VOL. XV, NO. 9
MARCH 8, 1974
Bench Beat
By BROCK AKERS
Imagine for a brief moment what high school life would be without athletics. The only recreation available on a Friday or Saturday night would be watching intramurals or the Math Club engage in stiff competition at the blackboards. Page four of the Westerner would be devoted to gym class volleyball activities while Monday mornings on the PA, would report on who had the best time on the obstacle course the past week.
Sounds exciting, doesn't it. The prospects of such humdrum are not as far‑fetched as they sound. Just ask Rock Island High School. Rock Island early this past January made the mistake of trying to get the best team they could and recruited high school basketball players. The Illinois High School Association, in a bold move, ordered them suspended from the IHSA.
Maine West also came dangerously close to losing their IHSA sanction. Consider a situation which developed at the Northwestern University Debate Tournament over last Thanksgiving. The top Maine West Debate Team was randomly paired with Chicago Fenwick, a Catholic parochial institution and a nonmember of the IHSA, in an elimination round. The pair was forced to forfeit the round, stifling their chances to win the biggest tourney in the country. Competing against a non‑member of the IHSA would mean suspension from the IHSA.
Imagine for a brief moment what high school life would be without athletics. The only recreation available on a Friday or Saturday night would be watching intramurals or the Math Club engage in stiff competition at the blackboards. Page four of the Westerner would be devoted to gym class volleyball activities while Monday mornings on the PA, would report on who had the best time on the obstacle course the past week.
Sounds exciting, doesn't it. The prospects of such humdrum are not as far‑fetched as they sound. Just ask Rock Island High School. Rock Island early this past January made the mistake of trying to get the best team they could and recruited high school basketball players. The Illinois High School Association, in a bold move, ordered them suspended from the IHSA.
Maine West also came dangerously close to losing their IHSA sanction. Consider a situation which developed at the Northwestern University Debate Tournament over last Thanksgiving. The top Maine West Debate Team was randomly paired with Chicago Fenwick, a Catholic parochial institution and a nonmember of the IHSA, in an elimination round. The pair was forced to forfeit the round, stifling their chances to win the biggest tourney in the country. Competing against a non‑member of the IHSA would mean suspension from the IHSA.
The clincher in both of the above circumstances is the IHSA rule which states that if one team violates a rule to the point of its ejection, the whole school is thereby ejected. That would mean that in every single interscholastic activity which the school enters, Warrior teams could no longer compete. At halftime of the biggest basketball game of the year announcements could be heard such as, "I'm sorry, but due to the fencing team's violation of an IHSA rule, the Warriors are forced to forfeit and will not be able to finish the game. Sorry for the inconvenience, but we will not be able to return the $10 for your tickets."
That is the situation that Rock Island is in. This one IHSA rule unjustifiably robs all of those athletes not even involved with the guilty team of not only their activity, but in many cases scholarships, and leaves 3,000 kids with nothing to amuse themselves with but tiddly‑winks.
Rules are rules, but rules are also supposed to be fair to all concerned. The IHSA has been said to be a bulwark for educational policy‑making. Too bad this policy doesn't rate in common sense.
That is the situation that Rock Island is in. This one IHSA rule unjustifiably robs all of those athletes not even involved with the guilty team of not only their activity, but in many cases scholarships, and leaves 3,000 kids with nothing to amuse themselves with but tiddly‑winks.
Rules are rules, but rules are also supposed to be fair to all concerned. The IHSA has been said to be a bulwark for educational policy‑making. Too bad this policy doesn't rate in common sense.