Century of School Sports: Why Does the MHSAA Have These Rules?
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 18, 2024
MHSAA administrators are two trips into their annual seven-stop fall tour that has become a tradition during nearly half of the Association’s “Century of School Sports” – and this year, a focus has been on answering a key question at the heart of educational athletics since long before the MHSAA was formed during the 1924-25 school year.
The MHSAA’s Update meeting series is in its 47th year and includes half-day conferences in seven locations – generally in the Kalamazoo, Metro Detroit, Grand Rapids, Saginaw, northern Lower Peninsula and mid-Michigan areas, and at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. The six Lower Peninsula sessions begin with an athletic director in-service during which MHSAA assistant directors explain recent rules changes and discuss challenges our administrators face on a daily basis (with Upper Peninsula athletic directors participating in a similar in-service during the spring).
Those in-services are followed by a session with executive director Mark Uyl, who speaks to athletic directors, superintendents, principals and school board members on a variety of topics including the MHSAA’s current objectives and ideas for the future, while also reinforcing the longstanding values that remain the bedrock of our daily work.
And that leads to the question he’s presenting across the state this fall:
Why does the MHSAA have these rules?
Frankly, the answer goes back to the beginning of school sports in Michigan – all the way back to 1895, when the first MHSAA predecessor organization was formed.
The first MHSAA Representative Council president Lewis L. Forsythe explained in his book “Athletics in Michigan High Schools – The First Hundred Years” how regulations always have been necessary:
“Eligibility rules are a necessity in interscholastic competition. It was common acknowledgement of this fact that led to the first State inter-school organization in 1895. The rules at first were few, simple and liberal. But with the passing of the years they came to be more numerous, more complex, and more restrictive, again through common acknowledgment of desirability if not of necessity.”
That necessity – and the reasoning behind it – has not changed.
Two main points explain why rules are absolutely imperative for educational athletics to thrive.
► 1. Participation – through providing as many opportunities as possible for students to play – has been the mission of school sports since their start. Rules contribute to the value of participation.
If there are requirements for children to participate in athletics – for example, an academic standard or rules that dissuade students from switching schools every year – then school sports programs mean more to all involved.
If we raise the bar, raise the standards of eligibility and conduct, we raise the value of our school sports programs. If we lower the bar, we lower the value of being part of school sports – because without rules, contest results are meaningless, and the value of participating is diminished.
► 2. We have rules where the stakes are higher, and agreement is lower – because where the stakes are highest, there is the greatest tendency for some people to try to gain an unfair advantage, and the greatest need for rules to curb possible dishonest activity.
This statement goes to the heart of the history, rationale and application of MHSAA rules. Obviously and simply put, school sports mean a lot to those who take part, and that significance is high enough to stoke disagreement – and we need rules to govern those disagreements. We have the most rules for high school sports, where championships are at stake and the possibility of disagreement is greatest.
***
Finally – and perhaps providing the strongest reinforcement of the two points above – is this:
Schools choose to make MHSAA rules their own.
Quite literally, school districts vote annually to be part of the MHSAA – and confirming this voluntary membership comes with the requirement to follow all MHSAA rules.
When schools challenge our rules, they literally are seeking to break the rules they already have committed to uphold.
These rules, and this commitment, are the strength of our organization across 752 member high schools and several hundred more middle schools and junior high schools. They have been constructed on a century of precedents and after considerations by representatives of those same member schools – representatives those schools have voted to elect every school year during the MHSAA’s history.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
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
Century of School Sports: All-Time 'Parade of Champions'
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 25, 2025
As we do every June, we will complete 2024-25 this week by publishing our “Parade of Champions” – a listing of every team to win an MHSAA Finals championship trophy this school year.
Recognizing about 130 champions annually – give or take a few if there were shared titles along the way during that past fall, winter and spring – it’s always an impressive list. So we’re plenty stoked – maybe even 100 times more – to present as our second-to-last “Century of School Sports” feature a few findings from our work-in-progress all-time “Parade of Champions.”
Eventually, the data we’ve collected will be provided on the MHSAA website as a searchable data base – there’s more work to come, and I’ll explain some of that below. But for today, here are some of the first facts that jump off the pages from this massive collection.
Starting with the biggest: Since its first titles were awarded to finish the Winter 1924-25 season, the MHSAA has recognized 6,876 teams for winning Finals championships.
Five schools have won at least 100 Finals titles, and 17 schools have won 50 or more. Marquette leads the list with 295, followed by East Grand Rapids (145), Escanaba (134), Ann Arbor Pioneer (122) and Detroit Country Day (107).
For several reasons, it’s difficult to compare championship totals among Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula schools as apples to apples – chiefly, schools in both peninsulas compete against each other in postseason competition in only 16 of 28 MHSAA-sponsored sports, and a handful of those 16 have little or no representation from the U.P. despite being statewide tournaments.
That said, here’s a look at some expanded school Finals title rankings, but by peninsula, going deeper on Lower Peninsula schools ranked because the majority of Michigan’s high schools are below Mackinac Bridge:
Lower Peninsula: 1. East Grand Rapids (145), 2. Ann Arbor Pioneer (122), 3. Detroit Country Day (107), 4. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood 88, 5. Detroit Catholic Central (74), 6. Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (69), 7. Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett (64), 8. Jackson Lumen Christi (55), 9. Petoskey (46), 10. Traverse City Central (45).
11. Okemos (44), 12. Detroit St. Martin dePorres (41), 13. East Lansing (39), 14. Rockford (37), T-15. Ann Arbor Greenhills (35), T-15. Birmingham Seaholm (35), 17. Flint Powers Catholic (33), T-18. Bloomfield Hills Marian (32), T-18. Kalamazoo Central (32), 20. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern (31).
Upper Peninsula: 1. Marquette (295), 2. Escanaba (134), 3. Iron Mountain (78), 4. Menominee (66), 5. Ishpeming Westwood (65), T-6. Ishpeming (64), T-6. Pickford (64), T-8. Negaunee (50), T-8. Ontonagon (50), 10. Houghton (49).
A few more interesting notes:
• Note Detroit dePorres at No. 12 among Lower Peninsula schools; dePorres closed in 2005. Flint Northern ranks 21st among Lower Peninsula schools with 30 championships despite closing in 2013. The former Ypsilanti High School, which consolidated with Willow Run in 2013 to form Ypsilanti Community, also is high on the list with 24 titles.
• Larger schools generally play more sports, and hence have more opportunities to win Finals titles. But Lower Peninsula small schools fell just outside those listed above, including Battle Creek St. Philip and Fowler – both with 29 championships – and Flint Beecher, Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep and Pewamo-Westphalia with 26 apiece.
• We don’t have an easy way – yet – to figure out which schools have won at least once in the most sports. But among the top five, East Grand Rapids and Marquette both have won titles in 18 sports, Country Day has won in 17, Ann Arbor Pioneer in 15 and Escanaba in 13. Pioneer’s 15 include boys gymnastics, which was sponsored by the MHSAA from 1925-31 and 1961-81.
• Detroit Catholic Central has the most championships among all-boys schools, among 11 sports. Bloomfield Hills Marian ranks highest among all-girls schools, with its titles covering seven sports.
As noted, this remains a work in progress, as we’re continuing to research several school closings, consolidations or other name changes over the last 100 years and how those might affect our championship totals. We also need to continue figuring in how to list championships won by cooperative programs and if those are credited to primary schools or as standalone programs.
In the meantime, we’ll continue to update the data with championships won each season, including in our new sports of girls field hockey and boys volleyball debuting in 2025-26. Once the data is fully edited and complete, we’ll add this substantial source to our growing collection of historical information available for all to enjoy.
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
June 17: Top Performers Tell Us What High School Sports Mean to Them - Read
June 10: 'The Mitten' Becomes Sought-After Symbol of MHSAA Greatness - Read
June 3: MHSAA's Move to TV, Now Internet, 60 Years Old & Growing - Read
May 27: Upper Peninsula Helps Make Michigan's School Sports Story Unique - Read
May 20: From Nearly A to Z, Schools Repped by 221 Nicknames - Read
May 13: These Record-Setters were Nearly Impossible to Defeat - Read
May 6: 200+ Representatives Fill All-Time Council Roster - Read
April 29: MHSAA Programs Prioritize Health & Safety - Read
April 23: Patches Signify Registered Officials' Role in MHSAA Story - Read
April 16: Student Advisory Council Gives Voice to Athletes - Read
April 9: State's Storytellers Share Spring Memories - Read
April 2: Sharp Leadership Synonymous with MHSAA Success - Read
March 25: Athletic Directors Indispensable to Mission of School Sports - Read
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
PHOTOS These are all past MHSAA Finals champions, clockwise from top left: The 2016 Detroit Country Day girls tennis team, 2004 Marquette ice hockey team, 1978 Ann Arbor Pioneer girls cross country team, 1981 Escanaba football team and 2013 East Grand Rapids girls lacrosse team.