Monthly Archives: July 2010

For nine years, Wyoming had no official state football champions.

For nine years, teams postured, claimed, challenged and, occasionally, played.

For nine years, newspaper reporters debated, interviewed, intermediated and, eventually, chose.

For nine years, coaches proclaimed, skirted, complained and, sometimes, ignored.

For nine years, players played.

What is lost in nine years of mythical championships — nine years of saying “My team is better than your team” when, in many cases, the two teams had not played any similar opponents, let alone each other — is the contributions made by those players to what’s often called the “dead era” of Wyoming high school football.

I wrote about my desire to uncover the champions from the “dead era” a couple years ago. The champions in the years 1939-47 were no more or less worthy of recognition; they just happened to win the right games at the wrong time in Wyoming’s football timeline.

As a refresher, here are the champions from the “dead era” and how they won their respective titles:

1947: Rawlins. The Outlaws went 8-0-2 and were the Big Five champions; they refused all postseason game offers.

1946: Sheridan. The Big Five champions went 8-0-2 and beat Cody 20-19 in the first “Turkey Bowl,” the unofficial state championship game, played on Thanksgiving day in Casper. By the way, I think it was this particular game that really galvanized the effort for a state championship playoff system in later years….

1945: Cheyenne Central. Went 9-0, with victories over Torrington, Rawlins, Natrona, Laramie and five out-of-state foes.

1944: Cheyenne Central. Went 8-1, with the only loss to Alliance, Neb. Beat in-state foes Rock Springs, Torrington, Natrona, Rawlins and Laramie.

1943: Cheyenne Central. Went 8-0-1. First undefeated season in school history. Topped Rock Springs, Rawlins, Natrona and Laramie in in-state play. (A case could also be made for the team from the Heart Mountain Japanese internment camp, which went undefeated and un-scored upon. However, the Eagles were not allowed to fully participate in district play, and Powell — the team that eventually won the Northwest district — refused to schedule Heart Mountain. Powell beat Worland 19-13 in the district championship game on Thanksgiving.)

1942: Natrona — although the Mustangs needed some help. The Mustangs went 6-1-1, with the only loss a 20-14 Armistice Day defeat to Sheridan. That loss left the door open for unbeaten Green River to stake a claim to the title, but the Wolves lost their season finale on the same day, 13-7 to Rock Springs. No other large-school squads finished undefeated that season, so by default the mythical crown fell to the best one-loss team, that being Natrona.

1941: Cheyenne Central. Went 7-1-1, with the only loss to Fort Collins, Colo. Beat Rock Springs; Rapid City, S.D.; Natrona; Scottsbluff, Neb.; Torrington; Midwest; and Laramie, and tied Sheridan.

1940: Rock Springs and Sheridan split the claim to the title. Rock Springs went 10-0, shutting out its final eight opponents while giving up just 13 points for the season. Sheridan finished 7-0-1, the lone tie coming against Billings, Mont. The schools did not play each other, but had three common opponents in Cheyenne Central (Rock Springs 19-6; Sheridan 7-6), Laramie (Rock Springs 13-0; Sheridan 7-6) and Natrona (Rock Springs 13-0; Sheridan 7-0). (Powell, which lost to Sheridan in the opening week of the season but later claimed to have won the game by forfeit, also laid an unofficial claim to the state title.)

1939: Natrona. Went 8-1, with the lone loss to Billings, Mont.; beat previously unbeaten Sheridan on Armistice Day to win the unofficial title. NC also beat Midwest, Laramie, Cheyenne Central and five out-of-state opponents.

After much thought on the subject, I have decided to add these schools to my list of state champions. The list had long included both official and unofficial champions, and now I feel like these schools can earn the credit they deserve.

Of course, this wasn’t easy for me. It took a ton of time to consider the accomplishments of each team in each season, examining my own records and cross-checking them with the newspaper rankings and reports of the time. In each season, I have maintained the original “consensus” mythical champion, the one chosen by the most newspapers. In years like 1940 and 1942, that was difficult, but in most other years this was a straightforward, if somewhat time-consuming, process on my end.

Part of the confusion of the “dead era” recognition comes with the other championship “dead era” in Wyoming’s history, that from 1962-67 for all schools and from 1968-74 for all but the largest schools. Those years, teams were awarded mythical championships through a statewide poll, usually conducted by United Press International. The winner of that poll, taken after the final regular season game of the year, was generally regarded as the mythical state champion for that classification.

However, such a statewide poll did not exist between 1939 and 1947. Instead, newspaper reporters published their own rankings at the end of the season. Sometimes they agreed. Sometimes they didn’t. Sometimes, they bickered back and forth at each other in print.

Sports reporters stood in one of three camps: those who shouted loudly for a playoff; those who said the WHSAA should form a committee of sportswriters and coaches to pick a champion (a committee that, of course, would include that particular sports writer); and those who said the current system was fine, especially because schools couldn’t bear extra expenses for playoffs during wartime.

It didn’t help reporters that any coach could stake a claim to a state championship. At the end of the year, most teams that were undefeated claimed a mythical state title. For example, in 1947, teams claiming the state championship included both big-shot Rawlins (8-0-2) and tiny Manville (6-0). No fewer than six teams claimed the mythical championship in 1942.

For now, we can’t look to the WHSAA for clarification. the WHSAA Web site. The WHSAA mishmashes which mythical champions they list and which they don’t on the football champions listing on its Web site. Their list of champions includes two unofficial champions, 1939 (Casper) and 1940 (Rock Springs and Sheridan) as well as the mythical champs from 1962-67, but not those from 1941-47 nor the unofficial title-holders from small schools from 1968-74. The WHSAA’s decision to list the 1939 and 1940 champs doesn’t make much sense to me, as the 1939 and 1940 champions seem just as valid, at least as far as the WHSAA should be concerned, as those championships won from 1941-47. The champs from 1962-67, especially at the small-school level, also seem just as valid as those earned from 1968-74.

Nevertheless, all those mythical championships weren’t the WHSAA’s to award anyway. They were a newspaper brainchild. Deciding a champion helped sell newspapers — something many columnists admitted to during this era. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, deciding a mythical state title-holder would have been all but impossible without the help of the newspapers.

What underlines not recognizing the champions of these nine years is that it somewhat undercuts the contributions of the players who played during this era. Other years have three, four or even five champions listed; now, the players from this era can at least look back and point to one team as the best, even if it is “mythical.”

–patrick

It’s no coincidence that the Wyoming High School Activities Association and Wyoming’s statewide football playoffs were both born in the same year, 1931. It wasn’t until the WHSAA (then known as the Wyoming High School Athletic Association) stepped up to organize a playoff that schools, together, took the steps they needed to take to determine a state champion.

However, organizing the state’s football programs into one cohesive playoff system proved much tougher than anticipated.

It shouldn’t have been that hard. Four districts, four champions, semifinals that determined a northern and a southern champion and then a state championship game. But after starting playoffs in 1931, the WHSAA dropped them after the 1938 season — mostly because the districts had trouble deciding which teams to send on to the playoffs, but partly because the WHSAA was tired of dealing with all the drama.

Back then, there was only one classification of football in Wyoming, and only four teams qualified for the playoffs. One team each qualified from the northeast, southeast, northwest and southwest districts. The northeast and northwest champions played each other in the first round, as did the southeast and southwest champions. Those winners then faced off in the championship game, usually on Thanksgiving.

The trouble with the system went deeper than just deciding which four teams went to the playoffs. Problems also arose even after the four teams won — or, perhaps more accurately, were chosen — as their district’s champion.

Understanding the system relies on understanding the WHSAA in the 1930s. The organizing group was in its infancy and consisted of only four board members. Unlike today, there was no commissioner, no associate commissioner, no 20-member board of directors. In fact, there was no staff at all. The WHSAA was simply those four board members, one from each district, usually from larger schools.

In reality, the WHSAA stayed out of the regular season as much as possible. But rarely did a year pass between 1931 and 1938 where the WHSAA did not, or was not asked to, intervene.

For example, in 1932, Cody won the northwest district championship, but the Broncs refused to make the journey to Buffalo, the home of the northeast champions, to play the Bison in the semifinals. Cody officials asked for the game to be played in Cody, or for Buffalo to help defray the Broncs’ travel expenses. Buffalo was willing to do neither. The WHSAA intervened and threw Cody — which was 8-0-1 — out of the playoffs. Thermopolis, the northwest runners-up who were willing to make the trip to Buffalo, replaced Cody in the bracket on the Thursday before the game on Saturday. Thermopolis went on to win the state championship, beating Buffalo in the semifinals before topping Kemmerer in the title game.

The WHSAA didn’t make any friends in Sheridan during that 1932 season, either. After Buffalo beat Sheridan 6-0 on the final day of the regular season to win the northeast district crown, Sheridan appealed the game to the WHSAA, claiming the Bison used an ineligible player — perhaps not coincidentally, a player who had played at Sheridan the year before. The WHSAA agreed that Buffalo should not earn credit for the victory. But rather than force Buffalo to forfeit, the WHSAA scheduled a rematch between the two schools the Tuesday before the playoffs. Sheridan refused to play the game, saying the forfeit of the game that had already been played should give Sheridan the title. The WHSAA disagreed, and since Sheridan didn’t play the rematch, Buffalo moved into the playoffs.

The 1935 season was even more confusing, as it closed with problems in three of the four districts.

The northwest crown was confusing to decide in 1935 as well, but at least the WHSAA didn’t have to be involved in it. Worland and Thermopolis tied for the southern half of the district title, and since they tied each other during the regular season, they played another game shortly after the end of the regular season. Thermopolis won that game 20-0, but lost to Powell, the team that won the northern half of the district championship, in the annual district championship game.

Deciding the northeast crown was even more confusing, as Sheridan, Newcastle and Midwest all staked their claim to the top spot. To settle the confusion, Newcastle and Sheridan scheduled a game — on their own volition — to decide the title. After Sheridan beat Newcastle, though, the WHSAA ruled that Midwest’s claim was just as valid as Newcastle’s and forced the Broncs to play the Oilers on the Wednesday before the playoffs started. Sheridan won that game, as well, then somehow managed to beat Powell on just one day’s rest in the semifinals before losing to Rock Springs in the title game. The Broncs finished the season by playing five games in 17 days.

In the southeast, Laramie, Casper and Cheyenne all tied at the top of the district (each went 1-1 against the others) and played the state’s first triangular playoff. Although that playoff was won by Casper, Torrington and its perfect league record was never even considered as a possible playoff team — the WHSAA said that since the Trailblazers had not played any of the “Big Three,” they were not eligible to win the district crown.

The end of the 1935 season exemplified the problem faced by smaller schools, especially those in the southeast district dominated by Cheyenne, Casper and Laramie. With the playoffs set up as they were, the smaller schools rarely had realistic chances at claiming district titles. In addition to Torrington’s claim to the district championship in 1935, Douglas was given a similar short shrift in 1936. The Bearcats had beaten seven district foes without a loss but hadn’t played any of the “Big Three.” Therefore, their claim to the district championship was tossed out by the WHSAA. According to an article in the Casper Tribune-Herald, the four-member board also told Douglas “the Bearcats had not shown themselves of championship caliber, having been decisively defeated by the Midwest Oilers, an eleven defeated 47-0 by the Indians and 30-0 by the Mustangs.” More than any of the seven district victories, the WHSAA had looked at the Bearcats’ one out-of-district loss to determine if Douglas was truly worthy of the playoffs.

By 1937, the WHSAA was trying to step out of the way . By 1938, the group decided all the grief wasn’t worth it.

In 1937, a controversial set of rule interpretations gave Lovell the northwest district championship over Worland, even though the two teams never played each other. Worland appealed. However, this time, the WHSAA put the onus on the district to decide the champion, and a three-member board of northwest district overseers kept the title with Lovell.

Even so, the WHSAA still continued to catch heat for the northwest’s decision, and midway through the 1938 season, the WHSAA ended its sanctioning of a postseason football tournament.

An Associated Press story on Oct. 22, 1938, explained the WHSAA’s decision, and the WHSAA made it crystal clear why the playoffs were abolished: “Association officials explained it was the general sentiment of the association members that the tournament be abolished. Disagreements, they explained, occurred frequently over team classifications and teams participating, and it was believed better to let the tourney go and permit the various districts to make their own decisions as to what should be done.”

The 1938 district races and playoffs were completed without incident. It was another 10 years before schools put aside the hard feelings and organized statewide playoffs again, although by 1948 the postseason was organized in a much different fashion… and, to get there, the state had to go nine years’ worth of discussions and nine football seasons without an official state champion.

Check back next week for the second part of a look back at history, Wyoming’s playoff “dead era” from 1939 to 1947.

–patrick