PIZZA HUT INVTATIONAL DISTRIBUTES RECORD FUNDS TO PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

Invitations extended for 34th Annual Tournament

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Pizza Hut Invitational will donate approximately $96,000 to the eight schools that participated in the 33rd annual tournament Jan. 1-3, 2009, it was announced today. In addition, more than 15,000 fans attended the tournament setting an event record.

With this year’s donations to the schools, the Pizza Hut Invitational will have distributed more than $914,000 to its participating schools in just the last 10 years. Following the 2008 event, the tournament donated some $83,000 to the schools. Record-setting attendance and a 10 percent increase in fundraising accounted for the larger donations.

In addition to the school donations, the tournament awarded its four annual Bill Lee Scholarships and made contributions to Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Test, the Greensboro Urban Ministries and the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Western Regional Basketball tournament set for the Greensboro Coliseum Complex Special Events Center March 3-7, 2009.

“Everything about the 33rd annual Pizza Hut Invitational represents a phenomenal team effort,” Greensboro Sports Council president Brett Schulman said. “The Greensboro community has always been very generous in its support of this tournament, but with the economy struggling, we really did not know what to expect. We hoped to get close to last year’s total, but we never dreamed that our sponsorships would actually increase.

“The fantastic tournament attendance brought in even more funds allowing us to donate more to the schools than ever before. At the end of the day, we stage this tournament to raise money for our schools; the Pizza Hut Invitational definitely did its job. None of this would be possible if the Greensboro community didn’t support the tournament like it does, and we sincerely appreciate that loyal support.”

The 34th annual Pizza Hut Invitational is set for Dec. 31, 2009 – Jan. 2, 2010. Greensboro Sports Council personnel will extend invitations to the same eight schools that played in the just-completed event: Greensboro Day School, Grimsley High School, Northeast Guilford High School, Northern Guilford High School, Northwest Guilford High School, Page High School, Ragsdale High School and Smith High School.

The Pizza Hut Invitational is an annual high school basketball tournament in Greensboro, N.C. Founded in 1976 as the Little 4, the tournament features men’s and women’s teams representing eight Guilford County high schools playing at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex Special Events Center. Because it is an invitational tournament, teams can change each year, but teams can also remain the same from year-to-year. One hundred percent of tournament proceeds are donated to the participating schools; the Pizza Hut Invitational is presented by the Greensboro Sports Council.

4 thoughts on “PIZZA HUT INVTATIONAL DISTRIBUTES RECORD FUNDS TO PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS

  1. We don’t need to be there anyway…………we have national aspirations! LOL! There are bigger tournaments that we get invited to every yr.

Comments are closed.