Tour De Court Timeline
June 1995 Josh Wolf and Jon Minkove conceive the notion of TDC while shooting around at Herb Court. They decide that a basketball/biking tournament is the missing void in their lives. There aren't many people home this summer so the tournament begins with only 4 participants, the 2 founders and 2 youngsters (Ariel Wolf and Yoni Rosenblatt)
July 1995 (TDC I) The first TDC is played. Ariel and Josh (the silver wolves) prevail in a tight and intense series of series.
June 1996 (TDC II)Tournament expands to 16 players, 8 teams. Merst and Gladstein win but a controversy emerges as Merst feigns injury and drives his car while the other 15 players bike. "He had fresher legs " was a popular complaint
June 1997/ March 1998 (TDC III) Minkove and Rosenblatt win the third annual tournament but don't play the finals until the spring of '98. Since its inception, TDC had maintained the traditional pairings of the 4 founders (wolf & wolf) (minkove & Rosenblatt). However, this year the players protest the championship pairing. This leads to a decision by the commissioners to do away with old system and instead pre-rank and pair all players.
August 1998 (TDC IV)This tournament will be forever known as the "over pious debacle". The tournament is cancelled after a player falls of his bike and was taken to the hospital. In an over pious moment, Josh Wolf calls off the tournament unnecessarily.
June 1999 (TDC V) For a second straight year the tournament isn't finished. This time because those in the final four all had "prior engagements". Skeptics argued at the time that the tournament had seen its last days
June 2000 (TDC VI) 2 of the founders sit out the 6th annual tournament (Minkove-torn ACL, Wolf- in Israel) But Ariel Wolf takes control and saves the tournament. He institutes the TDC mobile (carrying first aid and bike pumps), finds a replacement player for an injured player, and even videos it. Yoni and Nadav become the first champs since the '97 tourney.
The Gold Helmet becomes the TDC trophy. It is a bike helmet painted gold with the winners names inscribed. The winners hold onto the prized helmet for the year and have the privilege of riding around with it at the following yrs tournament.
June 2001 (TDC VII)Tournament expands to 26 player, 13 teams. Rosenblatt and Reisner take home the helmet
Spring 2002 Tourney expands to 32 players, 16 teams and to 8 sites. Under the tutelage of Web Design Professor Henry Jorisch, TDC website undergoes an amazing facelift.
June 2002 (TDC VIII)Aided by the brilliant play of TDC rookie "Epibermis" Berman, Rosenblatt wins his 4th straight title
June 2003 (TDC IX) Eli Creeger and Ari Gladstein end the long and painful Rosenblatt regime with a memorable comeback 3-2 win over Yoni and Bermis. In the first ever "night court" finals.
June 2004 (TDC X) Yoni Rosenblatt wins his fifth title this time with Daniel Aronhim after beating Sam Minkove and Harry Auster 3-1 in the finals.
April 2005 Yoni Rosenblatt marries Rachel Kiss and the Gold Helmet makes numerous appearances at his wedding.
July 2005 Ariel Wolf marries Andrea Brem and the Gold Helmet makes a small appearance at his wedding.
August 2005 (TDC XI) The tournament changes its format to 3 on 3. It is also switched to all day Sunday event. Yoni Rosenblatt repeats as champion (his sixth overall) as he, Idon Natanzon, and Scott Blumberg swept Jon Minkove, Gadi Lefkowitz, and Brian Neuman 3-0.
