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.
Century of School Sports: Athletic Directors Indispensable to Mission of School Sports
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 25, 2025
The Michigan High School Athletic Association began its first Bulletin of the 1943-44 school year by reviewing the previous year’s accomplishments as World War II raged on multiple fronts. Eugene B. Elliott, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, addressed “Those in Charge of Athletics in Michigan High Schools” with a challenge and a promise that “… your efforts to provide opportunities for physical development will enable thousands of high school students to take their places in a needy world.”
Students of history know athletics were seen at that time primarily as a way to provide increased physical education and prepare students for a next step into the military. But read again today, with a little different context, Elliott’s words seemingly still apply.
At the high school level alone, the MHSAA counts more than 700 athletic administrators guiding more than 170,000 student-athletes as they learn lessons from their athletic experiences that will help them contribute to the world in any variety of ways once their time in school sports is done.
A century ago, athletic administration still was handled primarily by district superintendents or high school principals. By the 1940s, “athletic director” was a role mentioned much more frequently – superintendents and principals found themselves taking on several other responsibilities, and school sports grew so quickly in participation and popularity that another administrator to lead those extracurriculars became increasingly necessary.
In 1958, the Michigan Association of Physical Education and Athletics was formed, and in 1982 renamed the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. A close working relationship between the MHSAA and the state’s athletic directors has long been integral to the success of school sports in Michigan, and the MIAAA and MHSAA continue to strive hand-in-hand. The MHSAA has celebrated its 100th anniversary throughout the 2024-25 school year, and a century after its start, the major focus of the organization is providing support – and appreciation – for the work done by administrators at the local level.
Expectations for school sports programs have never been higher, and athletic directors have never been valued more. Current MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl writes in this winter’s benchmarks, “I am again reminded of how fortunate we are in Michigan to have so many athletic leaders across our diverse state who truly care about preserving and enhancing school sports for our young men and women.”
And an expectation from the 1977 edition of the textbook “Administration of High School Athletics” – co-written by first fulltime MHSAA executive director Charles E. Forsythe – continues to ring true as well: “Many challenges will confront (the athletic administrator) because of uncertainties that exist today. Meeting these challenges will make (the administrator’s) position in the school an even more important one.”
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
March 18: 2025 Finals Begin Next Half-Century of Girls Hoops Championships - Read
March 11: Boys Basketball's Best 1st to Earn MHSAA Finals Titles - Read
March 5: Everything We Do Begins with Participation - Read
Feb. 25: Slogans & Logos Remain Unforgettable Parts of MHSAA History - Read
Feb. 19: MHSAA Tickets Continue to Provide Fan-Friendly Value - Read
Feb. 11: We Recognize Those Who Make Our Games Go - Read
Feb. 4: WISL Conference Continues to Inspire Aspiring Leaders - Read
Jan. 28: Michigan's National Impact Begins at NFHS' Start - Read
Jan. 21: Awards Celebrate Well-Rounded Educational Experience - Read
Jan. 14: Predecessors Laid Foundation for MHSAA's Formation - Read
Jan. 9: MHSAA Blazes Trail Into Cyberspace - Read
Dec. 31: State's Storytellers Share Winter Memories - Read
Dec. 17: MHSAA Over Time - Read
Dec. 10: On This Day, December 13, We Will Celebrate - Read
Dec. 3: MHSAA Work Guided by Representative Council - Read
Nov. 26: Finals Provide Future Pros Early Ford Field Glory - Read
Nov. 19: Connection at Heart of Coaches Advancement Program - Read
Nov. 12: Good Sports are Winners Then, Now & Always - Read
Nov. 5: MHSAA's Home Sweet Home - Read
Oct. 29: MHSAA Summits Draw Thousands to Promote Sportsmanship - Read
Oct. 23: Cross Country Finals Among MHSAA's Longest Running - Read
Oct. 15: State's Storytellers Share Fall Memories - Read
Oct. 8: Guided by 4 S's of Educational Athletics - Read
Oct. 1: Michigan Sends 10 to National Hall of Fame - Read
Sept. 25: MHSAA Record Books Filled with 1000s of Achievements - Read
Sept. 18: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules? - Read
Sept. 10: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year - Read
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTO Athletic administrators and coaches attend a session during the MIAAA's annual conference earlier this month.