Emil Brase, 97, shares rich history as coach and spectator of area Christmas tournament

Emil Brase, 97, takes in the action during the 2016 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center.

Laura Simon

Emil Brase likes to attend the annual Christmas tournament played in Cape Girardeau, and he's even led teams in the tournament when he coached high school basketball at Delta and Jackson.

The one thing that escapes his checklist is playing in the tournament, and that's no fault of his own.

He was 25 years old and seven years removed from his senior year at College High when the tournament made its debut.

The tournament, now known as the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, just celebrated its 72nd year. Brase will be celebrating his 98th birthday in February.

Brase was in attendance for several games wearing a Jackson Indians hat, spryly rising from his seat with each playing of the national anthem and alertly following the action.

Emil Brase, 97, views a tournament program during the 2016 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center.

Laura Simon

"I've been here for a few games [every year] ever since it originated," Brase said before the start of Jackson's quarterfinal victory over Bell City.

Delta appeared in the first playing of the tournament at the old Houck Field House in 1945 before disappearing for two seasons and returning in 1948. By that time, the Bobcats were under the direction of Brase, who began a nine-year run as coach in the 1946-47 season.

The 1948 tournament also was the first of three played at the A.C. Brase Arena in the wake of a fire that destroyed the old Houck Field House earlier in the year.

"Twice I got up to play in the semifinals, and I never got over that hump," Brase says about his teams playing in the Christmas tournament.

His time at Delta coincided with a legendary basketball era in Southeast Missouri. His teams made annual trips to play in the log cabin gymnasium in Puxico, Missouri, which housed the high-scoring powerhouse teams of Arnold Ryan that were documented in Matt Chaney's book "My Name is Mister Ryan."

Emil Brase, 97, takes in the action during the 2016 Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament at the Show Me Center.

Laura Simon

Ryan's teams routinely posted 100-point nights with their fast-break and pressing styles that featured future NBA player Win Wilfong, future Missouri Sports Hall of Fame coach Carroll Cookson and, later, coaching legend Ronnie Cookson, who led Scott County Central to 15 state titles.

Brase says his team played Puxico within a point in a regional game in the 1948 season, but was a regular victim of Ryan's teams.

"He never did score 100 points on me, that was my goal," says Brase, noting he kept his guards back to thwart the Indians' long outlet passes. "He got up there pretty high. He beat us pretty bad all the time. We played them about three times ever year."

He took over the Jackson boys program in 1956 and coached them for five seasons, and later became the first assistant for Ron Cook and his successful girls' program.

Brase eventually retired after serving 44 years as a physical education teacher. He lives in Jackson and remains a loyal follower of basketball, getting out to see games when he can.

"I usually got up to St. Louis and see a few baseball games, but I was never much of a baseball man," Brase says. "We liked basketball."