The 3NR

This January the Montgomery Bell Academy will host the 28th Southern Bell Forum at their campus in Nashville, Tennessee. Since its inception in 1983, the SBF has been considered one of the most prestigious invitational policy debate tournaments in the country. Featuring some of the most intense competition of the year, the Forum limits its field to 72 entries and invites each school to register only its top team.

For those debaters and coaches that will be attending this year’s tournament, rigorous preparation should be well underway. Alas, this post will not assist you in that regard. Instead, the following is an attempt to chronicle some of the rich history of the Southern Bell Forum so that current attendees can better appreciate the legacy of this unique event.

Warning: Extreme Debate Geekery Below The Fold.

Most Championships—by School

Only six schools have claimed the Southern Bell Forum Championship on more than one occasion.

1. Glenbrook North – 4 (2004, 1998, 1986, 1983)
2. Colleyville – 3 (2009, 2008, 2003)
3. Greenhill – 3 (2006, 1997, 1996)
4. St. Mark’s – 3 (2002, 1990, 1989)
5. Centerville – 2 (2007, 2000)
6. Stuyvesent – 2 (1994, 1987)

Ten other schools have won the championship once: Dallas Jesuit (1984), Edgemont (2001), Head Royce (1999), Hendrick Hudson (1988), Kinkaid (1991), Lexington (1995), Newman Smith (1995), Pace (1985), South Garland (1992), and Westminster (2005).

Most Championships—by State

Texas has earned 13 of the 27 Southern Bell Forum Championships; no other state has won more than four.

1. Texas – 13
2. Illinois – 4
3. New York – 4
4. Georgia – 2
5. Ohio – 2

California and Massachusetts are the only other states to claim the title.

Most Final Round Appearances

In addition to four championships, Glenbrook North tops the list of final round appearances with eight; only two other schools have been in the final round four times.

1. Glenbrook North – 8
2. Colleyville – 4
3. Westminster – 4

Glenbrook North can also lay claim to the longest streak of consecutive final round appearances: GBN was in four consecutive final rounds between 1998 and 2001.

Most Teams In The Elimination Rounds

Seventy schools have cleared at least twice to the elimination rounds of the Southern Bell Forum. Glenbrook North has been in the elimination rounds in all but two years: 1991 and 1996.

1. Glenbrook North – 25
2. Greenhill – 19
3. Westminster – 17
4. Kinkaid – 16
5. Lexington – 16
6. St. Mark’s – 15
7. Caddo Magnet – 13
8. Centerville – 13
9. Glenbrook South – 12
10. Woodward – 12
11. Valley – 9
12. Pace – 8
13. Bronx Science – 7
14. Collevyille – 7
15. Edgemont – 7
16. Georgetown Day – 7
17. Stuyvesent – 7

Current Elimination Round Streaks

Only six schools can currently claim to have cleared teams to the elimination rounds of at least the last two Southern Bell Forums. Glenbrook North’s current streak of 13 consecutive appearances in the outrounds is the longest streak in tournament history.

1. Glenbrook North – 13 (1997-)
2. Westminster – 9 (2001-)
3. Bishop Guertin – 4 (2006-)
4. Bronx Science – 2 (2008-)
5. Colleyville – 2 (2008-)
6. Kinkaid – 2 (2008-)

All-Time Elimination Round Streaks

The current streaks by Glenbrook North and Westminster are the longest in the history of the Southern Bell Forum. In the 27-year history of the tournament, there have only been nine streaks of six or more years in which a school has qualified a team for the elimination rounds.

1. Glenbrook North – 13 (1997-current)
2. Westminster – 9 (2001-current)
3. Lexington – 9 (1987-1995)
4. Glenbrook North – 8 (1983-1990)
5. St. Mark’s – 8 (1985-1992)
6. Greenhill – 7 (1991-1997)
7. Caddo Magnet – 6 (1996-2001)
8. Kinkaid – 6 (1986-1991)
9. Westminster – 6 (1986-1991)

Championship & Final Round Seedings

The top seed has won nine of the 27 Southern Bell Forums. No team seeded eleventh or higher has ever won the championship; the following is a list of the winning seeds.

1. #1 – 9
2. #2, #3, #4, #10 – 3
3. #6, #9 – 2
4. #5, #8 – 1
5. #7, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16 – 0

The top seed has also advanced to the final round on four other occasions only to lose to a lower seed. The following is a list of the seeds of the teams that finished as runners-up.

1. #1, #10 – 4
2. #2, #7 – 3
3. #3, #4, #6, #16 – 2
4. #5, #8, #11, #13, #15 – 1
5. #9, #12, #14 – 0

The sixteenth seed has twice advanced to the final round; both times (2002 and 1998), they lost to the second seed. No team seeded 12th or 14th has ever advanced to the final round.

The lower seed is 18-9 in final rounds at the Southern Bell Forum. The largest “upset” in the final round occurred in 1986 when the ten seed defeated the top seed.

The top two seeds have only met in the final round three times (2006, 2000, 1992) with the top seed winning twice.

Bracket Busters

The top seed has lost to the 16th seed in the octafinals five times in the history of the Southern Bell Forum including a streak of three in a row from 2001 to 2003.

The higher seed has won 66 percent of the octafinal debates at the SBF. The following are the cumulative octafinal winning percentages for each seed.

1. 01 defeats 16 – 81%
2. 02 defeats 15 – 74%
3. 03 defeats 14 – 85%
4. 04 defeats 13 – 67%
5. 05 defeats 12 – 59%
6. 06 defeats 11 – 59%
7. 07 defeats 10 – 56%
8. 08 defeats 09 – 48%

Do you have a “trivia” question regarding the Southern Bell Forum? Want to know the last time your school reached the elimination rounds, for example? Post a comment and I will do my best to track down the answer.

This post was researched using the data available at the Southern Bell Forum site and results packets provided by Tim Alderete. All errors are my own; please send corrections via email or comments.

Bill Batterman

Bill is the Associate Director of Debate at Woodward Academy. The 2009 Wisconsin Debate Coaches’ Association Coach of the Year and 2010 National Debate Coaches’ Association Educator of the Year, Bill is an instructor at the Georgetown Debate Seminar and the Spartan Debate Institute at Michigan State University.

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