Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — The Eureka girls secured a rare three-peat of Dick Niclai Tournaments on Friday night, becoming just the third H-DN girls program to ever do so.

However, when it comes to overall championships they still have a long way to go to catch up with the frontrunners.

In the 28-year history of the tournament, no school can match the Arcata Tigers, boys or girls.

The Tigers have won 20 combined tournament championships out of the 56 total, including 11 for their girls and nine for their boys.

The Arcata girls won four straight championships between 1999 and 2002 and six straight from 2013 to 2018, the latter being the most successful run ever in tournament play.

The Arcata boys have also enjoyed two lengthy runs as champions, claiming five straight titles between 2009 and 2013 and three straight from 2015 to 2017, giving them eight in a nine-year span.

No other H-DN boys team has ever managed more than two straight titles.

The Mack girls, meanwhile, have also dominated the tournament at times and are the third most successful H-DN program, boys or girls, with eight titles to their name, all of them coming in a 10-year spell between 2003 and 2012.

It’s no surprise to see that the Big 5 teams have dominated the history of the tournament, with 26 of the 28 girls titles going to the bigger schools, and 24 of 28 to the boys.

The South Fork Cubs, who won two of the first three Niclai tournaments in 1995 and 1997, are the only L4 girls team to ever take home the coveted trophy.

The Hoopa Warriors are the most successful of the smaller schools boys programs, having won three titles (1999, 2001, 2004), with the St. Bernard’s boys also winning one in 2002.

The tournament is named after former H-DN Commissioner and Cal Poly Humboldt men’s basketball coach, Dick Niclai.

Mariah Napoleon in action for the Eureka girls on Friday night.

Niclai was a hugely influential figure for decades in local sports and in particular basketball, also serving as commissioner of the league’s basketball officials association.

According to the official tournament program, “Dick Niclai was a proponent of the value of high school athletics to enrich the lives of the youth of our local communities.”

In 1982 he proposed and initiated a local postseason Shaughnessy Tournament, which went through various changes until it was renamed in his honor after his death in 1996.

Since then it has grown in popularity to become one of the most anticipated events on the local sports calendar, taking center stage every February and capturing the attention of the North Coast community.

That was as evident as ever this past week, with the tournament returning to its full glory after two pandemic-effected seasons.

This year’s tournament gave us five days of exciting action, including back-to-back nights of semifinals at College of the Redwoods, which attracted large crowds.

Friday’s championship doubleheader was also played in front of a packed house at Lumberjack Arena, and if Dick was alive today to see it, he would have had every reason to be proud of what he started.

(Correction: Contrary to a report on Humboldt Sports on Friday night, the McKinleyville boys’ Niclai win was the program’s first since 1997 and not 1996, and it was their third ever and not their second ever.)

Total Girls Titles

Arcata 11

McKinleyville 8

Eureka 4

Del Norte 2

South Fork 2

Fortuna 1

Total Boys Titles

Arcata 9

Del Norte 5

Fortuna 4

Eureka 3

McKinleyville 3

Hoopa 3

St. Bernard’s 1