Comments on: And the state champion of state champions is …

By: Steamers

Steamers — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:06:00 +0000

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.

By: rod

rod — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 20:47:38 +0000

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.

By: Steamers

Steamers — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:21:00 +0000

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!

By: Mike Gyomber

Mike Gyomber — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 04:25:53 +0000

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

By: rod

rod — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 04:56:39 +0000

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.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 02:08:10 +0000

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 !!!