First Up:

Looking Back at the OHSAA's Basketball Championships

By Timothy L. Hudak
Sports Heritage Specialty Publications
4814 Broadview Rd.
Cleveland, Ohio 44109
www.SportsHeritagePublications.net

The state championship of boys high school basketball in Ohio has been determined by a tournament since 1909.  Those first tournaments were sponsored by Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio.  Called the Inter-High School Basketball Series, and later popularly known as the Delaware Tournament, it was an invitational tournament and was played from 1909-1922.   There were no separate classifications for teams in this tournament, all of the teams playing as one group, but they were divided into Northern and Southern Divisions.  The eventual winners of each division would play off in a single championship game for the right to be known as the state champion, and are recognized as such today.

Thanks to a surviving program from the 1921 Delaware Tournament, we get a small picture of what that tournament was like – and it was anything but small.  In 1909, only seven teams were invited to the tournament, but by 1921 that total had grown to 160.  Think of that for a moment.  160 high school basketball teams playing in one tournament in one location, the Edwards Gymnasium at Ohio Wesleyan.   That surviving program does not give the dates of the tournament, but it would have to have been played over a period of several weeks, even if the games were played daily.  The finals in 1921 were held on Saturday, March 12, with Dayton Stivers winning the championship by defeating Toledo Woodward Tech, 26-19.

The names of the earliest champions of this tournament, such as Mansfield High School (1909), West Milton High School (1910), Plain City High School (1911), and even Dayton Stivers, will not be readily recognized today as “powers” of Ohio high school basketball.  However, toward the end of the tournament’s run one school did emerge as the first power or dynasty in Ohio boys basketball.  That school was Dayton Stivers, which won the Delaware Tournament four times in 1916, 1919, 1920 and 1921.  As we shall shortly see, Stivers’ would continue its success on the hardwood into the earliest days of the OHSAA tournament.

The year 1923 marks the beginning of the OHSAA sponsored boys basketball tournament.  While the tournament has usually been played at a site in Columbus, presently at the Schottenstein Center, it has over the years been played at various venues around the state, including locations in Kent, Toledo, Cincinnati, Dayton and Cleveland.

When the OHSAA began its tournament it divided the schools into two classes, A and B, based on male enrollment, with the A schools being those with the larger number of boys.  These classes were renamed A and AA (bigger schools) in 1957, with a AAA (biggest schools) class added in 1971.  In 1988 the classifications were reconfigured and renamed Division I-II-III-IV, Division I being for the biggest schools.

Today the term “tournament” refers to the Final Four, but it has not always been that way.  In 1923 and 1924 the tournament consisted of all the games from the “Sweet 16,” roughly corresponding to today’s regional semi-finals, to the championship game.  From 1925-1935 the tournament was reduced to include only the final eight teams, but from 1936-1941 it went back to the Sweet 16 format.  Due to travel restrictions brought on by World War II, the concept of regional play at various locations around the state was introduced in 1942, with only the four regional winners proceeding to the state tournament.  This system remained in effect after the war and continues to this day.

1901 (2-3) no head coach of record

1        L           9        18             Canton Y. M. C. A. (2d Team)

2       W        29          5              Akron H.S.

3        L         11        14              Mt. Union University

4       W        72          8              Akron H.S.

5        L         22        24              Canton Y. M. C. A.

1       W        42        14              Akron Buchtel

2       W        17          7              Cleveland Central

3       W        16        12              Cleveland University School

4       W        10          7              Kent Athletic Club

5        L           8        10              Akron H.S.

6        L           1        11              Cleveland University School

7       W        17        14              Canton Y. M. C. A. (Reserves)

1903 (11-1) Professor Shelton and William Strang

1       W        17          9              Maine Club

2        L         12        24              Cleveland Central

3       W        13          3              Ravenna

4       W         8           7              Cleveland University School

5       W        24          6              Canal Dover

6       W        23        10              Akron E. E. A. C.

7       W        10          8              Cleveland University School

8       W        44          4              Ravenna

9       W        26        11              Cleveland East

10     W        27          9              Ex-Highs

11     W        14        11              Cleveland East

12     W        15        14              Sherve H.S.

1904 (8-2) Professor Shelton

1       W        23        12              Sherve H.S.

2       W        21          9              Ravenna

3        L         10        30              Wooster University

4       W        15        13              Cleveland University School

5       W        16        15              Cleveland East

6       W        17          9              Akron H.S.

7       W        13        11              Ravenna

8        L         13        15              Wooster University

9       W        37          9              Kenyon Military Academy

10     W        30        10              Kenyon Military Academy

1905 (9-7) Edward F. Weckel

1        L         14        29              Mt. Union University

2       W        22        13              Sherve C o H

3        L         10        13              Canal Dover

4       W        34        12              Akron H.S.

5        L         11        26              Mansfield Senior

6       W        20        12              Akros

7       W        40        14              Kenyon Military Academy

8       W        39          9              Akros

9        L         11        29              Akron H.S.

10      L         15        31              Cleveland Central

11     W        23        11              Canal Dover

12      L         12        20              Pittsburgh (PA.) H.S.*

13     W        14          7              Kenyon Military Academy

14      L         19        25              Cleveland Central

15     W        25        15              Pittsburgh (PA.) H.S.*

16     W        18          9              Ex-Highs

1906 (4-8-1) Edward F. Weckel

1       W        18        12              Mt. Union University

2       W        30        15              Sebring Atheltic Club

3       W        16        10              Pittsburgh (PA.) H.S.*

4        L         11        16              Cleveland East

5        L         18        21              Canal Dover

6       W        25          8              Kenyon Military Academy

7        L         11        22              Cleveland East

8        L         12        15              Kenyon Military Academy

9      TIE         9          9              Canal Dover

10      L           6        26              CoH. O. Nat. Guard

11      L         14        15              Pittsburgh (PA.) H.S.*

12      L         28        35              Youngstown Rayen

13      L         14        21              Youngstown Rayen

1907 (10-4-1) Harry Hazlett

1       W        31        16              Coshocton

2       W        62        15              C o K of Alliance

3       W        17        15              Coshocton

4       W        25        11              Cleveland East

5        L           8        60              Pittsburgh (PA.) H.S.*

6       W        30        24              Pittsburgh (PA.) Shadyside Academy*

7       W        19        10              Canal Dover

8       W        30        12              Mansfield Senior

9      TIE       41        41              Akron Y. M. C. A.

10      L          9         45              Cleveland East

11     W        20          6              Akron Y. M. C. A.

12      L         16        26              Pittsburgh (PA.) H.S.*

13     W        19          3              New Philadelphia

14      L         15        42              Mansfield Senior

15     W        27        15              Cleveland South

1908 (12-6) Harry Hazlett

1       W        74          9              Dennison

2       W        34        13              Coshocton

3       W        85          9              Wooster HS

4       W        42        22              University Of Michigan Students

5        L         31        48              Akron H.S.

6       W        35        22              Pittsburgh (PA.) H.S.*

7        L         21        31              Cleveland East

8       W        65        22              C o K of Alliance

9       W        40          8              Akron Buchtel (FRESHMAN)

10      L         35        41              Pittsburgh (PA.) H.S.*

11     W        31        22              Ex-Highs

12     W        30        14              East Cleveland Shaw

13     W        43        18              Massillon State Hospital

14      L         20        28              Coshocton

15     W        27        25              Massillon Athletic Club

16      L         16        21              Cleveland East

17      L         15        26              East Cleveland Shaw

18     W        52        16              Mansfield Senior

1909 (17-1) Harry Hazlett

1       W        42        25              Massillon State Hospital

2       W        32        14              Brown Amateur of Canton

3       W        26        24              Canton Collegians Amateurs

4       W        20        12              Canton Juniors

5       W        51        11              Salem

6       W        29        11              Akron H.S.

7       W        57        39              Wooster HS

8       W        28        26              Pittsburgh (PA.) H.S.*

9       W        61        27              Massillon State Hospital

10     W        44        35              Sharon (PA.)*

11      L         31        41              Pittsburgh (PA.) H.S.*

12     W      121          5              Salem

13     W        27        24              Massillon Athletic Club

14     W        72          8              Wooster HS

15     W        32        26              Akron H.S.

16     W        43        22              Canal Dover

17     W        90        11              Cleveland South

18     W        34        21              Massillon Athletic Club

STATE CHAMPIONS, Mansfield