* The first state tournament was held in 1920 at Penn State, at least the championship game was. There were 14 teams but with no district designations. The only team from northwestern Pa. was Farrell.

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Oil City was one of eight teams entered in the 1921 tourney. The Oilers lost to eventual state champion McKeesport, 35-28, in the first round. They defeated Kane, 46-43, in OT at Grove City to claim the northwestern Pa. (or district; Oil City's one and only, so far) title. The McKeesport game also was at Grove City. George Chacona and Fred "Pete" Fox were the big names on the Oiler squad. This team owns a sad footnote: center Ellis Hall died in December 1921 of typhoid fever and other complications. He was a freshman at the University of California at Berkley, where he was enrolled in the school of dentistry. The Cowell Avenue resident, who had just turned 20, left behind a wife, to whom he had been secretly married in high school. The marriage was announced after he graduated from Oil City, where he was president of the senior class and a mainstay in dramatics in addition to hoops.

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Franklin, led by King Richardson, was one of eight teams entered in the 1922 event after claiming its first district crown. The Nursery lost to Wilkinsburg, 26-17, in the first round at Trees Field House on the Pitt campus. The game was originally scheduled for Grove City, but Wilkinsburg fussed and fumed and the game was moved.  Still, many Franklin fans made the train trip to Pittsburgh. The smaller floor favored  the bigger (weight, we're talking here) and slower Wilkinsburg team. Richardson, who would become a prominent Franklin citizen and a star in local basketball circles as an adult, was the designated foul shooter on the 1922 squad, making 14 straight free throws at one point. (In those days, one player shot all the free throws for the team.) 

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The first year in which districts were designated was 1924. There were eight districts. Representing northwestern Pa. as the District 8 entrant was Greenville.

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Farrell was the first District 10 representative in 1931. DuBois repped District 9 that year. There were 11 districts in 1932 and 12 by 1933.

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Only Class A existed through 1944. The first A-B tourneys for boys were held in 1945. Class C was added in 1948.

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Only district champions advanced to the state playoffs through 1971. A girls tourney was added in 1973 -- but only a single class.

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There were two classes for girls and three for boys by 1976, when the names were changed from A-B-C to AAA-AA-A.

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There were three classes for both boys and girls from 1978-83. A fourth class (AAAA) was added in 1984. Philadelphia schools were added to the mix in 2005. The present day format of six classes (1A through 6A) began in 2017.