Louisiana High School Athletic Association

Last updated

Louisiana High School Athletic Association
AbbreviationLHSAA
Formation1920
TypeVolunteer
Legal statusAssociation
PurposeAthletic/Educational
Headquarters12720 Old Hammond Highway
Baton Rouge, LA 70816
Region served
Louisiana
Membership
410+ schools
Official language
English
Executive Director
Eddie Bonine
Affiliations National Federation of State High School Associations
Staff
20
Website LHSAA.org
Remarks(225) 296-5882

The Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA) is the agency that regulates and promotes the interscholastic athletic competitions of all high schools in the state of Louisiana.

Contents

Organization

LHSAA was founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in October 1920. The LHSAA's main office was in Hammond from 1953 until 1972, when it returned to Baton Rouge.

The LHSAA is governed by an executive director and an executive committee, with representatives from each of the association's class divisions. LHSAA member schools include public, private, and parochial schools throughout the state. LHSAA is affiliated with the National Federation of State High School Associations.

As of 1996, LHSAA included 410 member schools and an annual certification of approximately 70,000 student athletes each year. [1]

LHSAA is divided into nine statewide classes and divisions, based on each school's student enrollment for grades nine through twelve: Classes 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A, and Divisions I, II, III, and IV . Divisions are made up of schools of a private/religious nature; the smallest schools are all either members of Class 1A or Division IV. Classes 2A through 5A and Divisions II through IV may include some schools that do not play football, including schools that have all-girl enrollments. Schools with single-gender enrollments have their enrollment numbers doubled for classification purposes. [2]

LHSAA has twenty-three competitive sports programs, twelve for boys and eleven for girls. The LHSAA sports programs are Baseball, Softball, Basketball, Swimming, Bowling, Tennis, Cross Country, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Football, Golf, Volleyball, Gymnastics, Wrestling, and Soccer. Starting in 2016, select enrollment schools and non-select enrollment schools will participate in different playoffs in Football, Baseball, Softball, and Basketball.

History

Before 1935, Louisiana had organized athletic programs for white children only. In 1935 William Gray of Southern University established the Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Association (LIALO) to provide an organization for the African-American students of the state. [3] This organization was absorbed into the LHSAA in 1969 and 1970 [4] when the federal courts forced Louisiana to integrate the public schools. [5] The LHSAA has not recognized the accomplishments or records of LIALO schools and their students pre-integration, and many of those records are lost. [6]

In 1990, Louisiana became the first state in the nation to include a wheelchair division in its state track and field competition for disabled student athletes. [7]

Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita hit Southern Louisiana at the beginning of the 2005 high school football season. The evacuation of New Orleans and other communities forced dozens of high schools to close for months, and several campuses were damaged or destroyed by flooding and wind damage. The football season was not canceled, but several games were postponed or canceled. Some schools in the disaster area were forced to withdraw from competition. Most public schools in Orleans Parish, St. Bernard Parish, and Plaquemines Parish were so badly damaged that they were forced to cancel their entire school year. Other disaster-area schools combined to form joint teams in fall of 2005 and spring of 2006. By the 2006 school year, most of the affected LHSAA schools were able to compete under their own school teams.

Awards

The Southern Quality Ford Cup is the Louisiana High School Athletic Association's (LHSAA) All Sports Award that recognizes the leading overall athletic program in each of the LHSAA's seven classes. The competition is based on a school's performance in the 23 sports governed by the LHSAA. Any team that finishes in one of the top four places in the state earns points towards a school's quest for the cup. At the end of the academic year, the school that has accumulated the most points in its class is presented with the award.

Commissioners and executive directors

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baton Rouge Magnet High School</span> Public, magnet school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States

Baton Rouge Magnet High School is a public magnet school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States, founded in 1880. It is part of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System with a student body of approximately 1500 students. The current building was built in 1926, and, as Baton Rouge High School, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The campus underwent a two-year renovation and expansion starting in 2010, resulting in the addition of two new wings to the main building. This renovation was completed and the school reopened in fall 2012. Baton Rouge High is also one of the highest-ranked schools in the state, and consistently wins state-level academic competitions. The school requires students to pass enrollment standards and exceed graduation standards. As a result, nearly all graduating students attend college.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia High School League</span> High school sports association in the United States

The Virginia High School League (VHSL) is the principal sanctioning organization for interscholastic athletic competition among public high schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VHSL first sponsored debate and also continues to sponsor state championships in several academic activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Interscholastic League</span> Regulatory organization in Texas, U.S.

The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, musical, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest organization of its type in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas State High School Activities Association</span> Sanctioning body for high school activities in Kansas, United States

The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the U.S. state of Kansas at the high-school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors championships in several sports and activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association</span> Governing body for middle and high school athletics

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc., also known by its acronymn PIAA, is one of the governing bodies of high school and middle school athletics for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association</span>

The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA), along with the affiliated Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association (TMSAA), is an organization which administers junior and senior high school sporting events in Tennessee. The TSSAA is the only high school athletic organization in the United States to have a five-sport, Olympic-style spring sport championship tournament, known as Spring Fling, for baseball, softball, track and field, team and individual tennis, and soccer. Spring Fling began in Chattanooga in 1993, later moving to Memphis, and then establishing itself in Murfreesboro. The TSSAA was one of the first high school athletic organizations to host a central site for football championships, beginning in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michigan High School Athletic Association</span> High school athletics organization in Michigan

The Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) is a service organization for high school sports in Michigan and is headquartered in East Lansing. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missouri State High School Activities Association</span>

The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) is the governing body for high school activities throughout the state of Missouri. Approximately 580 high schools are members of MSHSAA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic High School (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)</span> School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States

Catholic High School is a private, Catholic college-preparatory day school run by the United States Province of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It was founded in 1894 as St. Vincent's Academy. It offers grades eight through twelve.

Live Oak High School is a public high school located in Watson, Louisiana, United States. Live Oak High School is a part of the Livingston Parish School System, and was founded in 1895 as a community school for the residents of Watson, a largely rural area in Livingston Parish. In 2012, the school moved to its current location off of Louisiana Highway 16. The new location allowed the school to grow to accommodate the increase of students in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clayton High School (New Jersey)</span> High school in Gloucester County, New Jersey, US

Clayton High School is a comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Clayton, in Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as the lone secondary school of the Clayton Public Schools.

The Catholic League is a high school sports league in the Greater New Orleans area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">False River Academy</span> Private school in New Roads, Louisiana, United States

False River Academy is a nonsectarian private school located in New Roads, Louisiana, in Pointe Coupee Parish. It serves grades Pre-K through 12. The school is independent, and has its own school board. Its enrollment is drawn from Pointe Coupee and surrounding parishes. It is one of two private schools and one of three high schools in the parish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisiana Independent School Association</span> Louisiana private school athletic league

The Louisiana Independent School Association (1970–1992), more commonly known as LISA, was an athletic association created to offer interscholastic sports at all-white segregation academies in the state of Louisiana. The organization is no longer in existence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain Ridge High School (Arizona)</span> Public school in Glendale, Arizona

Mountain Ridge High School is a public high school in Glendale, Arizona, United States, a suburb of Phoenix. The school opened in fall 1995. The school had a 95% graduation rate in 2015. Mountain Ridge is part of the Deer Valley Unified School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union</span> Regulator of Iowa high school athletics

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) is the governing body for girls' junior and senior high school sports in the U.S. state of Iowa. The association promotes and regulates interscholastic sports among its member schools. Though its counterpart for boys sports in Iowa, the Iowa High School Athletic Association, is a full-time member of the National Federation of State High School Associations, the IGHSAU is only an affiliate member. It is headquartered at 5000 Westown Parkway, Suite 150,West Des Moines, Iowa 50266.

West Ouachita High School It is administered by the Ouachita Parish School Board, which ranks second out of sixty-six school systems in Louisiana. The school is located in unincorporated Ouachita Parish with a West Monroe address. It is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The sports team's mascot is the Chief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newark Collegiate Academy</span> Charter school in Newark, New Jersey, United States

Newark Collegiate Academy (NCA) is a four-year charter public high school located in Newark in Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the TEAM Academy Charter School network of charter schools in Newark run by the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) which serves students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. NCA opened in August 2007 with plans to ultimately serve over 570 students, mostly matriculating from TEAM's middle schools, Rise and TEAM Academies.

District 4 is an athletic league, a member of the 5A division of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA). Division 5A is the highest level in the LHSAA, comprising schools with more than 1,159 students. The 5A classification was established in 1991. The current seven members are among 68 schools classified as 5A, of which 63 play all sports including football. Members are generally from East Baton Rouge Parish and Livingston Parish. The league's structure will keep the same schools at least until the summer of 2017. Teams and individuals from these schools have won state championships.

References

  1. ↑ LHSAA. History.
  2. ↑ LHSAA. Classification.
  3. ↑ "Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Association The LIALO and the LIALA in the Great State of Louisiana were An EPILOGUE 'Down by Louisiana Law in1969. This law, (in one Louisianan's belief) was un-just law for the Negros and Black athletes who lived and competed in Louisiana sports when we were separated and not equal. Let's remember, an 'unjust law is no law at all. With that in mind, if the preponderance of evidence is rejected and the rules of law are not observed. Then, the LIALO and LIALA were 'Erstwhile originations in 1969 without a Memory and With Prejudice. Moreover, this unjust law should not and cannot go Unchallenged by Dr. Clayton in 2015 and the many living Louisiana LIALO and LIALA member in Louisiana. For example, I, (Dr. Kirk M. Clayton) am one of those living Legends. He was an 'exceptional' high school two sport athlete. In 1965 and 1966 he was the fastest man on the planet in the 100 yard dash. He was called the 'King of the Century' while representing the LIALO in 1965 and 1966. So too, Kirk represented Louisiana on the International Track and field stage in high school as the Top track athlete in 1966 quoted by Track and Field News. This publication is the 'Bible of Track and Field in the United States of America and internationally. This power point presentation generated in 2015 and is my final attempt to have the LIALO and the LIALA enshrined into a Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame or One of Louisiana's Historical Societies by 2021. This production was produced and directed by: Dr. Kirk Marshall Clayton, President, Clayton Research Consultancy Hawthorne, California (623) 687-1332:10-16-2020" (PDF). Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  4. ↑ https://africanamericanhighschoolsinlouisianabefore1970.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/may-1970.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  5. ↑ "Louisiana High School Athletic Association, Appellant, v. St. Augustine High School et al., Appellees". 1968. p. 224. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  6. ↑ Whirty, Ryan (October 19, 2015). "Efforts underway for recognition of LIALO, a Black athletic association" . Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  7. ↑ "History | About | LHSAA | Louisiana High School Athletic Association". Archived from the original on March 11, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.