Classes Still Create Hoosier Hysteria
July 27, 2017
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
This is the fourth part in a series on MHSAA tournament classification, past and present, that will be published over the next two weeks. This series originally ran in this spring's edition of MHSAA benchmarks.
Twenty years ago, Bloomington North High School won the Indiana High School Athletic Association boys basketball championship, defeating Delta 75-54 at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis.
The date, March 22, 1997, is at the same time revered and disdained by traditionalists in the state who saw it as the last schoolboy championship game the state would ever host.
That’s how devout the game of basketball, particularly interscholastic basketball, had become in the Hoosier state during the 87 years a state champion – one state champion, to be precise – was crowned.
Following that 1997 season, the IHSAA moved to a four-class system for its roundball tournaments, like so many of its state association counterparts had done years earlier.
It would be shocking to find more than a small percentage of current high school basketball players around the country unfamiliar with the iconic movie Hoosiers, even though the film is now more than 30 years old.
And, the storyline for that blockbuster unfolded more than 30 years prior to its release, when small-town, undermanned Milan High School defeated Muncie Central High School 32-30 in the 1954 IHSAA title game.
Perhaps it’s because of the David vs Goliath notion, or the fame of the movie that replaced Milan with the fictional Hickory and real-life star Bobby Plump with Hollywood hero Jimmy Chitwood, or the simple fact that Indiana had something other states didn’t.
Whatever the reason, plenty of opposition remains to this day to basketball classification in the state.
The fact is, the small rural schools were regularly being beaten handily by the much larger suburban and city schools as the tournament progressed each season.
Small schools also were closing at a rapid rate following the state’s School Reorganization Act in 1959, as students converged on larger, centralized county schools. From 1960 to 2000, the number of schools entering the tournament dropped from 694 to 381, and in 1997 a total of 382 schools and 4,584 athletes began competition at the Sectional level (the first level of the IHSAA Basketball Tournament).
It was at the entry level of the tournament where school administrators felt the pain of the new class system, but not necessarily for the same nostalgic reasons as the fans who either attended or boycotted the tournament.
At the Sectional round of the tournament, the IHSAA was culling just 2 percent of the revenue, with the participating schools splitting the balance. So, when Sectional attendance dropped by 14 percent in that first year of class basketball, many schools realized a financial loss. It was money they had grown to count on in prior years to help fund various aspects of the department.
Schools cumulatively received more than $900,000 from Sectional competition in 1998, but that total was down from more than $1 million in the last year of the single-class tournament.
Yet, the current format provides a great deal more opportunity and realistic chances at championship runs for schools of all enrollments.
To date, 60 additional teams have championship or runner-up trophies on display in school trophy cases around Indiana.
That was the mission in front of then-IHSAA commissioner Bob Gardner (now National Federation executive director) once the board made its decision: to give thousands more student-athletes the opportunity for once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
As any statistician knows, figures can be manipulated to tell any side of a story. Declining attendance in year one of class basketball is such a number.
The truth is tournament attendance had been on a steady downward spiral since its peak of just over 1.5 million in 1962. By the last single-class event in 1997, the total attendance was half that.
The challenge then and today, as it is for all state associations, is to find that delicate balance for those holding onto tradition, those holding onto trophies, and the number of trophies to hand out.
Editor’s Note: Stories from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette in 1998 and from a 2007 issue of Indianapolis Monthly provided facts in this article.
Rep Council Wrap-Up: Fall 2021
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 9, 2021
The authorization to use digital ticketing for Winter and Spring postseason events, an extension of the waiver for previous academic credit record and an adjustment to regular-season multi-media video regulations were the most notable actions taken by the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association during its Fall Meeting on Dec. 3 in East Lansing.
Generally, the Council takes only a few actions during its Fall Meeting, with topics often introduced for additional consideration and action during its meetings in winter and spring. This Fall Meeting saw the Council take only a few actions, while the majority of discussion centered on topics expected to receive more specific consideration at MHSAA sport committee meetings this winter.
The Council approved the continued use of the GoFan digital ticketing system for the MHSAA’s Winter and Spring Tournament events. The MHSAA first began using GoFan digital ticketing during the 2020-21 school year to comply with state contact tracing requirements due to COVID-19, and continued with digital ticketing via that service this fall. Tickets from GoFan are purchased on a phone or other “smart” device, eliminating the exchange of cash and other contact at an event site.
Also due to COVID, and the related challenges of remote learning, the MHSAA had suspended its previous academic credit record rule requiring high school students to pass at least 66 percent of a full credit load during the previous academic term (semester or trimester) in order to be eligible for athletic activity. Middle school and junior high athletes must pass at least 50 percent of a full credit load. Based on member school feedback and input, the Council voted to continue suspension of this rule through the rest of the 2021-22 school year, but reinstate the regulation beginning Aug. 1, 2022. The MHSAA’s previous academic credit record rule serves as a minimum standard; school districts may mandate higher academic requirements for eligibility.
The Council also approved an adjustment to the MHSAA’s video broadcast rules for regular-season events. Previously, those broadcasts could only be delivered to audiences through the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Network, or via a school-controlled webpage or social media page. The Council approved a change to provide an opportunity for schools, for regular-season events only, to allow MHSAA Tournament-credentialed media to broadcast their home events live, as long as a school is a member of the NFHS Network – which includes more than 520 of the MHSAA’s 750 member high schools. Postseason rights continue to belong to the MHSAA and its media partners.
A number of remaining discussions focused on results from this fall’s Update Meeting survey completed by administrators during the MHSAA’s annual presentations across the state. The Council considered survey data on a number of questions including whether the 11 and 8-Player Football Playoffs should be expanded to include nearly all schools. The Council also discussed questions on sports physicals, classification for postseason tournaments, sports-related summer transportation and contact days for coaches from teams not in season to work with their athletes, among other topics.
The Fall Meeting saw the addition of Ann Arbor Greenhills athletic director Meg Seng and Westland John Glenn athletic director Jason Malloy to the 19-person Council. Seng was appointed to a two-year term, and Malloy was appointed to finish the two-year term of former Romulus Summit Academy North athletic director William McCoy, who became part of the MHSAA staff in July. Also, Kris Isom, athletic director at Adrian Madison High School, was appointed to a second two-year term.
The Council reelected Scott Grimes, deputy superintendent for Grand Haven Area Public Schools, as its president; and Vic Michaels, director of physical education and athletics for the Archdiocese of Detroit, as secretary-treasurer. Novi High School principal Nicole Carter was elected Council vice president. (Grimes will become Grand Haven Schools’ superintendent Jan. 1.)
The Representative Council is the legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five members are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.