New York Interscholastic Athletic Association

Last updated

The New York Interscholastic Athletic Association, or "Interscholastic League," pioneered the formation of high school leagues, when it was formed in the spring of 1879 to conduct a track and field meet. The league was exclusively composed of private day-school institutions in the New York metropolitan area. Notable members of the league included Berkeley, Cutler, Barnard, Columbia Grammar School, Trinity, and Dwight.

Contents

Sports

In 1892, during the winter, Berkeley School conducted the first open indoor-track meet for league members, and in the spring the league introduced baseball as a league competition. In the fall, the league introduced a league championship schedule for football (although some members of the league had played football since at least the fall of 1884). Other sports soon followed, with the adoption of tennis in 1894, ice skating in 1897, ice hockey in 1898, and basketball in 1898. The New York Times devoted almost all its coverage of secondary school sports to the New York Interscholastic League, probably because the sons and daughters of the readers of the paper went to those schools.

Student involvement

The league was organized by the students and they represented their various schools in league meetings. In the various sports, captains directed and coached the teams, and managers handled the schedules, finances, and overall business of the teams. The schoolboy-run league decided on certain issues such as eligibility requirements, such as age limits, which in the league was twenty. In 1894, the League voted on a new constitution and formed a Board of Arbitration to handle disputes. The Board of Arbitration was made up of one faculty member from each school, thus establishing a dual league administration of students and faculty. The Interscholastic League had even prior to that time had worked with adult administrators, forming alliances with such groups as the University Athletic Club and the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, which managed the indoor and outdoor track and field meets in fields and armories. Many of the athletes from the schools belonged to private athletic clubs and regiment armory teams as well, getting their athletic training.

Collapse of the league

The emergence of public high school athletic activity after 1900 and the decline in the importance of private day schools in the metropolitan area meant a shift in power in football and other sports around 1903. The league collapsed in the season of 1903–1904, but the outdoor track meet and baseball continued to be contested among the schools that historically had been members. The newspapers would occasionally recognized football games in subsequent seasons as “Interscholastic” contests. But whereas in the fall of 1902 almost exclusive coverage was devoted to activities of the football teams of the New York Interscholastic League, by 1904 virtually no football coverage on the league appeared in the newspapers. In the last league contest, a track and field meet in 1909, only DelaSalle, Cutler, and Bernard were participants.

See also

Related Research Articles

California Interscholastic Federation organization

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have a single, statewide championships for all sports; instead, for some sports, the CIF's 10 Sections each have their own championships.

Hackensack High School High school in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States

Hackensack High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Hackensack, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Hackensack Public Schools. Hackensack High School serves students from the Bergen County, New Jersey communities of Hackensack, South Hackensack, Maywood and Rochelle Park. In March 2020, the Maywood Public Schools received approval from the New Jersey Department of Education to end the relationship it had established with Hackensack in 1969 and will begin transitioning incoming ninth graders to Henry P. Becton Regional High School starting with the 2020–21 school year.

Matawan Regional High School High school in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States

Matawan Regional High School is a four-year regional public high school located in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District. Serving students from Aberdeen Township and Matawan, it is one of Monmouth County's largest schools. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools since 1951. The school mascot is a husky.

New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association organization

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is an association of hundreds of New Jersey high schools that regulates high school athletics and holds tournaments and crowns champions in high school sports.

Eustace Preparatory School Catholic high school in Camden County, New Jersey, United States

Eustace Preparatory School is a Catholic coeducational private high school in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey, which was founded in 1954 by the priests and brothers of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate. The school operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden, was named after Bishop Bartholomew J. Eustace, first bishop of the diocese. The school is a coeducational institution serving students in ninth through twelfth grades. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1977.

Union Catholic Regional High School Private school in Union County, New Jersey, United States

Union Catholic Regional High School is a private accredited high school located in Scotch Plains, in Union County, New Jersey, United States. Its motto promises to provide a "quality education in a faith-based environment." Founded in 1962 as separate schools for boys and girls, each with its own separate administration and faculty, it has been coeducational since a merger of the two schools in 1980. The school is an active participant in the Anytime/Anywhere learning program. Students from three counties attend the school. The school operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.

Connecticut Association of Schools organization

The Connecticut Association of Schools and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) is the governing body for secondary school athletics and other interscholastic competition in the state of Connecticut.

Ridgefield Memorial High School High school in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States

Ridgefield Memorial High School is a comprehensive community four-year public high school located in Ridgefield, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Ridgefield School District.

Paul VI High School Catholic high school in Camden County, New Jersey, United States

Paul VI High School is a private Catholic high school located in Haddon Township, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As there is no post office in Haddon Township, the mailing address is Haddonfield. The school, founded in 1966, is named in honor of Pope Paul VI and is overseen by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Camden. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1979.

Saddle Brook High/Middle School High school in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States

Saddle Brook High / Middle School is a six-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in seventh through twelfth grades from Saddle Brook, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Saddle Brook Public Schools.

Haddonfield Memorial High School High school in Camden County, New Jersey, United States

Haddonfield Memorial High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Haddonfield, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Haddonfield Public Schools.

Louisiana High School Athletic Association organization

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.

Bridgeton High School High school in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States

Bridgeton High School is a comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from the city of Bridgeton, in Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Bridgeton Public Schools, an Abbott District. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Secondary Schools since 1931.

Villa Walsh Academy Private, all-girls school in Morristown, , NJ, United States

Villa Walsh Academy is a private Catholic college preparatory school for girls in seventh through twelfth grades located in Morristown, New Jersey, United States, conducted by the Religious Teachers Filippini. The school is located within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson, operating on an independent basis. Its brother school is Delbarton School, with whom it shares a transportation system.

New York State Public High School Athletic Association organization

The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) is the governing body of interscholastic sports for most public schools in New York outside New York City. The organization was created in 1923, after a predecessor organization called the New York State Public High School Association of Basketball Leagues began in 1921 to bring consistency to eligibility rules and to conduct state tournaments. It consists of 768 member high schools from the state divided into 11 numbered sections. While as its name suggests the vast majority of its members are public, it does include a number of private and Catholic high schools. Most of these are located in Central New York and the Capital District, where parallel sanctioning bodies for private schools do not exist. It is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations as well as the New York State Federation of Secondary School Athletic Associations.

Sports in Maryland

Maryland has a number of major and minor professional sports franchises. Two National Football League teams play in Maryland, the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore and the Washington Redskins in Prince George's County. The Baltimore Orioles compete as Major League Baseball franchise in Baltimore.

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament of Champions is the sports tournament for New Jersey high schools that determines which high school will be crowned as the #1 overall team in the state for each sport. It takes the state champions from each group and matches them up against one another, regardless of school size or enrollment status, to determine the top overall team in New Jersey.

The Long Island Interscholastic Athletic League was a high school athletic league in the New York metropolitan area during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The membership was a combination of public and private schools in Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island.

The Philadelphia Public League (PPL) is the interscholastic sports league for the public high schools of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The league traces its origin to 1901, with the formation of the Philadelphia Interscholastic League, a conference encompassing all the city's high schools, public and private. Prior to this, the public and private schools in the area had been competing among themselves for several years in a number of sports, including football and basketball. Basketball and track and field were the first recognized sports in 1901, but football, although not formally on the schedule, engaged all the same teams, and newspapers usually recognized the school with the best record as the informal interscholastic champion. In 1902, baseball and crew were added to the schedule.