And the state champion of state champions is …
North Allegheny!
According to information compiled from various sources by rodfrisco.com, no Pennsylvania high school has won more PIAA championships than North Allegheny.
And how many championships has North Allegheny won? Based on our research, a fat 130, including boys and girls champions
UPDATE: The complete 38-page database is here.
North Allegheny athletes have collected 87 titles in individual sports and a whopping 43 team championships. The No. 2 schools in team championships, Mount Lebanon and Emmaus, have slightly more than one-half as many as NA with 22 team titles each.
So when they built Carl A. Newman Stadium and the Baierl Center at NA, did they leave enough room for all of the trophies? Or were they built to house the hardware? Considering that North Allegheny formed in 1959 – 51 years ago – it means that North Allegheny athletic teams have won a state team title nearly once per year.
North Allegheny is one of four PIAA schools with 100 or more PIAA titles to its credit.
Coming in at No. 2 is Lansdale North Penn with 123 titles, including a PIAA-best 102 individual titles. No. 3 is Mount Lebanon at 118 and No. 4 is State College at 104. The No. 5 school on the list is Milton Hershey School with 90.
There is a caveat to this. Two, actually. First, all records are unofficial. As noted, they were pieced together from various sources (PIAA, the late Bob Craig who did original research on the early years, newspaper reports, web sites and my own original research); they are subject to change upon verification.
Second, the numbers I’ve compiled do not include gymnastics. That’s at least 300 individual titles (boys and girls) and a couple of dozen team titles that are not factored in because of the incomplete and scarce nature of PIAA gymnastics history. But based on a look at what gymnastics history I have, North Allegheny would still remain well on top.
North Allegheny is one of 729 schools, including several that no longer exist, with athletes who have won at least one PIAA title since the PIAA started statewide championships in boys basketball in 1920. The following is a list of the top championship schools; the entire database will be posted at a later date:
MOST TOTAL PIAA CHAMPIONS
1. North Allegheny, 130 (87 individual titles-43 team titles)
2. Lansdale North Penn, 123 (102-21)
3. Mount Lebanon, 118 (96-22)
4. State College, 104 (86-18)
5. Milton Hershey, 90 (71-19)
6. Emmaus, 85 (63-22)
7. Norristown, 78 (74-4)
8. Hershey, 76 (65-11)
9. York William Penn, 70 (70-0)
10. Parkland, 69 (59-10)
11. Williamsport, 66 (57-9)
12. Council Rock (pre-split), 64 (44-20)
13. Bethel Park, 62 (49-13)
14. Easton, 61 (51-10)
15. Harrisburg, 60 (50-10) and Upper Dublin, 60 (55-5)
MOST INDIVIDUAL PIAA CHAMPIONS
1. Lansdale North Penn, 102
2. Mount Lebanon, 96
3. North Allegheny, 87
4. State College, 86
5. Norristown, 74
6. Milton Hershey, 71
7. York William Penn, 70
8. Hershey, 65
9. Emmaus, 63
10. Parkland, 59
11. Williamsport, 57
12. Upper Dublin, 55
13. Abington, Easton, Lancaster J.P. McCaskey, 51
MOST TEAM PIAA CHAMPIONS
1. North Allegheny, 43
2. Emmaus and Mount Lebanon, 22
4. Lansdale North Penn, 21
5. Council Rock and Munhall, 20
7. Milton Hershey, 19
8. Farrell and State College, 18
10. Allentown Central Catholic, West Chester B.Reed Henderson, Norwin, Strath Haven, 15
14. Central Dauphin, 14
15. Altoona, Bethel Park, Landisville Hempfield, Oakland Catholic, Wyomissing, 13
MOST PIAA INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS BY SPORT
Boys Cross-Country: Boyertown, Council Rock, Mount Lebanon, North Allegheny, State College, 4
Girls Cross-Country: Bethlehem Liberty, 5
Boys Golf: Reading, 4
Girls Golf: Fox Chapel, Greensburg Hempfield Area, Spring Grove, 3
Boys Swimming: York WIlliam Penn, 54
Girls Swimming: Parkland, 30
Boys Tennis: Lower Merion, 9
Girls Tennis: Mount Lebanon, 10
(Note: Tennis individual championships include both singles and doubles)
Boys Track: Norristown, 55
Girls Track: Milton Hershey, 48
Wrestling: Clearfield, 40
MOST PIAA TEAM CHAMPIONS BY SPORT
Boys Basketball: Farrell, 7
Girls Basketball: Pittsburgh North Catholic, 7
Boys Cross-Country: Mount Lebanon, 12
Girls Cross-Country: State College, 5
Field Hockey: Emmaus, 9
Football: Berwick and Southern Columbia, 6
Boys Golf: Cathedral Prep, Hollidaysburg, Greater Latrobe, Radnor, 1
Girls Golf: Mt. St. Joseph’s Academy, Shady Side Academy, 2
Boys Lacrosse: Conestoga, La Salle College High School, 1
Girls Lacrosse: Radnor 2
Rifle: Munhall, 19
Boys Soccer: Quaker Valley, 6
Girls Fall Soccer: Villa Joseph Marie, 8
Girls Spring Soccer: Central Bucks West, 7
Softball: Minersville, 7
Boys Swimming: Lansdale North Penn, 9
Girls Swimming: Oakland Catholic, 9
Boys Team Tennis: Harriton, Lower Merion, Lower Moreland, North Allegheny, Strath Haven, Wyomissing, 2
Girls Team Tennis: Harriton, 6
Boys Track: Glen Mills, 7
Girls Track: Milton Hershey, 14
Boys Volleyball: Haverford Twp. and Landisville Hempfield, 9
Girls Volleyball: Norwin, 12
Wrestling: Easton, 10
(Note: Wrestling includes the dual meet championships and the team titles won during the individual tournament)
I’m surprised that Canonsburg/Canon-McMillan isn’t somehwere high on the list. Although the name changed from Canonsburg to Canon-Mac in 1960 it is the same district. All its champs especially in wrestling have come from the same school. The jointure included North Strabane Twp. and Cecil Twp. but those schools had no state champs. By contrast you now have Central Mountin which had champs from Sugar Valley, Lock Haven, and BEN. That’s a completely dfifferent animal !!!
Nick, I understand where you’re coming from, but the rule I’ve always used to determine a new school is this: If an existing school absorbs or annexes another school or schools, the resulting jointure is a new school, even if the surviving school’s name has not changed.
Generally, a school district will change the name of the high school in such cases to reflect the new setup.
I understand exactly what you’re saying about Canon-Mac being a continuation of Canonsburg. Obviously, that’s true; the Canonsburg kids didn’t go anywhere else. But it’s the addition of the other schools that makes the difference.
I had this same argument with some friends in Steelton, which absorbed Highspire High School in 1957 to form Steelton-Highspire. The argument was that the Steelton kids had won all of the state championships at the school, that the Steelton school building itself was used for the new Steel-High HS, that it couldn’t be a new school because it was essentially a continuation of Steelton High School with a few new Highspire kids thrown in.
Since then, students from Highspire have contributed to at least a couple of football titles and possibly some basketball state titles. The simple fact is that Steel-High is a different school than Steelton. And Canon-McMillan, with the addition of new communities, is different school than Canonsburg.
Thanks for writing.
Thanks for your efforts to collect and post all of these PIAA results.
It appears that the record for most PIAA BOYS TEAM TENNIS Titles is 2, held by 6 teams –
AA – Wyomissing 2009, 2010; Lower Moreland 2007, 2008; Harriton 2004, 2005
AAA – Lower Merion 2006, 2007 ; Strath Haven 2001, 2002; North Allegheny 2005, 2009
I have to disagree on the Steelton/Highspire subject Rod. Back in the 1920s and 1930s Highspire High only went as far as the 10th grade. The Highspire students attended Steelton High to finish their secondary education and consequently some of them played on Steelton High athletic teams. There is very little difference in the student base from then to now. The school is still based in Steelton and they are still called the Steamrollers.
If we’re going to use your reasoning, Berwick, Williamsport and Mt.Carmel (and some others) are going to have to adjust their records to reflect the year they added the word “Area” to their school name. Of course, this is just my humble opinion.
P.S.
Keep up the great work on this website!
Hey Steamers, your point is well-made on the other schools throughout the state that have absorbed other schools over the years. I stand by my conviction that any time a school accepts students from another school that it becomes a different school, whether it changes its name or not. At that point, it has athletes available to it that it did not have before.
In the Steelton and Highspire example, my reasoning is that Highspire had athletic programs in the 40s and 50s separate from Steelton that ceased when the merger occurred in 1957. Thus, Steel-High became a different entity than Steelton.
But you are absolutely dead on the money about other schools that merged without a name change at the home school. Any school that took on new students is subject to the same criteria, and I completely acknowledge that I am inconsistent on those schools. My database has to be adjusted to reflect that.
The trouble is, I don’t have all of those histories in hand, not even close. Frankly, it will take a long time to get that info. But I’ll dig into it as time moves on and make the proper adjustments.
So, for time being, I’m letting the research stand, but it is absolutely open to revision. I love the folks at Steelton-Highspire (I had as much fun going to football games there as anywhere in the state when I was at The Patriot-News), but I’m sticking my guns that Steel-High, among others, is an entity apart from Steelton and Highspire high schools.
But many other other schools are subject to the same standard. Gee, I just created a lot of extra work for myself, didn’t I?
Thanks for writing, Steamers. Enjoy the rest of the summer.
Your points are well taken Rod, and I must admit they have merit. Naturally we could debate this until all the cows come home but it would never be resolved (much like political and religious differences). We’ll just have to respect one anothers’ opinion and agree to disagree.
As far as acquiring all those histories, maybe one day people will realize they’re in the midst of the information age, and they’ll research and share their work online. Until then, you’re definately facing a monumental task.
The best of luck to you.