Illinois High School Association
Encyclopedia
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States
, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High School Associations
(NFHS). The IHSA regulates 14 sports for boys, 14 sports for girls, and eight co-educational non-athletic activities. More than 760 public and private high schools in the state of Illinois
are members of the IHSA. The Association's offices are in Bloomington, Illinois
.
In its over 100 years of existence, the IHSA has been at the center of many controversies. Some of these controversies (inclusion of sports for girls, the inclusion of private schools, drug testing, and the use of the term "March Madness") have had national resonance, or paralleled the struggles seen in other states across the country. Other controversies (geographic advancement of teams to the state playoff series, struggles between small schools and large schools, particular rules unique to Illinois competition) are more of a local focus.
The IHSA is led by an eleven-member Board of Directors. All eleven members are high school principals from member schools. Seven of the ten are elected to three-year terms from seven geographic regions within the state of Illinois. Three other board members are elected at-large. A treasurer, who does not vote, is appointed by the Board. The Board of Directors determines IHSA policies and employs an executive director and staff. They also work with the Illinois General Assembly
, the Illinois State Board of Education
, the Illinois Principals Association, the Illinois Association of School Boards, the Illinois Association of School Administrators, the Illinois Athletic Directors Association and the North Central Association.
The IHSA also has a 35-member Legislative Commission, consisting of 21 high school principals, seven high school athletic directors elected from each of the seven state regions, and seven at-large members. The commission reviews amendment proposals to the IHSA Constitution and By-laws, and determines which are passed on to a vote of the member schools. Each school receives one vote on any amendments, with voting taking place annually in December. Changes are passed by simple majority of member schools.
The day-to-day running of the Association is charged to an administrative staff of nine, one of whom acts in the position of Executive Director. This group is directly responsible for setting up and running the individual state playoff series in each sport and activity. They also supervise annual meetings with advisory committees from each sport and activity to review possible changes in the rules. They also coordinate committees on issues from sportsmanship and sports medicine to media relations and corporate sponsorship.
Subordinate to the Constitution and By-Laws are a number of policies. These policies are generally of greater interest to the public, as they more specifically deal with issues that affect the day-to-day operation of sports and activities. Examples of policies include individual athlete eligibility, rules governing the addition of new sports and activities, the classification of schools (1A, 2A, 3A, etc.), and media relations.
The key policy that has been a cornerstone to the IHSA is its policy on grouping and seeding tournaments:
1. The State Series is designed to determine a State Champion. The State Series is not intended to necessarily advance the best teams in the state to the State Final.
The IHSA is built upon the concept of geographic representation in its state playoff series.
session of the Illinois Principals Association. Known as the Illinois High School Athletic Association for the first 40 years of its existence, the IHSA is the second oldest of the 52 state high school associations. Only the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
outdates it, by two years.
For the greater part of a decade, the IHSA was concerned mostly with establishing school control over interscholastic athletic programs and setting eligibility standards for competition. Ringers were a persistent problem, and among schoolboy sports, football
was a special concern. In this period, severe injuries and even deaths were not uncommon, and there was much talk of banning football completely.
In 1908, the IHSA’s mission expanded in an unforeseen direction when its board was convinced by Lewis Omer of Oak Park and River Forest High School
to sponsor a statewide basketball
tournament. Although a handful of other state associations had sponsored track meets, none had ever attempted to organize a statewide basketball tournament. The first tournament, an 11-team invitational held at the Oak Park YMCA, was a financial success. Subsequent state tournaments, which were open to all member schools, provided the IHSA with fiscal independence, an important new vehicle to spread its message, and ever-increasing name recognition among the public.
By 1922, the affairs of the Association became so time-consuming that its board hired a full-time manager, Charles W. Whitten. As vice president of the Board, Whitten had recently reorganized the basketball tournament and reduced the size of the state finals from 21 teams to four. About the same time, the IHSA became a charter member of the National Federation of State High School Associations
. In addition to his IHSA responsibilities, Whitten ran the business affairs of the NFHS, at first unofficially, and after 1927 with the official title of general manager.
From this dual stage, Whitten and his assistant manager at the IHSA, H. V. Porter
, exerted unusual influence over high school sports, not only in Illinois, but across the nation. In one memorable battle, Whitten took on the "grand old man" of college football, Amos Alonzo Stagg
of the University of Chicago
and effectively shut down his national tournament for high school basketball champions. Porter served on several NFHS committees and helped develop the molded basketball and the fan-shaped backboard, among other inventions. Porter later became the first full-time executive of the NFHS.
As the Association matured, member schools requested sponsorship of state tournaments in sports other than basketball. The first such move came in 1927, when the IHSA took over control of the Illinois Interscholastic, a festival of high school track, golf, and tennis run by the University of Illinois
. The meet continued to be held on the campus in Champaign-Urbana, but as with basketball, IHSA involvement opened the field to all IHSA member schools and removed non-member schools, including a handful of out-of-state schools. The IHSA subsequently established state series in several other boys’ sports: swimming
and diving
(1932), wrestling
(1937), baseball
(1940), cross country
(1946), and gymnastics
(1958) (gymnastics had a University of Illinois sponsored state meet from 1952 through 1957). Few of these series were self-supporting, but the ever-popular basketball tournament – sometimes referred to as the “goose that laid the golden egg” – paid the freight for all.
Of the many challenges faced by Whitten during his 20 year career, the one with the longest-lasting repercussions was the reorganization of 1940. Prior to this time, two large groups of Illinois high schools remained outside of IHSA control: private schools, which were not eligible for membership, and the public schools of Chicago
, which were eligible but had joined only sporadically. The new constitution approved in 1940 extended the privileges of membership to non-public schools and gave limited autonomy to the Chicago schools, which subsequently joined en masse. In addition, non-athletic activities such as speech and music were added to the IHSA’s menu, prompting the elimination of the word “Athletic” from the Association’s name.
1941 saw one of the first serious challenges to IHSA authority, when the association banned high school bands from competing nationally. When a bill was introduced in the Illinois General Assembly
to transfer the IHSA's authority to the state superintendent's office, the IHSA moved to change the ban, and give local athletic directors a greater voice in decision making.
In 1942, as World War II
started to have an effect on American life, many schools began dropping less popular sports as transportation and hiring qualified coaches became a serious issue. The association polled its membership to investigate the possibility of ending the spring sports season. The poll supported keeping the season. All over the country, as gas rationing threatened to prevent teams and officials from traveling, IHSA Secretary Al Willis was able to get special exemptions for Illinois teams and officials; a precedent that spread to other states, very likely saving high school competitions during the war. By 1943, the IHSA had to look at making changes to its rules regarding eligible coaches, and the prospect of military veterans returning to high school. Ironically, the federal government eventually did put a limit to post season travel for high schools in May, 1945; too late to stop Illinois' spring tournaments, and just in time to herald the end of the war. In the end, the IHSA did not curtail its sports tournaments throughout the war.
Girls’ basketball had already begun to pervade high schools by the time the IHSA was founded in 1900. Just a few years later, upwards of 300 Illinois high schools sponsored girls’ basketball teams. For a variety of reasons, the early leaders of the IHSA found this situation unacceptable. They were worried about injuries and putting girls on public display, calling basketball “not altogether ladylike,” but they may also have been concerned about girls stealing gym time from the fledgling boys’ teams. On November 2, 1907, the IHSA Board banned all interscholastic competition for girls, becoming the first state association to do so.
Instead the IHSA, with considerable encouragement from female educators, promoted intramural activities and cooperative play days for girls. When Whitten became the director in 1921, he reached out to the Illinois League of High School Girls' Athletic Associations (ILHSGAA) and together they forged an agreement that barred girls’ teams from interscholastic competition in most sports for decades thereafter. The IHSA took over the financial support of the girls’ association in 1927 and absorbed it in 1945. The IHSA gradually relaxed its policy somewhat, allowing interschool contests for girls in some non-contact sports such as golf
, tennis
, and archery
, but these were never popular events. To provide a small measure of competition in other sports, the IHSA sponsored “telegraphic” or “postal” competitions in basket-shooting, swimming
, and bowling
.
By the late 1960s Whitten and the ILHSGAA were long gone, but for the high school girls of Illinois the playing field had not changed significantly since 1907. While the IHSA was able to withstand pressure from some of its member schools to initiate meaningful interscholastics for girls, the passage of Title IX
in May 1972 finally forced the issue. The IHSA held its first girls’ state tournament in tennis that fall, and a variety of other sports quickly followed. Today the IHSA sponsors state tournaments in 14 sports for girls.
At the culmination of the first drive for expansion, the IHSA also sought a way to add a state championship in football to its schedule of events. Because of the sheer number of schools involved, a playoff involving all schools was not possible. In 1974, the IHSA introduced a five-class system in which teams qualified based on their regular-season performance. The addition of the football playoffs coaxed the last large group of non-members, the schools of the Chicago Catholic League
, to join the IHSA. The playoffs were expanded to six classes in 1980 and eight classes in 2001.
proposed a bylaw that the IHSA should exclude private schools from competing in state touranments, though the membership voted this proposal down. In 2005, the Board of Directors implemented a multiplier for classification purposes that boosted the enrollments of non-boundaried schools by a factor of 1.65. A group of 37 private schools later sued the Association, and a settlement was reached that required the multiplier to go through the Association's annual legislative process. In December 2005, the member schools voted 450–143 to retain the 1.65 multiplier. no school has the legal right to look through a phone.
as well. In the end, a district court judge ruled that both the IHSA and NCAA could register the trademark
and use the phrase for their own purposes. In addition, the IHSA is the sole owner of the mark, "America's Original March Madness."
, entered the end of the wrestling season ranked third in the nation by USA Today, and was poised to win its fourth consecutive state dual team title. Just prior to their Regional tournament, the IHSA learned that the school had competed in too many invitational tournaments, and disqualified the school from further competing as a team. Mt. Carmel did not deny the assertion; however, they claimed that one of the varsity tournaments had only had JV and frosh-soph wrestlers competing. Mt. Carmel won a temporary injunction from the Cook County Circuit Court to permit their team to compete in the regionals. While the individual tournaments progressed, Mt. Carmel won a court victory which forced the IHSA to permit the team to wrestle. When the IHSA's appeal was denied, and after temporarily suspending the tournament, the IHSA decided to end the season without a Class AA state championship dual team tournament; the first time in the history of the Association that a state tournament had been cancelled due to a cause other than war.
and the State Journal-Register
) filed for a temporary restraining order to prohibit the IHSA from enforcing its policy restricting the use of photographs taken at its state final events. The IHSA's policy, similar to those adopted by the NCAA
, colleges such as Illinois State University
and the University of Illinois, and other state high school associations, allows news-gathering organizations to sell photos that are published but prohibits the sale (usually through a Web site) of the many photos taken at the event that are not published. A circuit court judge denied the motion on November 5 and encouraged the parties to renew talks to resolve the impasse. The plaintiffs withdrew their request for a preliminary injunction on November 16 as talks continued.
On December 5, 2007, the IHSA announced that it had filed a countersuit to the IPA seeking a resolution to the ongoing issue, citing a failure on the part of the IPA to continue talks, and the ongoing sale of photographs.
In January, 2008, it was announced that State Representative Joseph Lyons had submitted Illinois House Bill 4582, which would prevent the IHSA from enforcing its ban on press outlets from selling pictures of IHSA events.
In April, 2008, the IHSA and the Illinois Press Association jointly announced a cessation of hostilities that gave the press permission to sell photographs without hindrance from the IHSA
On 13 October 2009, the IHSA announced that it would begin sponsoring a state series in lacrosse
for both boys and girls starting in 2010–11.
Note: In addition, the earliest Track and Field meets (1893–1901) included bicycle racing as events.
Note: Some Illinois high schools field competitive teams in events such as fencing
, field hockey
, and ice hockey
, but the IHSA does not sponsor tournaments in these events.
Other academic competitions, such as Academic Decathlon, Science Olympiad
, and DECA
are not sponsored by the IHSA, and are governed by their respective national and/or state agencies.
None of the competitive activities to date have a super-sectional level of competition, but otherwise follow similar formats for their state competitions. Music is a noted exception.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High School Associations
National Federation of State High School Associations
The National Federation of State High School Associations is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. Most high schools, whether public or private, belong to their state's high school association; in turn, each state association...
(NFHS). The IHSA regulates 14 sports for boys, 14 sports for girls, and eight co-educational non-athletic activities. More than 760 public and private high schools in the state of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
are members of the IHSA. The Association's offices are in Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington, Illinois
Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...
.
In its over 100 years of existence, the IHSA has been at the center of many controversies. Some of these controversies (inclusion of sports for girls, the inclusion of private schools, drug testing, and the use of the term "March Madness") have had national resonance, or paralleled the struggles seen in other states across the country. Other controversies (geographic advancement of teams to the state playoff series, struggles between small schools and large schools, particular rules unique to Illinois competition) are more of a local focus.
Governance
The IHSA is governed according to the rules of its constitution. This constitution covers the broadest policies of the Association, such as membership, governance, officers and their duties, and meeting requirements.The IHSA is led by an eleven-member Board of Directors. All eleven members are high school principals from member schools. Seven of the ten are elected to three-year terms from seven geographic regions within the state of Illinois. Three other board members are elected at-large. A treasurer, who does not vote, is appointed by the Board. The Board of Directors determines IHSA policies and employs an executive director and staff. They also work with the Illinois General Assembly
Illinois General Assembly
The Illinois General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois and comprises the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Illinois has 59 legislative districts, with two...
, the Illinois State Board of Education
Illinois State Board of Education
The Illinois State Board of Education administers public education in the state of Illinois. The State Board consists of nine members who are appointed by the Governor with the consent of the...
, the Illinois Principals Association, the Illinois Association of School Boards, the Illinois Association of School Administrators, the Illinois Athletic Directors Association and the North Central Association.
The IHSA also has a 35-member Legislative Commission, consisting of 21 high school principals, seven high school athletic directors elected from each of the seven state regions, and seven at-large members. The commission reviews amendment proposals to the IHSA Constitution and By-laws, and determines which are passed on to a vote of the member schools. Each school receives one vote on any amendments, with voting taking place annually in December. Changes are passed by simple majority of member schools.
The day-to-day running of the Association is charged to an administrative staff of nine, one of whom acts in the position of Executive Director. This group is directly responsible for setting up and running the individual state playoff series in each sport and activity. They also supervise annual meetings with advisory committees from each sport and activity to review possible changes in the rules. They also coordinate committees on issues from sportsmanship and sports medicine to media relations and corporate sponsorship.
Subordinate to the Constitution and By-Laws are a number of policies. These policies are generally of greater interest to the public, as they more specifically deal with issues that affect the day-to-day operation of sports and activities. Examples of policies include individual athlete eligibility, rules governing the addition of new sports and activities, the classification of schools (1A, 2A, 3A, etc.), and media relations.
The key policy that has been a cornerstone to the IHSA is its policy on grouping and seeding tournaments:
1. The State Series is designed to determine a State Champion. The State Series is not intended to necessarily advance the best teams in the state to the State Final.
The IHSA is built upon the concept of geographic representation in its state playoff series.
Early years
The IHSA was founded on December 27, 1900, at a rumpRump organization
In Politics, a Rump organization is a remnant of a larger political grouping that continues to exist after the group has formally dissolved, split or been abolished.-See also:* Rump party* Rump legislature* Rump state* Rump Parliament...
session of the Illinois Principals Association. Known as the Illinois High School Athletic Association for the first 40 years of its existence, the IHSA is the second oldest of the 52 state high school associations. Only the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the first high school athletic organization in the country...
outdates it, by two years.
For the greater part of a decade, the IHSA was concerned mostly with establishing school control over interscholastic athletic programs and setting eligibility standards for competition. Ringers were a persistent problem, and among schoolboy sports, football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
was a special concern. In this period, severe injuries and even deaths were not uncommon, and there was much talk of banning football completely.
In 1908, the IHSA’s mission expanded in an unforeseen direction when its board was convinced by Lewis Omer of Oak Park and River Forest High School
Oak Park and River Forest High School
Oak Park and River Forest High School, or OPRF, is a public four-year high school located in Oak Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school of Oak Park and River Forest District 200....
to sponsor a statewide basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
tournament. Although a handful of other state associations had sponsored track meets, none had ever attempted to organize a statewide basketball tournament. The first tournament, an 11-team invitational held at the Oak Park YMCA, was a financial success. Subsequent state tournaments, which were open to all member schools, provided the IHSA with fiscal independence, an important new vehicle to spread its message, and ever-increasing name recognition among the public.
By 1922, the affairs of the Association became so time-consuming that its board hired a full-time manager, Charles W. Whitten. As vice president of the Board, Whitten had recently reorganized the basketball tournament and reduced the size of the state finals from 21 teams to four. About the same time, the IHSA became a charter member of the National Federation of State High School Associations
National Federation of State High School Associations
The National Federation of State High School Associations is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. Most high schools, whether public or private, belong to their state's high school association; in turn, each state association...
. In addition to his IHSA responsibilities, Whitten ran the business affairs of the NFHS, at first unofficially, and after 1927 with the official title of general manager.
From this dual stage, Whitten and his assistant manager at the IHSA, H. V. Porter
H. V. Porter
H. V. Porter , born Henry Van Arsdale Porter, was an athletic administrator, inventor, and coach. He served at the top of his profession for almost 30 years and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960...
, exerted unusual influence over high school sports, not only in Illinois, but across the nation. In one memorable battle, Whitten took on the "grand old man" of college football, Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg
Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...
of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
and effectively shut down his national tournament for high school basketball champions. Porter served on several NFHS committees and helped develop the molded basketball and the fan-shaped backboard, among other inventions. Porter later became the first full-time executive of the NFHS.
As the Association matured, member schools requested sponsorship of state tournaments in sports other than basketball. The first such move came in 1927, when the IHSA took over control of the Illinois Interscholastic, a festival of high school track, golf, and tennis run by the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
. The meet continued to be held on the campus in Champaign-Urbana, but as with basketball, IHSA involvement opened the field to all IHSA member schools and removed non-member schools, including a handful of out-of-state schools. The IHSA subsequently established state series in several other boys’ sports: swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
and diving
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
(1932), wrestling
Scholastic wrestling
Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
(1937), baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
(1940), cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
(1946), and gymnastics
Gymnastics
Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body...
(1958) (gymnastics had a University of Illinois sponsored state meet from 1952 through 1957). Few of these series were self-supporting, but the ever-popular basketball tournament – sometimes referred to as the “goose that laid the golden egg” – paid the freight for all.
Of the many challenges faced by Whitten during his 20 year career, the one with the longest-lasting repercussions was the reorganization of 1940. Prior to this time, two large groups of Illinois high schools remained outside of IHSA control: private schools, which were not eligible for membership, and the public schools of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, which were eligible but had joined only sporadically. The new constitution approved in 1940 extended the privileges of membership to non-public schools and gave limited autonomy to the Chicago schools, which subsequently joined en masse. In addition, non-athletic activities such as speech and music were added to the IHSA’s menu, prompting the elimination of the word “Athletic” from the Association’s name.
1941 saw one of the first serious challenges to IHSA authority, when the association banned high school bands from competing nationally. When a bill was introduced in the Illinois General Assembly
Illinois General Assembly
The Illinois General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois and comprises the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Illinois has 59 legislative districts, with two...
to transfer the IHSA's authority to the state superintendent's office, the IHSA moved to change the ban, and give local athletic directors a greater voice in decision making.
In 1942, as World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
started to have an effect on American life, many schools began dropping less popular sports as transportation and hiring qualified coaches became a serious issue. The association polled its membership to investigate the possibility of ending the spring sports season. The poll supported keeping the season. All over the country, as gas rationing threatened to prevent teams and officials from traveling, IHSA Secretary Al Willis was able to get special exemptions for Illinois teams and officials; a precedent that spread to other states, very likely saving high school competitions during the war. By 1943, the IHSA had to look at making changes to its rules regarding eligible coaches, and the prospect of military veterans returning to high school. Ironically, the federal government eventually did put a limit to post season travel for high schools in May, 1945; too late to stop Illinois' spring tournaments, and just in time to herald the end of the war. In the end, the IHSA did not curtail its sports tournaments throughout the war.
Girls’ Sports
The IHSA’s record of leadership in the field of girls’ athletics is mixed. Girls have had the opportunity to participate in IHSA sponsored interscholastic sports since 1972, though opportunities before that were somewhat restricted.Girls’ basketball had already begun to pervade high schools by the time the IHSA was founded in 1900. Just a few years later, upwards of 300 Illinois high schools sponsored girls’ basketball teams. For a variety of reasons, the early leaders of the IHSA found this situation unacceptable. They were worried about injuries and putting girls on public display, calling basketball “not altogether ladylike,” but they may also have been concerned about girls stealing gym time from the fledgling boys’ teams. On November 2, 1907, the IHSA Board banned all interscholastic competition for girls, becoming the first state association to do so.
Instead the IHSA, with considerable encouragement from female educators, promoted intramural activities and cooperative play days for girls. When Whitten became the director in 1921, he reached out to the Illinois League of High School Girls' Athletic Associations (ILHSGAA) and together they forged an agreement that barred girls’ teams from interscholastic competition in most sports for decades thereafter. The IHSA took over the financial support of the girls’ association in 1927 and absorbed it in 1945. The IHSA gradually relaxed its policy somewhat, allowing interschool contests for girls in some non-contact sports such as golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, and archery
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
, but these were never popular events. To provide a small measure of competition in other sports, the IHSA sponsored “telegraphic” or “postal” competitions in basket-shooting, swimming
Swimming (sport)
Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
, and bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
.
By the late 1960s Whitten and the ILHSGAA were long gone, but for the high school girls of Illinois the playing field had not changed significantly since 1907. While the IHSA was able to withstand pressure from some of its member schools to initiate meaningful interscholastics for girls, the passage of Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
in May 1972 finally forced the issue. The IHSA held its first girls’ state tournament in tennis that fall, and a variety of other sports quickly followed. Today the IHSA sponsors state tournaments in 14 sports for girls.
Recent Times
While the mundane tasks of regulating eligibility and licensing officials remain just as important to the IHSA’s mission as they were in the beginning, higher-profile issues having to do with state tournaments –- and who wins them –- have repeatedly stolen the spotlight in recent years.Class Change
Illinois was one of the last states, and certainly the largest, to retain a one-class system, where all schools, regardless of enrollment, competed for the same prize. In December 1970 the smaller schools, who make up the majority of IHSA members, forced a binding referendum on whether to implement a two-class system in boys’ basketball, and the measure carried by a narrow margin, 312–293. After this move, several other sports adopted the two-class format. In January 2006, after a substantial majority of schools responding to an advisory referendum indicated a preference for more classes, the IHSA Board of Directors approved expansion in several sports, starting in 2007–08.At the culmination of the first drive for expansion, the IHSA also sought a way to add a state championship in football to its schedule of events. Because of the sheer number of schools involved, a playoff involving all schools was not possible. In 1974, the IHSA introduced a five-class system in which teams qualified based on their regular-season performance. The addition of the football playoffs coaxed the last large group of non-members, the schools of the Chicago Catholic League
Chicago Catholic League
The Chicago Catholic League is a high school athletic conference based in Chicago, Illinois, USA. All of the schools are currently part of the Illinois High School Association, the governing body for Illinois scholastic sports...
, to join the IHSA. The playoffs were expanded to six classes in 1980 and eight classes in 2001.
Private school multiplier
The success of non-public schools in IHSA tournaments has led to considerable debate among the members, 83% of which are public schools. In 1985, the Interstate Eight ConferenceInterstate Eight Conference
The Interstate Eight Conference has 12 schools in Illinois that are members of the conference. The Interstate Eight originally had 8 schools—Coal City, Dwight, Lisle, Plano, Reed-Custer, Sandwich, Seneca and Wilmington. In 2006 Herscher, Manteno, Peotone and Westmont joined the conference. This...
proposed a bylaw that the IHSA should exclude private schools from competing in state touranments, though the membership voted this proposal down. In 2005, the Board of Directors implemented a multiplier for classification purposes that boosted the enrollments of non-boundaried schools by a factor of 1.65. A group of 37 private schools later sued the Association, and a settlement was reached that required the multiplier to go through the Association's annual legislative process. In December 2005, the member schools voted 450–143 to retain the 1.65 multiplier. no school has the legal right to look through a phone.
March Madness
Another lawsuit drew national attention in the 1990s, when the IHSA laid claim to “March Madness.” The phrase was first used to describe the IHSA basketball tournament in an essay written by H. V. Porter in 1939 and published in the IHSA’s monthly magazine. Over time the phrase came to be used for high school basketball tournaments, particularly in Illinois, but was not trademarked by the IHSA. When a television production company sought to register the phrase, the IHSA sued, leading to a battle that eventually involved the NCAANational Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
as well. In the end, a district court judge ruled that both the IHSA and NCAA could register the trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
and use the phrase for their own purposes. In addition, the IHSA is the sole owner of the mark, "America's Original March Madness."
1995 wrestling controversy
In 1995, Mt. Carmel (Chicago), under coach Bill WeickBill Weick
Bill Weick is a wrestler best known in the midwestern United States. After winning the 1949 Illinois state title at Tilden Tech High School, Weick won two NCAA titles competing for the University of Northern Iowa in 1952 and 1955. During 1953–1954, he served in the U.S. Army.Weick was a member of...
, entered the end of the wrestling season ranked third in the nation by USA Today, and was poised to win its fourth consecutive state dual team title. Just prior to their Regional tournament, the IHSA learned that the school had competed in too many invitational tournaments, and disqualified the school from further competing as a team. Mt. Carmel did not deny the assertion; however, they claimed that one of the varsity tournaments had only had JV and frosh-soph wrestlers competing. Mt. Carmel won a temporary injunction from the Cook County Circuit Court to permit their team to compete in the regionals. While the individual tournaments progressed, Mt. Carmel won a court victory which forced the IHSA to permit the team to wrestle. When the IHSA's appeal was denied, and after temporarily suspending the tournament, the IHSA decided to end the season without a Class AA state championship dual team tournament; the first time in the history of the Association that a state tournament had been cancelled due to a cause other than war.
Media Usage Restrictions
On November 1, 2007, the Illinois Press Association (IPA) and two newspapers (the Northwest HeraldNorthwest Herald
The Northwest Herald is a daily newspaper published in Crystal Lake, Illinois. The paper has a circulation of nearly 33,000 with a coverage area of McHenry County and northern Kane County in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago....
and the State Journal-Register
State Journal-Register
The State Journal-Register is the only local daily newspaper for Springfield, Illinois and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1831 as the Sangamon Journal, and claims to be "the oldest newspaper in Illinois." The State-Journal merged with its afternoon rival, the Illinois State Register, in...
) filed for a temporary restraining order to prohibit the IHSA from enforcing its policy restricting the use of photographs taken at its state final events. The IHSA's policy, similar to those adopted by the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
, colleges such as Illinois State University
Illinois State University
Illinois State University , founded in 1857, is the oldest public university in Illinois; it is located in the town of Normal. ISU is considered a "national university" that grants a variety of doctoral degrees and strongly emphasizes research; it is also recognized as one of the top ten largest...
and the University of Illinois, and other state high school associations, allows news-gathering organizations to sell photos that are published but prohibits the sale (usually through a Web site) of the many photos taken at the event that are not published. A circuit court judge denied the motion on November 5 and encouraged the parties to renew talks to resolve the impasse. The plaintiffs withdrew their request for a preliminary injunction on November 16 as talks continued.
On December 5, 2007, the IHSA announced that it had filed a countersuit to the IPA seeking a resolution to the ongoing issue, citing a failure on the part of the IPA to continue talks, and the ongoing sale of photographs.
In January, 2008, it was announced that State Representative Joseph Lyons had submitted Illinois House Bill 4582, which would prevent the IHSA from enforcing its ban on press outlets from selling pictures of IHSA events.
In April, 2008, the IHSA and the Illinois Press Association jointly announced a cessation of hostilities that gave the press permission to sell photographs without hindrance from the IHSA
Performance-Enhancing Drug Testing
On January 14, 2008, the IHSA announced that, based on a survey of 54% of its principals, it would move forward to design and implement a program to test for the presence of performance-enhancing drugs in student athletes participating in select State Series competitions. While details have not been worked out, based on the vote of the principals, the membership would not favor forcing a team to forfeit in the event of a positive test, though the membership which voted overwhelmingly favored to support a period of ineligibility for athletes testing positive, and narrowly supported forcing schools to adopt education programs if an athlete tested positive.Executive Directors
Prior to 1991, this office was known as Manager or Executive Secretary.- Charles W. Whitten, 1922–1942
- Albert Willis, 1942–1968
- Harry Fitzhugh, 1968–1978
- Lavere L. (Liz) Astroth, 1978–1991
- H. David Fry, 1991–2002
- Martin L. Hickman, 2002–present
Sanctioned sports
| Sport | First IHSA State Series | Most Team Championships | Current Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Badminton Badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players or two opposing pairs , who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their... (girls) |
1977 | 7--New Trier HS New Trier High School New Trier High School is a public four-year high school , with its major campus located in Winnetka, Illinois, USA, and a second campus in Northfield, Illinois, with freshman classes and district administration... |
spring |
| Baseball Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond... (boys) |
1940 | 4--Belleville Twp HS, Morton HS J. Sterling Morton High School District 201 J. Sterling Morton High School District 201 is a school district headquartered in Cicero, Illinois, United States. The district serves the city of Berwyn, the town of Cicero, and the villages of Forest View, Lyons, McCook, and Stickney... , Proviso East HS Proviso East High School Proviso East High School is a public secondary school in Maywood, Illinois which serves the educational needs of Maywood and three other villages within Proviso Township, Cook County, Illinois: Broadview, Forest Park and Melrose Park. It is the original campus of Proviso Township High Schools... |
spring |
| Basketball Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules... (boys) |
1908 | 5--Manual HS Manual High School (Peoria, Illinois) Manual High School is a public high school located in the south end of Peoria, Illinois. It is the southernmost of the three city high schools operated by the Peoria Public Schools. Manual opened in 1909 and moved from its Lincoln avenue site to a new building located at 811 S... |
winter |
| Basketball (girls) | 1977 | 8--Marshall HS John Marshall Metropolitan High School John Marshall Metropolitan High School is a public 4-year high school located on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It serves the students of the East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, North Lawndale and Humboldt Park neighborhoods. Marshall's principal is Kenyatta Butler... |
winter |
| Bowling Bowling Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule... (boys) |
2003 | 2--Andrew HS Victor J. Andrew High School Victor J. Andrew High School, Andrew, or VJA, is a public four-year high school located in Tinley Park, Illinois, a southwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States... |
winter |
| Bowling (girls) | 1973 | 4--Machesney Park, Harlem High School Harlem High School (Illinois) Harlem High School is a public secondary school and part of the Harlem School District 122. With approximately 2,600 students it is located on two campuses in Machesney Park, Illinois. Their sport teams are named the Harlem Huskies. The current principal is Joe Hazen.-External links:... |
winter |
| Cross Country Cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road... (boys) |
1946 | 27--York HS York Community High School York Community High School is a public secondary school in Elmhurst, Illinois, United States. Most of the students reside in Elmhurst, however the district also draws a small number of students from Addison, Bensenville, and Oak Brook... |
fall |
| Cross Country (girls) | 1979 | 12--Winnebago HS Winnebago High School Winnebago High School is a high school in Winnebago CUSD#323, in Winnebago, Illinois.-Sports and competitions:Winnebago High School competes in the Big Northern Conference and has won state titles in multiple sports and academic competitions, including a combined 20 state titles in boy's and girl's... |
fall |
| Competitive Cheerleading Cheerleading Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate... 2 |
2006 | 4--Elk Grove HS | winter |
| Football High school football High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations.... (boys) |
1974 | 13--Joliet Catholic Academy Joliet Catholic Academy Joliet Catholic Academy is a coed Catholic High School located in Joliet, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet. One of the oldest Catholic high schools in the Chicago area, Joliet Catholic is perhaps best known for its prowess in football... |
fall |
| Golf Golf Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes.... (boys) |
19383 | 9--University HS University High School (Normal) University High School , located in Normal, Illinois, is one of two "laboratory schools" of the College of Education at Illinois State University designed for research and teacher-training; the other is Thomas Metcalf School, an elementary school... , New Trier HS New Trier High School New Trier High School is a public four-year high school , with its major campus located in Winnetka, Illinois, USA, and a second campus in Northfield, Illinois, with freshman classes and district administration... |
fall |
| Golf (girls) | 1975 | 8--Regina Dominican HS Regina Dominican High School Regina Dominican High School is a small all-girls Catholic high school in Wilmette, Illinois, USA. Located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, it was founded in 1958 and is sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters... |
fall |
| Gymnastics Gymnastics Gymnastics is a sport involving performance of exercises requiring physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, and balance. Internationally, all of the gymnastic sports are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique with each country having its own national governing body... (boys) |
1952 | 9--Hinsdale Central HS Hinsdale Central High School Hinsdale Central High School, or HCHS is a public four-year high school located at the corner of W. 55th St. and S. Grant St. in Hinsdale, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded in 1879, the school is well known for its large spending per student, academic... |
spring |
| Gymnastics (girls) | 1977 | 8--Fremd HS | winter |
| Soccer (boys) | 1972 | 10--Granite City HS | fall |
| Soccer (girls) | 1988 | 8--St. Charles East HS St. Charles East High School Saint Charles East High School is a public four-year high school located in St. Charles, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Community Unit School District 303 which also includes Saint Charles North High School.... |
spring |
| Softball Softball Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand... (girls) |
1976 | 7--Casey-Westfield HS | spring |
| Swimming Swimming (sport) Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native... & Diving Diving Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one... (boys) |
1932 | 20--New Trier HS New Trier High School New Trier High School is a public four-year high school , with its major campus located in Winnetka, Illinois, USA, and a second campus in Northfield, Illinois, with freshman classes and district administration... |
winter |
| Swimming & Diving (girls) | 1975 | 10--New Trier HS New Trier High School New Trier High School is a public four-year high school , with its major campus located in Winnetka, Illinois, USA, and a second campus in Northfield, Illinois, with freshman classes and district administration... |
fall |
| Tennis Tennis Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all... (boys) |
19364 | 18--Hinsdale Central HS Hinsdale Central High School Hinsdale Central High School, or HCHS is a public four-year high school located at the corner of W. 55th St. and S. Grant St. in Hinsdale, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded in 1879, the school is well known for its large spending per student, academic... |
spring |
| Tennis (girls) | 1972 | 10--Hinsdale Central HS Hinsdale Central High School Hinsdale Central High School, or HCHS is a public four-year high school located at the corner of W. 55th St. and S. Grant St. in Hinsdale, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Founded in 1879, the school is well known for its large spending per student, academic... |
fall |
| Track & Field (boys) | 1893 | 17--Oak Park-River Forest HS Oak Park and River Forest High School Oak Park and River Forest High School, or OPRF, is a public four-year high school located in Oak Park, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is the only school of Oak Park and River Forest District 200.... |
spring |
| Track & Field (girls) | 1973 | 14—East St. Louis Lincoln HS5 | spring |
| Volleyball Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive... (boys) |
1992 | 6--Wheaton-Warrenville South HS Wheaton Warrenville South High School Wheaton Warrenville South High School, or WWSHS, is a public four-year high school located at the corner of Butterfield Road and Wiesbrook Road in the southwest corner of the Wheaton, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States... |
spring |
| Volleyball (girls) | 1975 | 13--Mother McAuley HS Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School is an all-girl, Catholic high school located in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois at 3737 West 99th Street. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago... |
fall |
| Water Polo Water polo Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a... (boys) |
2002 | 7--Fenwick HS | spring |
| Water Polo (girls) | 2002 | 4--Fenwick HS | spring |
| Wrestling Scholastic wrestling Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently... (boys) |
1937 | 10--Proviso East HS Proviso East High School Proviso East High School is a public secondary school in Maywood, Illinois which serves the educational needs of Maywood and three other villages within Proviso Township, Cook County, Illinois: Broadview, Forest Park and Melrose Park. It is the original campus of Proviso Township High Schools... |
winter |
On 13 October 2009, the IHSA announced that it would begin sponsoring a state series in lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
for both boys and girls starting in 2010–11.
Discontinued Sports
| Sport | IHSA State Series | Most Championships | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archery Archery Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity... (girls) |
1976–80 | 2--Rolling Meadows HS Rolling Meadows High School Rolling Meadows High School, or RMHS, is a public four-year high school located in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School District 214. It is part of the second largest school district in Illinois, under Chicago... |
|
| Field Hockey Field hockey Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks... (girls) |
1975–81 | 2--DeKalb HS | |
Note: In addition, the earliest Track and Field meets (1893–1901) included bicycle racing as events.
Sanctioned non-athletic activities
| Sport | First IHSA State Series | Most Championships |
|---|---|---|
| Bass Fishing Bass fishing Bass fishing is the activity of angling for the North American gamefish known colloquially as the black bass. There are numerous black bass species considered as gamefish in North America, including largemouth bass , smallmouth bass , Spotted bass or Kentucky bass , Guadalupe bass Bass fishing is... |
2009 | Frankfort Community High School Frankfort Community High School Frankfort Community High School is a public high school located in West Frankfort, Illinois. The campus is located in a city setting on West Frankfort's east side... |
| Chess Chess Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player... |
1975 | 7--University HS |
| Debate Debate Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion... 9 |
1941 | 4--New Trier HS New Trier High School New Trier High School is a public four-year high school , with its major campus located in Winnetka, Illinois, USA, and a second campus in Northfield, Illinois, with freshman classes and district administration... , Lyons HS Lyons Township High School Lyons Township High School is a public high school located in La Grange, Illinois. Freshmen and sophomores attend class at South campus, located at 4900 S. Willow Springs Rd. in Western Springs, while juniors and seniors attend class at North campus, located at 100 S. Brainard Ave. in La Grange,... , DuQuoin HS |
| Drama Drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a... and Group Interpretation |
1941 | 14--Homewood-Flossmoor HS Homewood-Flossmoor High School Homewood-Flossmoor High School is a public high school in Flossmoor, Illinois, in the Chicago metropolitan area. The majority of HF students live in Flossmoor and nearby Homewood, but the school also serves areas of Olympia Fields, Chicago Heights, Glenwood, and Hazel Crest serving school... |
| Journalism Journalism Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and... |
2006 | 2—Naperville Central High School Naperville Central High School Naperville Central High School is a public four-year comprehensive school ranked in the top 3% of high schools nationally by US News and World Report, covering grades nine through twelve in Naperville, Illinois, a suburb southwest of Chicago in the United States... |
| 1973 | 30--Herscher HS Herscher High School Herscher High School is a public coeducational high school in Herscher, Illinois. The school nickname is the Tigers and the school colors are gold and black.- Athletics :... |
|
| Scholastic Bowl | 1987 | 8--Illinois Math and Science Academy |
| Speech Individual Events | 1941 | 14--Downers Grove South High School |
Note: Some Illinois high schools field competitive teams in events such as fencing
Fencing
Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
, field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...
, and ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, but the IHSA does not sponsor tournaments in these events.
Other academic competitions, such as Academic Decathlon, Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad is an American elementary, middle, or high school team competition which tests knowledge of various science topics and engineering ability. Over 6,200 teams from 49 U.S. states compete each year. Most teams compete in three levels of competition: regionals, states, and nationals...
, and DECA
DECA (organization)
DECA, also known as Collegiate DECA on the college level) is an international association of students and teachers of marketing, management and entrepreneurship in business, finance, hospitality, and marketing sales and service . DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing,...
are not sponsored by the IHSA, and are governed by their respective national and/or state agencies.
State Series Format
While the earlier years of the IHSA saw a hodgepodge of systems for organizing each event's state playoff series, there exists today a more uniform system. The IHSA attempts to organize state championship events geographically, so that different regions of the state or represented in state finals competition. (State finals in the larger classes are usually less representative of the state as a whole, as the Chicago-area generally has more bigger schools.) Though not every competition uses it, the Regional (R) tournament is generally the lowest level of competition, and is open to every team which is eligible to enter. This is followed by Sectional (S) competition, and is followed by the State (F) level. In some sports, there is a single game Super-Sectional (SS) which follows the Sectional, and determines the state qualifier. In some regions where teams are further from one another, the sectionals are divided into sub-sectionals for seeding purposes. The following is an overview of the state series. Unless noted, boys and girls sports use identical systems. In all cases, seeding is either conducted by a conclave of coaches, or is made by criterion of best scores or times (as in track & field).| Sport | # of Classes | Format | Seeding information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Badminton (girls only) | 1 | S-F | individuals seeded at sectional level; no team seeding |
| Baseball | 4 | R-S-SS-F | teams seeded at sectional or sub-sectional level |
| Basketball | 4 | R-S-SS-F | teams seeded at sectional or sub-sectional level |
| Bowling | 1 | S-F | no seeding |
| Cheerleading | 32 | S-F | no seeding |
| Cross-Country | 3 | R-S-F | no seeding |
| Football | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| Golf (boys) | 3 | R-S-F | no seeding |
| Golf (girls) | 2 | R-S-F | no seeding |
| Gymnastics (boys) | 1 | S-F | individual seeding at sectional level |
| Gymnastics (girls) | 1 | R-S-F | individual seeding at regional level |
| Soccer | 3 | R-S-SS-F | teams seeded at sectional or sub-sectional level |
| Softball | 4 | R-S-SS-F | teams seeded at sectional or sub-sectional level |
| Swimming & Diving | 1 | S-F | individuals seeded at sectional level |
| Tennis | 1 | S-F | individuals seeded at sectional level |
| Track & Field | 3 | S-F | individuals seeded at sectional level |
| Volleyball (boys) | 1 | R-S-F | teams seeded at sectional or sub-sectional level |
| Volleyball (girls) | 4 | R-S-SS-F | teams seeded at sectional or sub-sectional level |
| Water Polo | 1 | S-F | teams seeded at sectional level |
| Wrestling | 3 | R-S-F | individuals seeded at regional level7 |
None of the competitive activities to date have a super-sectional level of competition, but otherwise follow similar formats for their state competitions. Music is a noted exception.
| Activity | # of Classes | Format | Seeding information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bass Fishing | 1 | S-F | none |
| Chess | 1 | F | Top 56 teams are determined by a pairing committee; Swiss pairing afterwards |
| Debate | 1 | F | none |
| Drama & Group Interpretation | 1 | S-F | none |
| Journalism | 4 | S-F | none |
| Music | 5 | 8 | none |
| Scholastic Bowl | 2 | R-S-F | teams seeded at sectional or sub-sectional level |
| Speech Individual Events | 1 | R-S-F | none |
Notable Medalists in IHSA Sponsored State Series
- Derrick RoseDerrick RoseDerrick Martell Rose is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association ....
(Simeon HS) Won back-to-back Class AA basketball state championships in 2006 and 2007. Played at Memphis University for one year. Drafted first overall in the 2008 NBA Draft2008 NBA DraftThe 2008 NBA Draft was held on June 26, 2008 at the Washington Mutual Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. In this draft, National Basketball Association teams took turns selecting amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, including...
by his hometown Chicago BullsChicago BullsThe Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team was founded in 1966. They play their home games at the United Center...
. Became the youngest player ever to receive the NBA Most Valuable Player AwardNBA Most Valuable Player AwardThe National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1955–56 NBA season. The winner receives the Maurice Podoloff Trophy, which is named in honor of the first commissioner of the NBA who served from 1946 until his retirement...
in 2011. - Lou BoudreauLou BoudreauLouis "Lou" Boudreau was an American Major League Baseball player and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1970...
(Thornton HSThornton Township High SchoolThornton Township High School, often simply referred to as Thornton is a public high school founded in 1899. The school is located in Harvey, Illinois one of the south suburbs of the city of Chicago, Illinois. The school is one of three schools administered by Thornton Township High Schools...
) • announcer and Hall-of-Fame baseball player • led his high school basketball team to 1933 state title and to second place in 1934 and 1935. He was named to the IHSA's 100 Legends100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball TournamentDuring the 2007 annual Illinois High School Association's boys basketball tournament, the "100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament" was announced. This announcement was made during the centennial celebration of America’s Original March Madness....
list honoring a century of high school basketball. - Jim BrewerJim Brewer (basketball)James Turner Brewer is a retired American National Basketball Association player. Brewer was the first notable player to come out of Proviso East High School, which has one of the most successful high school basketball programs in Illinois. In 1969, Brewer, playing center, led his team to the...
(Proviso East HSProviso East High SchoolProviso East High School is a public secondary school in Maywood, Illinois which serves the educational needs of Maywood and three other villages within Proviso Township, Cook County, Illinois: Broadview, Forest Park and Melrose Park. It is the original campus of Proviso Township High Schools...
) • basketball player and coach • led his team to the 1969 state basketball title before playing for the 1972 Olympic teamBasketball at the 1972 Summer Olympics-Group B:-Medal bracket:-Classification brackets:5th–8th Place9th–12th Place13th–16th Place Forfeited match.-Gold Medal Match controversy:...
, and playing and coaching in the NBA. - Quinn BucknerQuinn BucknerWilliam Quinn Buckner, commonly known as Quinn Buckner is a former American professional basketball player and coach. He played collegiately at Indiana University, and was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 7th pick of the 1976 NBA Draft...
(Thornridge HSThornridge High SchoolThornridge High School is a public high school located in Dolton, Illinois. It was built as part of Thornton Township High Schools District 205. It is sometimes confused with the similar sounding schools in the same district: Thornton Township High School and Thornwood High...
) • basketball player, coach, announcer • led his basketball team to state titles in 1971 and 1972. Played for gold medal 1976 Olympic team after being a part of the 1976 undefeated IndianaIndiana Hoosiers men's basketballThe Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing Indiana University . The school competes in the Big Ten Conference in Division I of the NCAA. The Hoosiers play on Branch McCracken Court at the Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana on the IU...
team that won the NCAA championship. Later played, coached, and announced in the NBA. - Dave ButzDave ButzDavid Butz is a former American Football defensive lineman in the National Football League who played for the St...
(Maine South HSMaine South High SchoolMaine South High School, or MSHS, is a public four-year high school located in Park Ridge, Illinois, a north-west suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Maine Township High School District 207, which also includes Maine East High School and Maine West High School.Maine...
) • professional football player • won 1968 state championship in the discus. - Bart ConnerBart ConnerBart Wayne Conner is a former American gymnast who, as a member of the gold medal-winning men's gymnastics team at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games won an individual gold on the parallel bars...
(Niles West HSNiles West High SchoolNiles West High School, or NWHS, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High School District 219, which also includes Niles North High School. Its school teams were originally the Indians, but...
) • Olympic gymnast • medaled 13 times between 1973 and 1975, including three State Titles on the parallel bars, and two All-Around State Titles. - Jimmy ConnorsJimmy ConnorsJames Scott "Jimmy" Connors is an American former world no. 1 tennis player....
(Assumption HS, East St. LouisEast St. Louis, IllinoisEast St. Louis is a city located in St. Clair County, Illinois, USA, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 27,006, less than one-third of its peak of 82,366 in 1950...
) • international tennis star • placed fifth at the 1967 State Tennis Championship Tournament. - Roger EbertRoger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
(Urbana HSUrbana High School (Illinois)-History:Urbana High School's current building was built in 1914. It was designed by architect Joseph Royer who also designed many other area buildings such as the Urbana Free Library and the Champaign County Court House...
) • film criticFilm criticismFilm criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films, individually and collectively. In general, this can be divided into journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, and other popular, mass-media outlets and academic criticism by film scholars that is informed by film theory and...
• won 1958 state title in radio speaking (Individual Events). - Neil FlynnNeil FlynnNeil Richard Flynn is an American actor and comedian, known for his role as Janitor in the medical comedy-drama Scrubs. He currently portrays Mike Heck in the ABC sitcom The Middle.-Early life:...
(Waukegan East HSWaukegan High SchoolWaukegan High School, or WHS, is a public, four-year high school located in Waukegan, Illinois, USA, a city to the North of Chicago, Illinois. WHS first opened its doors in 1870. Today, the Brookside Campus extends from Berwick Avenue to McAree Road, and from Brookside Avenue to the center line of...
) • actor • won 1978 state title in humorous duet acting (Individual Events). - Red GrangeRed GrangeHarold Edward "Red" Grange, nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost", was a college and professional American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and for the short-lived New York Yankees. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League...
(Wheaton HSWheaton Warrenville South High SchoolWheaton Warrenville South High School, or WWSHS, is a public four-year high school located at the corner of Butterfield Road and Wiesbrook Road in the southwest corner of the Wheaton, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...
) • professional football player • medaled seven times in Track & Field (1920–22) including state championships in the high jump, 100 yard dash, long jump, and 220 yard dash. - Dawn HarperDawn HarperDawn Harper from East St. Louis, Illinois is an American track and field athlete who specializes in the 100-meter hurdles. She was the gold medalist in the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games...
(East St. Louis Senior HS) • Olympic gold medalist • swept both hurdling events as a high school junior (2000–01) and senior (01–02). Her 2001 time in the 100 m high hurdles remains a state record for girls as of 2008. - Dennis HastertDennis HastertJohn Dennis "Denny" Hastert was the 59th Speaker of the House serving from 1999 to 2007. He represented as a Republican for twenty years, 1987 to 2007.He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker in history...
• Congressman and 59th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives • Head Wrestling Coach for Yorkville HSYorkville High SchoolYorkville High School, or YHS, is a public four-year high school located in Yorkville, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Yorkville Community Unit School District 115.-History:...
who won the 1976 Class A State Wrestling Championship. - Edwin HubbleEdwin HubbleEdwin Powell Hubble was an American astronomer who profoundly changed the understanding of the universe by confirming the existence of galaxies other than the Milky Way - our own galaxy...
(Wheaton HSWheaton Warrenville South High SchoolWheaton Warrenville South High School, or WWSHS, is a public four-year high school located at the corner of Butterfield Road and Wiesbrook Road in the southwest corner of the Wheaton, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...
) • astronomer • won 1906 state championship in the high jump. - Jackie Joyner-KerseeJackie Joyner-KerseeJacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those four different events...
(Lincoln HS, East St. LouisEast St. Louis, IllinoisEast St. Louis is a city located in St. Clair County, Illinois, USA, directly across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 27,006, less than one-third of its peak of 82,366 in 1950...
) • Olympic athlete • won five medals from 1978 to 1980, including individual state championships in the 440 yard dash, and long jump (twice). - Ralph MetcalfeRalph MetcalfeRalph Harold Metcalfe was an African-American athlete and politician who came second to Jesse Owens in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Metcalfe jointly held the world record for the 100 meter sprint. Metcalfe was known as the world’s fastest human from 1932 through 1934...
(Tilden HS)Tilden High School (Chicago, Illinois)Tilden Career Community Academy High School is a public 4-year high school in the Canaryville neighborhood of Chicago , Illinois. It is part of the Chicago Public Schools. The school's sports teams are nicknamed the Blue Devils.-History:...
• Olympic athlete and politician • won seven medals from 1927 to 1930. - Candace ParkerCandace ParkerCandace Nicole Parker is an All-American basketball player for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks and is also the younger sister of NBA player Anthony Parker. She was drafted to the team from Tennessee in 2008...
(Naperville Central HSNaperville Central High SchoolNaperville Central High School is a public four-year comprehensive school ranked in the top 3% of high schools nationally by US News and World Report, covering grades nine through twelve in Naperville, Illinois, a suburb southwest of Chicago in the United States...
) • basketball player • led her basketball team to 2003 and 2004 state titles, winning several national awards. She later played for University of TennesseeTennessee Lady Volunteers basketballThe Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team represents the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee in NCAA women's basketball competition...
before joining the WNBA, becoming their first Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season. - Jon ScheyerJon ScheyerJonathan James "Jon" Scheyer is an American-Israeli professional basketball player. He plays shooting guard for Maccabi Tel Aviv of the Israeli Super League in that competition, the Adriatic League, and the Euroleague...
(Glenbrook North HSGlenbrook North High SchoolGlenbrook North High School, or GBN, is a public four-year high school located in Northbrook, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...
) • basketball player • led his high school basketball team to third place (2003) and a state title (2005), before play at Duke UniversityDuke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
. He was the youngest member of the IHSA's 100 Legends list honoring a century of high school basketball. - Jack SikmaJack SikmaJack Wayne Sikma is a retired American NBA basketball center. He was known for his distinctive curly, blonde hair in his playing days....
(St. Anne HS) • basketball player & coach • led his basketball team to a fourth place finish in Class A before playing and coaching in the NBA. - Isiah ThomasIsiah ThomasIsiah Lord Thomas III , nicknamed "Zeke",is the men's basketball coach for the FIU Golden Panthers, and a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association from 1981 until 1994. He led the "Bad Boys" to the NBA...
(St. Joseph HSSt. Joseph High School (Westchester, Illinois)St. Joseph High School is a Roman Catholic, coeducational, college prep, school in Westchester, Illinois, and is sponsored by the Christian Brothers of De La Salle....
) • basketball player, coach, executive • led his basketball team to second place in 1978.
National High School Hall of Fame Inductees
Twenty-two Illinoisans are members of the National High School Hall of Fame sponsored by the NFHS. The honorees, and their year of induction:- Norman Geske (1982) was a football official.
- H. V. PorterH. V. PorterH. V. Porter , born Henry Van Arsdale Porter, was an athletic administrator, inventor, and coach. He served at the top of his profession for almost 30 years and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1960...
(1982) was an IHSA and NFHS administrator who coined the term “March Madness”. - Arthur Trout (1982) was a basketball coach at Centralia High School.
- Dwight (Dike) Eddleman (1983) was a three-sport athlete (football, basketball, athletics) at Centralia High School.
- Vergil Fletcher (1983) was a basketball coach at Collinsville High SchoolCollinsville High SchoolCollinsville High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in the Collinsville Community Unit School District 10. In 2011, Collinsville High School had an enrollment of 1,985 students.-Academics:...
. - Milton Sprunger (1983) was an IHSA administrator.
- Fred (Brick) Young (1983) was a basketball official.
- Harold (Red) GrangeRed GrangeHarold Edward "Red" Grange, nicknamed "The Galloping Ghost", was a college and professional American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and for the short-lived New York Yankees. His signing with the Bears helped legitimize the National Football League...
(1984) was a football player at Wheaton High SchoolWheaton Warrenville South High SchoolWheaton Warrenville South High School, or WWSHS, is a public four-year high school located at the corner of Butterfield Road and Wiesbrook Road in the southwest corner of the Wheaton, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States...
. - Bart ConnerBart ConnerBart Wayne Conner is a former American gymnast who, as a member of the gold medal-winning men's gymnastics team at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games won an individual gold on the parallel bars...
(1986) was a gymnast at Niles West High SchoolNiles West High SchoolNiles West High School, or NWHS, is a public four-year high school located in Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in the United States. It is part of Niles Township Community High School District 219, which also includes Niles North High School. Its school teams were originally the Indians, but...
. - John Griffith (1986) was the first commissioner of the Big 10 conference, and a contributor to high school athletics.
- Charles Farina (1987) was a wrestling coach at East Leyden High SchoolEast Leyden High SchoolEast Leyden High School is a secondary school located in Franklin Park, Illinois which educates grades 9-12.Together with West Leyden High School in Northlake, Illinois, they serve the suburban communities in Franklin Park, Northlake, Rosemont, Schiller Park, River Grove, Melrose Park and...
. - Quinn BucknerQuinn BucknerWilliam Quinn Buckner, commonly known as Quinn Buckner is a former American professional basketball player and coach. He played collegiately at Indiana University, and was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 7th pick of the 1976 NBA Draft...
(1989) was a basketball player at Thornridge High SchoolThornridge High SchoolThornridge High School is a public high school located in Dolton, Illinois. It was built as part of Thornton Township High Schools District 205. It is sometimes confused with the similar sounding schools in the same district: Thornton Township High School and Thornwood High...
. - Gordon Gillespie (1989) was a football coach at Joliet Catholic AcademyJoliet Catholic AcademyJoliet Catholic Academy is a coed Catholic High School located in Joliet, Illinois. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Joliet. One of the oldest Catholic high schools in the Chicago area, Joliet Catholic is perhaps best known for its prowess in football...
. - Jackie Joyner-KerseeJackie Joyner-KerseeJacqueline "Jackie" Joyner-Kersee is a retired American athlete, ranked among the all-time greatest athletes in the women's heptathlon as well as in the women's long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals, in those four different events...
(1989) was a track & field athlete at Lincoln High School in East St. Louis. - Keith Parker (1990) was a basketball official.
- Dave Robertson (1991) was a swimming & diving coach at New Trier High SchoolNew Trier High SchoolNew Trier High School is a public four-year high school , with its major campus located in Winnetka, Illinois, USA, and a second campus in Northfield, Illinois, with freshman classes and district administration...
. - William (Red) Schmitt (1993) was a wrestling coach at Granite City South High School.
- Tom Frederick (1994) was an IHSA administrator.
- Ola Bundy (1996) was an IHSA administrator.
- Larry Wilcoxen (2002) was a basketball official.
- Joe NewtonJoe Newton (coach)Joe Newton is a legendary high school cross country and track coach at York High School in Elmhurst, Illinois. In over fifty years of coaching, he has won 27 Illinois state cross country titles and one track state title...
(2004) is a cross country coach at York Community High SchoolYork Community High SchoolYork Community High School is a public secondary school in Elmhurst, Illinois, United States. Most of the students reside in Elmhurst, however the district also draws a small number of students from Addison, Bensenville, and Oak Brook...
. - Dick Deitz (2008) was a four sport (baseball, basketball, football, softball) official.
- Dana Miroballi (2009) was a cross country and track & field athlete at Wheeling High SchoolWheeling High SchoolWheeling High School, or WHS, is a public four-year high school located in Wheeling, Illinois, a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School District 214, which also includes Buffalo Grove High School, Elk Grove High School, John Hersey High...
.
See also
- List of Illinois High School Association member conferences Note that, unlike some other states such as Iowa or Texas, Illinois' high school athletic conferences are not officially organized by the IHSA and have little bearing on playoff competition. Individual schools organize themselves into conferences, mostly as a way of making scheduling easier, and many schools choose to compete as independents. However, conference affiliation does come into play in football competition, as conference champions earn an automatic bid into the playoffs (football conferences must have at least six members for a champion to be automatically playoff-eligible). Football teams not affiliated in a conference can still qualify with six or more wins. Football competition is played with a nine-game schedule.
- National Federation of State High School AssociationsNational Federation of State High School AssociationsThe National Federation of State High School Associations is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. Most high schools, whether public or private, belong to their state's high school association; in turn, each state association...
- Illinois high school boys basketball championshipIllinois high school boys basketball championshipThe Illinois High School Boys Basketball Championship is a single elimination tournament held each spring. It is organized by the Illinois High School Association ....