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TSSAA issues date to ’60s

By: Stephen Hargis
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Trying to find the fairest way of classifying teams has been one of the major obstacles facing the TSSAA since the late 1960s. Much like the recent reclassification process, the original decision to split athletic teams by enrollment was driven by football’s popularity.

The TSSAA created three classifications in football in 1968. Seeing the benefits of having teams compete against competition of like size, the state’s governing body classified basketball teams five years later, and other sports soon fell in line.

“The thing about the old way was the rivalries and friendships that came from those games,” said East Ridge athletic director Catherine Neely, who has worked at the school for 45 years. “It seems like every sport now has different teams they play, so there aren’t the continuation rivalries.

“Honestly, I don’t remember all the jealousy there is today. At some point — and I don’t know when it happened — high school sports became more about winning championships than coaching the kids. It got to be a lot of pressure for coaches to win and stay competitive to keep their jobs. It just snowballed.”

All Tennessee high school sports stayed in three classifications by enrollment until 1997, when the TSSAA split public schools and private schools that offer athletes financial aid.

“That was forced upon us,” Baylor baseball coach Gene Etter said. “The only choice we had at the time was to get out of the TSSAA. I didn’t really think that it was fair at the time. It was mainly one school, Brentwood Academy, winning so much in football. It did bother me at the time that one team and one sport dictated the split.

“Looking at it now, the split did help because there isn’t as much resentment as there was. It seems to be better than it used to be. But we had a lot of rival teams in the area that we lost after the split.”

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