Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — With victories in their respective Dick Niclai tournament championship games on Friday night, the Arcata boys and Eureka have plenty to celebrate this weekend.

But where does each program stand in the tournament’s long and storied history?

The tournament, which is named after the former Humboldt State men’s basketball head coach and former H-DNL commissioner, dates back to 1995 in its current format.

Before that, there was a league postseason Shaughnessy tournament, which was proposed and initiated by Niclai back in the early 1980s.

Since 1995, there have been 29 Dick Niclai tournaments held for boys and girls, with the exception of the COVID shortened season of 2021.

And in that time, seven of the nine H-DNL varsity boys programs have won at least one title each, while six of the nine league girls programs have won at least one championship.

No school comes close to matching Arcata when it comes to the tourney, with the Tigers winning a record 11 of the 29 girls tournaments and a record 10 of the boys championships.

Remarkably, the Arcata boys didn’t win any of the first 14 tournaments, but have since dominated on the way to claiming 10 of the past 15 tournaments.

Included in that is a run of five straight titles from 2009 to 2013, which is record for the boys, as well as eight of nine titles between 2009 and 2017.

The second most successful boys program in tournament history is Del Norte, with the Warriors taking home five titles, most recently in 2020.

Fortuna has won the prestigious tournament four times, including 2018 and 2019, while Hoopa, McKinleyville and Eureka has each won three times.

St. Bernard’s is the only other school to have won a boys tournament championship, with Friday night’s finalists winning back in 2002.

On the girls side, meanwhile, the Eureka Loggers joined an elite club with Friday’s tournament championship, becoming just the third school to have won at least four straight titles.

Arcata’s record tally of wins includes four straight from 1999 to 2002 and a remarkable six straight between 2013 and 2018, a run that will be difficult to beat.

However, with their win on Friday, the Eureka girls are two-thirds of the way to matching that.

What’s most noteworthy about their four straight championships is that the Eureka girls won just one tournament in the previous 25 seasons, all the way back in 2004.

That gives the Loggers five title championships, which is third most, behind Arcata and McKinleyville.

The Panthers, who have won the Niclai eight times, dominated the postseason tournament from 2003 to 2012, winning eight of the 10 tournaments in that span, including four straight from 2009 to 2012.

South Fork and Del Norte each also have won the tournament twice, while Fortuna’s lone victory came in 2008.