The phrase “Where champions compete” is often used by Classic in the Country organizers to describe the one-of-a-kind girls basketball tournament held at Hiland’s Perry Reese Jr. Community Center every January. With a 29-team field, including 22 seniors who’ve committed to Div. I schools, ready to set foot on the court in this year’s classic, those three words couldn’t be more true…

No venue as big as the Classic is worth its salt unless it has plenty of great grub to go with it, and thanks to a dedicated committee of volunteers at the helm of the food stand, there will be plenty of quality cuisine to satisfy basketball fans throughout the weekend.

Each year, the powerful and poignant words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reverberate throughout the packed Perry Reese Jr. Community Center during the Classic in the Country weekend, held in Berlin over the MLK holiday weekend. And each year, those words are pulled from an audio file of Dr. King’s greatest speeches. This year, however, as the Classic in the Country (CitC) preps for its seventh installment, coordinators decided to shake things up a bit, adding a Dr. King reenactor to deliver the infamous 18-minute “I Have a Dream” speech. Marvin Blanks, coined the “Orator of the Century,” will perform the speech immediately after Game 6 (Hathaway Brown versus Mount Notre Dame) on Saturday, Jan. 16 and before Game 7 (Potter’s House, Fla. versus Hiland).

Millions and millions of dollars have flowed through Holmes County the past six years over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, a time in the middle of winter when tourism is at its weakest in the heart of Ohio’s Amish Country. That cash flow is attributed to the Classic in the Country, Holmes County’s high school girls basketball showcase, which has grown into one of the premier high school athletic events, not just in Ohio, but in the nation. Drawing hundreds of college scouts and coaches, tens of thousands of fans to Holmes County for a weekend full of basketball, entertainment and fun…

By ZACH BOLINGER Daily Record Sports Writer BERLIN — The Classic in the Country, a three-day basketball bonanza in Berlin, promotes itself as a place “Where Champions Compete and Hospitality is King.” It delivers a more profound message, though. Intentionally scheduled each year over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, the event — now…

By ELLIOTT SCHREINER Daily Record Sports Writer BERLIN — As I sat down to write in my votes for this week’s Associated Press poll Sunday, I felt a renewed confidence in my job. Quite a lot of that had to do with seeing 13 games so far this weekend with about half of the best…

From Staff Reports BERLIN — South Euclid Regina showed a loss two weeks ago to Lutheran East was a bit fluky. The Royals, ranked No. 3 in Div. III, put together the best performance of Saturday’s games, knocking off previously undefeated and No. 1 in Div. I West Chester Lakota West 64-58. In a game…

BERLIN — Here’s a capsule look at Day Two at Classic in the Country V…

T-R Staff Report BERLIN — Hiland’s girls, one of the top teams in the state in Division IV, beat one of the standout teams in Division I, Columbus Brookhaven, 51-43 Saturday in the final game of the night at Classic in the Country V at the Perry Reese Jr. Community Center. The Hawks improve to…

Berlin, Ohio — It didn’t take long for the fifth edition of the Classic in the Country to establish itself as a girls high school basketball event where respect has to be earned. Rankings? These kids don’t care about no stinking rankings.