Question: Why does CHSAA have an age rule?

In May 1921, a group of principals and superintendents gathered to create the organization that would evolve into the current 343-member Colorado High School Activities Association we have today. Why?

Talks had been taking place long before that meeting. After all, games were being played every week — even as World War I raged. While limited information exists on injuries during that time, competitive athletics has always provided a risk of serious injury, especially football. And safety and fair play were a top priority then, as today.

The country was just three years away from the end of the war. It was seeing hundreds of thousands of soldiers on their way home and returning to their previous lives, as well as the emigration of hundreds of thousands Europeans fleeing countries ravaged by the war. For many, that meant returning to (or starting) high school. And, that’s where the story of the Colorado High School Athletic Conference begins.

There are documented reports that upon their return, many of these men took up the sports they played before heading off to war. Schools started to see men as old as 22 and 23 playing football against those just starting high school, some as young as 14. It didn’t take long for fears of safety and fair play to arise.

So, schools began the discussion of creating a fair and safe playing field. And the organization started with age as one of its first rules.

The rule adopted in 1921 simply stated that a student shall not participate in athletics after having reached his 21st birthday, but he could complete the current season he was participating in. That rule remained that way until 1925, when the rule evolved to ineligibility “upon arriving at his 21st birthday.” Fifteen years later, that was changed to a student’s 20th birthday.

CHSAA’s current age of 19 was first adopted in 1950. That change meant a student could not participate in football if he turned 19 before August 25, or basketball, wrestling and swimming if he was 19 before December 1, or baseball, track, tennis and golf if his birthday was before March 1.

A modification to the previous rule was passed in 1958 where students who turned 19 prior to August 25 were prohibited from participation in any sport. In 1975, the Association changed the birthdate to August 1.

CHSAA’s age rule had remained consistent since then, but the ability to seek a waiver of the rule was added in 1991, which allowed schools to request a year if that student met specified educational or physical criteria. Initially, students could not be granted a waiver to play football, ice hockey and wrestling, but that limitation was removed in 1994.

In 1996, at a special meeting of the Board of Control at Aurora Central High School, and in response to a case where a 20-year-old Down’s Syndrome student had been denied a waiver to play, the CHSAA legislative body changed the age rule to give the Commissioner authority to allow for a variance of the rule in limited cases where the safety of the participant and other participants was not compromised and that such participation would have no bearing on the outcome of contests.

The final facelift came in 2005 when the CHSAA age rule was rewritten to eliminate the by-law from the waiver process and allow for a variance of the rule based on meeting the criteria for an exception. If the athlete meets the narrow criteria for an exception, the exception will then be either approved or rejected without appeal. The CHSAA Age Rule (1760) can be found on page 54 of the current Handbook.

In all, the rule has changed 13 times in 93 years, but the heart of the rule remains safety and fair play for its student participants.

Below is a list of high school football games on TV in Colorado this fall.

Agenda

Download: All-School Summit agenda (2013)

https://old.chsaanow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/all-school-summit-agenda-2013.pdf

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Parking Map and Directions

Download: Parking Map & Directions

https://old.chsaanow.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Parking-Map-Directions.pdf

Download: Boys golf bulletin

http://www2.chsaa.org/sports/golf/pdf/Boys%20Golf%20Bulletin%202013.pdf

FORT COLLINS — The CHSAA staff visited the Student Leadership Camp on the campus of Colorado State University on Wednesday.

While there, we witnessed:

• A number of problem solving activities

• Teamwork

• The ropes course

And CHSAA administrators even tried their hand at solving a puzzle.

Missy Franklin. (Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

Missy Franklin, the 2013 graduate of Regis Jesuit, won the ESPY Award for Best Female Olympian in mid-July.

Franklin won four gold medals and a bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London — her first. She beat out other nominees Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, both gymnasts, for the award.

During the winter CHSAA season, Franklin won the 200 individual medley and 500 freestyle, and also helped Regis to relay wins in the 4×200 and 4×400.

She holds individual Colorado state records in the 50 (22.41), 100 (48.45), 200 (1:43.15) and 500 (4:41.72) freestyle races; the 200 individual medley (1:56.85), the 100 backstroke (52.30); and was part of a record in the 4×400 (3:22.42).

Franklin has signed with Cal and will enroll there this fall.

A on-going list of college soccer commitments from boys high school athletes in Colorado’s class of 2014. Send additions, along with position and height, to rcasey@chsaa.org.

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Rules are often viewed as roadblocks for our ultimate goals, whether in life or in high school athletics. But rules are critical to the moral structure in our everyday life, and even more formative to our children in those sports and activities they play.

High school athletics and activities playing rules are about education, about teaching our young people to work within a structured system. Rules add value to those games and enhance the life lessons learned in an appropriate educational setting.

Simply by participating, our children learn many valuable lessons, but those lessons are enriched by the standards and expectations demanded of them under the Colorado High School Activities Association by-laws and the playing rules developed by the National Federation of State High School Associations. These rules provide a reason to play, provide the legitimacy for the results of the games.

Under CHSAA rules, students earn their participation opportunities through their performance in the classroom.

Rather than look at rules as roadblocks, we need to encourage our student participants, their parents and our communities to view rules as a means to improve our society, the moral structure by which we all live.

Rules raise expectations. Higher expectations yield greater results. Rules establish a level playing field and give participants a place to start their ascent to the adult world. Rules begin the structure from which our ethics and principles develop.

Without everyone playing by, and knowing, the rules, making a basket, sinking a putt, spiking a ball is meaningless. Structure, rules create the learning environment children need to succeed in life.

A photo gallery of Chauncey Billups from his high school days at George Washington through his NBA career.

Chauncey Billups, during his high school days with George Washington. View slideshow.

Maybe Chauncey Billups didn’t see this coming. Others did.

Billups, a 1995 graduate of George Washington, was one of four former athletes inducted into the National Federation of State High School Associations’ Hall of Fame in June.

“I never knew any of this was possible for me,” Billups said during a press conference the day prior to being inducted at the federation’s 94th annual summer meeting held in Denver.

Billups, arguably the best boys basketball player in Colorado high school history, was part of a larger class of 13 members, which included administrators, officials, coaches and a performing arts inductee.

“This is an unbelievable honor for me to be here,” Billups said. “I’m humbled. It’s kind of embarrassing, to be honest.”

Billups entered the Colorado High School Activities’ Hall of Fame in 2012. In his time at GW, he won two Class 6A championships (1993, 1994), was a four-time player of the year selection by The Denver Post, a McDonald’s All-American (1995), and averaged 23.8 points per game.

Asked to describe the impact high school sports had on his life, Billups mentioned “the life-long relationships that you build.”

“You never know how long those relationships will ever last, and you find out once you get older that the relationships are for a lifetime,” Billups said. “No matter how my career or any of my other ex-teammates’ careers go, or went, or where their lives take them, we always have that time of our lives in common.

“It was just so pure at that time. It was just a beautiful time, and I will always remember that.”

After high school, Billups went on to star at the University of Colorado, where he led the Buffs to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 28 years. He was the No. 3 overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft, and just completed his 16th season in the league, including five years over two stints with the Denver Nuggets. He’s a five-time all-star, and was named the MVP of the 2004 NBA Finals when he helped the Detroit Pistons to a title.

He’s active off-the-court, as well, and is heavily involved in Colorado’s youth basketball scene. That includes the Porter-Billups Leadership Adacemy at Denver’s Regis University which helps inner-city kids.

Colorado now has 20 inductees in the NFHS Hall of Fame, tied for the third-most of any state. Those Colorado roots have been a source of pride throughout Billups’ career.

“Not a lot of guys made it in basketball from this state,” Billups said. “So I carry that chip on my shoulder everywhere I go and everywhere I play, no matter what team or what the letters on the front of the jersey say, I always just carry that pride with me — knowing that I probably wasn’t supposed to be here.”

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NFHS Class of 2013

(via NFHS.org)

Athletes

Joe Theismann, who was a three-sport star at South River (New Jersey) High School, led the football team to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Group III championship in 1966 with a 9-0 record and 24 touchdown passes. He quarterbacked the University of Notre Dame to a No. 2 national ranking in 1971, and he won a Super Bowl and Most Valuable Player honors during his career with the Redskins.

Chauncey Billups was a four-time all-state selection and three-time Mr. Basketball at Denver (Colorado) George Washington High School. He averaged 23.8 points per game for his career and helped his team to state championships as a sophomore and junior in 1993 and 1994. Billups is in his 16th season in the National Basketball Association (NBA), highlighted by six years with Detroit when he helped the Pistons to the 2004 NBA championship.

As a senior at Cleveland East Technical in 1941, Harrison Dillard won the city, district and state championships in the 120-yard high hurdles and 220-yard low hurdles. At the 1948 Olympics in London, Dillard won gold medals in the 100-meter dash and 4×100-meter relay. Four years later at the 1952 Games in Helsinki, he won gold in the 110-meter hurdles and 4×100-meter relay.

While helping St. Louis (Missouri) St. Joseph’s Academy to amazing records of 137-7 in volleyball and 117-5 in basketball and eight Missouri State High School Activities Association state championships, Kristin Folkl Kaburakis won all-state honors each year in both sports and graduated third in her class with a 4.2 grade-point average. She continued her two-sport dominance at the collegiate level, helping Stanford to three NCAA Volleyball Championships and an overall 125-8 record and two NCAA Women’s Final Four appearances in basketball and an overall 85-11 mark.

Coaches

In 37 years as girls swimming coach at Cheshire (Connecticut) High School, Ed Aston’s teams won 25 Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference state championships and had a 414-21-1 record. He coached the boys teams for 33 years, claiming 18 state titles, and recorded an overall record of 410-47. His girls teams won a national-record 281 consecutive dual meets from 1986 to 2011.

Chuck Koeppen led the Carmel (Indiana) High School boys cross country teams to 11 Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) state championships and the girls teams to 11 titles as well. Five times his boys and girls teams won state titles in the same year. His cross country teams finished second 16 times, and his boys track team won the IHSAA state championship in 2000.

Chuck Lenahan won his 19th state football championship last year at Plymouth Regional High School and is the winningest football coach in New Hampshire history. In 43 years at Plymouth, Lenahan has compiled a 345-69-1 record, which includes 13 undefeated seasons and a 57-game winning streak from 2005 to 2010.

Since assuming the boys lacrosse coaching duties at Camillus (New York) West Genesee High School in 1976, Mike Messere has posted a 757-55 record (.930 winning percentage) – the all-time mark by a high school or college lacrosse coach. His teams have won 15 New York State Public High School Athletic Association state championships and established a national record 91-game winning streak from 1981 to 1984.

After stops in South Carolina and Georgia for nine years to begin his coaching career, James Tate joined the Mobile (Alabama) St. Paul’s Episcopal High School staff in 1978 and started the school’s boys track and cross country programs. Combining boys and girls cross country, boys and girls indoor track, and boys and girls outdoor track, Tate’s teams have won an unbelievable 86 state championships. His girls cross country teams won 16 consecutive Alabama High School Athletic Association state titles from 1983 to 1998 – an all-time national record.

Officials

After 16 years as an active basketball official in Kentucky, Jerry Kimmel turned his attention to recruiting and training officials and was one of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s assigning secretaries for basketball. He also was a highly successful college basketball official for many years.

Haig Nighohossian has been selected to officiate the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Boys Soccer State Finals 17 times and the IHSA Girls Soccer State Finals seven times. He has been a soccer rules interpreter for the IHSA since 1973 and has served as coordinator of officials at the state finals on several occasions.

Administrator

Ronnie Carter joined the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) staff in 1978 and was appointed executive director in 1986. In addition to his leadership at the state level, Carter served on the NFHS Football Rules Committee for 25 years and was chair of the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee for eight years. He was chair of the Football Research Subcommittee for eight years and was a member of the NFHS Wrestling Rules Committee for four years. Carter was president of the NFHS in 2001-02.

Performing Arts

Richard Floyd is a recognized authority on conducting, the art of wind band rehearsing, concert band repertoire and music advocacy. He has served as a clinician, adjudicator and conductor with appearances in 40 states and nine other countries. As director of music for the Texas University Interscholastic League, Floyd coordinated all facets of secondary music competition for 3,500 performing organizations throughout the state of Texas.