as it's always been.

"I've told Willowbrook I'm coming back in 2016 and I've started working on the matchups already," he said. "I don't have an end date in sight. I'm healthy and this time next year I'll know if I'm doing it in 2017."

25th Annual McDonald's Shootout

At Willowbrook H.S.Saturday's games

WW South vs. Hillcrest, 8 a.m.

Bogan vs. Wheaton North, 9:30 a.m.

Naperville Central vs. Bishop McNamara, 11 a.m.

St. Ignatius vs. Maine West, 12:30 p.m.

Downers Grove North vs. Marist, 2 p.m.

Champaign St. Thomas More vs. New Trier, 3:30 p.m.

Kokomo (IN) vs. Mother McAuley, 5 p.m.

Burlington Central vs. Divine Savior (Milwaukee), 6:30 p.m.

Prospect vs. Geneva, 8 p.m.

Monday's games

Providence vs Willowbrook, 8 a.m.

Batavia vs. Kokomo (IN), 9:30 a.m.

Naperville North vs. St. Joseph's (St. Louis), 11 a.m.

Lyons Twp. Vs. Fenwick, 12:30 p.m.

Vernon Hills vs. Marian Catholic, 2 p.m.

Bloom Twp. Vs. Neuqua Valley, 3:30 p.m.

Chicago Brooks vs. Montini, 5 p.m.

Benet vs. Fremd, 6:30 p.m.

Joliet Catholic vs. Trinity, 8 p.m.

O'Boye's Best

Top Illinois playersTamika Catchings (Stevenson), Cappie Pondexter (Marshall), Candace Parker (Naperville Central), Tricia Liston (Fenwick), Morgan Tuck (Bolingbrook).

Top out-of-state playersTiffany Longworth (Kokomo, Ind.), Stephanie White (West Lebanon Seeger, Ind.), Semeka Randall (Garfield Heights Trinity, Ohio), Shanna Zolman (Wawasee, Ind.), Skylar Diggins (South Bend Washington, Ind.).

Top games1992 - Kokomo vs. Chicago Marshall (8 Division I players), 1995 - Pickerington (OH) vs. Stevenson (Pickerington was No. 1 team in country and Stevenson won at the buzzer), 1998 - Crown Point, Ind., vs. Fenwick (game called before conclusion due to power failure), 2007 - South Bend Washington vs. Fenwick (Diggins and Washington use win to establish themselves as a national power).