By Davis Whitfield, NFHS Executive Director
Our nation’s 250th anniversary celebration this year has provided everyone a chance to stop, reflect and be thankful for our country. The signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 marked a new beginning and new opportunities, and 250 years later we are thankful to live in the greatest country in the world.
One reason the United States is the greatest country in the world is that for one-half of those years, high school sports have been a part of the local, state and national landscape. Education-based sports within our nation’s schools is truly an American institution as it has been an everyday part of our lives for generations.
Around the beginning of the 20th century some 125 years ago, opportunities began to surface for students to play organized sports in an education-based setting in schools. While the first high school in the United States dates to 1635 in Massachusetts, and while there were some high schools that fielded sports teams over the next couple of centuries, the growth of high school sports really began around the turn of the 20th century.
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association was founded in 1896, and in 1900, the Illinois High School Athletic Association (now the Illinois High School Association) got its start. Twenty years later, these associations, along with the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Michigan High School Athletic Associations, were the charter members of the NFHS as high school sports began to emerge on a national scale.
Since that time, high school sports have become a part of the American culture unlike any other country in the world. We are thankful for the early leaders at the local, state and national levels who saw the importance of participation opportunities in an education-based setting and for school administrators since then who have made the funding of these programs a priority.
For generations of people, education-based sports – and other afterschool activity programs – have taught millions of students important lessons in teamwork, discipline, sacrifice, fair play, perseverance, respect and resilience – similar values that were a part of our nation’s founding 250 years ago.
In many towns and communities across our nation, the main event is high school sports, and they serve as the front porch of the town. Very simply, for one-half of our nation’s history, high school sports have brought communities together.
Every Friday night in the fall, residents in towns throughout America flock to their local school’s football stadium to support their teams. Many of the high schools in the United States lie at the heart of the communities they serve. These schools are not only educating our next generation of leaders, they also are a place to congregate, where people from every corner of town and all walks of life come together as one.
In a survey conducted by the NFHS a number of years ago, it was determined that more fans attended high school basketball and football events in a year than the same sports as the college and professional levels combined. The reason? The sheer number of games every week in every corner of our country.
High school sports are truly an American institution, and have been one of the most important success stories in the 250-year history of our nation. Looking ahead, the more than 12 million participants in high school sports and other activity programs today will become tomorrow’s teachers, doctors, business leaders, public servants, and mothers and fathers. The lessons they learn through participation in these education-based programs will continue to strengthen our families, communities and nation for years to come.