CHSAA History Timeline

The Colorado High School Athletic Conference is founded, spawned out of a meeting at a teachers' conference.

The state association holds its first-ever Board meeting, in Boulder. There are four regions, and nine leagues.

The first Secretary is John C. Casey, principal of Denver South HS, and the first President is R.W. Truscott, the superintendent of Loveland Public Schools.

There are three sports under the new association: football, basketball and baseball. Only boys sports are sanctioned.

The initial age rule limits participation to those under 21 years of age, though a student would be permitted to finish out the season they are playing if they turn 21 mid-season.

Also in 1921, the Colorado State League of High School Girls Athletic Associations (known as the G.A.A.) is established. It aimed to promote competition for girls as "enjoyment of the sport and the development of good character" rather that pursuing sport for "making and breaking of records and winning of championships for the enjoyment of spectators or for the athletic reputation of institutions and organizations."

It is very specifically against interscholastic competition, a stance that CHSAC/CHSAA supports in the decades to come.

Basketball follows in the winter, and holds the first sanctioned tournament in that sport. Greeley wins, in a round-robin format.

For the first time, the state office determines playoff pairings and sets home sites — which are determined by "seniority membership of the league in the State Conference."

An Arvada protest puts Littleton at risk of being ousted from the state league over two athletes.

The age rule is updated so that any student is ineligible to play once they turn 21.

The first transfer rule is adopted. It reads, in part, that "no student who is transferred from another school shall be eligible until he has been in attendance one semester unless his parents or legal guardians are bona fide residents of the school district to which he is transferred."

The first new sport outside of football, basketball and track is added with the sanctioning of boys tennis in 1927. At the state meet in Boulder, trophies go to the singles and doubles champions — not a school team title. Pueblo Central’s Clifton Darnell wins singles; Greeley’s James Evans and Pat Lehan win doubles.

R.W. Truscott's title is changed from Secretary to Commissioner. This title has remained the same ever since.

A wave of new bylaws are passed. Among them: Any contests played at night cannot be scheduled the day before a school day. An update to the transfer rule

Schools are split into classifications for the first time: Large schools in Class A and small schools in Class B. Initially, this split is only in football. Boys basketball follows in 1938, and boys track in 1940.

Wrestling becomes the first new sport in nine years. The inaugural state meet is held at Greeley over a Friday and Saturday in March 1936. Greeley High wins the team trophy with 32 points, ahead of Olathe (27), Fort Morgan (20), College High of Greeley (18), Grand Junction (9), Montrose (3), and Fort Collins, Golden, and Windsor (1 each). Coach Cecil Ackerman accepts the team trophy; gold, silver, and bronze medals go to the top three in each weight. Greeley and Olathe each take three individual titles; Grand Junction, Fort Morgan, and College High take one apiece.

The age rule is given another update, and now students are ineligible to participate once they turn 20.

The name of the association is changed to the Colorado High School Activities Association, so that all interscholastic activities are able to come under its administration and supervision.

A new class is added for the largest schools, Class AA, in basketball and football. This gives those sport three classifications.

After 11 years, CHSAA adds another sport: boys golf. At the first annual Colorado High School Golf Tournament at Lakewood Country Club, Denver East wins the team title with 255. East’s Frank Van Meter is medalist with a 78.

The Association moves into one room ("with a large closet") in a building owned by the Colorado Education Association (CEA) at 16th Avenue and Pennsylvania St. in Denver. Previously, it was housed at the Commissioner's school or district.

6-man football begins with the addition of Class C. Football now has four classes. At this same time, boys track adds a third class, and now competes with Class AA, A and B-C.

In another update to the age rule, a student is ineligible to participate once they turn 19. If they turn 19 mid-season, they are permitted to finish out the season.

Boys basketball adds a fourth class, and competes with Classes AA, A, B and C.

CHSAA launches The Colorado InterScholastic, an in-house publication which details news of the Association, including reports on meetings and state championship results.

The first annual Colorado state high school cross country meet is held at Folsom Stadium in Boulder — a mile-and-a-half course co-sponsored by the University of Colorado and CHSAA. Boulder wins with 34 points; Bill Richardson of Boulder takes individual honors in 7:59.

One year after joining, baseball adds a new classification. Teams compete in Classes AA, A and B.

The annual NFHS Summer Meeting is held in Estes Park, the first time it is in Colorado. More than 500 people attend, from 45 states.

The Board of Control rules that all interscholastic activities should be under CHSAA's sanction, which at the time includes music, speech and student council.

An Assistant Commissioner is hired for the first time: Wendall K. Beard. He had been the principal at Greeley High School. With this hire, CHSAA rents additional space in the CEA building.

A new bylaw disallowing contests and practices on Sundays is implemented. Prior to this time, it was a common practice to not play or practice on Sundays.

Additionally, a bylaw suggests that all competition be played on Friday and Saturdays "in so far as possible." It adds: "Only in special cases shall they be scheduled on nights preceding school days."

The rapid growth of baseball continues following its official sanctioning. Three years after the first championship, the sports adds a fourth classification: Class C.

Football's classifications grow once again, this time adding Class AAA — the sport's fifth.

Cross country splits into two classifications: Division I and Division II.

Football's Class C changes from 6-man to 8-man.

Wrestling splits into two classifications: Division I and Division II.

The age rule is clarified to read that anyone who turns 19 is ineligible to play, unless their 19th birthday occurs after Aug. 25 of that school year.

Basketball adds a fifth classification. Teams now compete in Classes AAA, AA, A, B and C.

Still, girls are not allowed equal treatment: "Sports must be organized so that no regular schedules are played and no inter-school or league champions are named." No admission was permitted to be charged, and they are not allowed to play in front of spectators.

Boys cross country adds a third class: Division III.

Baseball adds a fifth classification: Class AAA, joining AA, A, B and C.

Boys track also adds a Class AAA, giving it four classes.

Girls are permitted to play archery, badminton, golf and tennis. They can also participate in gymnastics, swimming and track and field, "provided no team scores are recorded." The stance remains against interscholastic competition for girls. "Nothing in this article shall be interpreted to mean that CHSAA schools may develop girls' athletics on a formal schedule basis or that championships shall be permitted."

Later, in 1973, these policies are called out for delaying and restraining the progress of girls sports.

Football shrinks to four classes: Class AAA, AA, A and the newly-renamed 8-man, which is no longer known as Class C.

The classification system undergoes its first major overhaul since sports were split into classes. All sports do away with Classes B and C.

Football remains the same from the previous year, and both track and basketball shrink to three classes (AAA, AA and A). Baseball has four classes: AAA, AA, as well as A West and A East.

After years of trying, private schools join CHSAA for the first time, moving over from the Parochial League. The initial private school members were Mullen, Regis and St. Mary's.

A new policy prohibiting competition and practice from Dec. 24 to Jan. 1 each year is passed. It goes into effect in the 1970-71 school year, and a version of it has been in the CHSAA bylaws ever since. It was moved from policies to bylaws in 1987.

In 2008, voluntary practice on select dates was permitted.

The list of recognized girls sports is revised to include skiing, and get rid of golf, badminton and archery. The list as of this time: Gymnastics, skiing, swimming and track and field. Still, team scores are not permitted to be "recorded."

Wrestling changes from its Division I and Division II format to three classes: AAA, AA and A.

Sharon Wilch, a Jefferson County PE teacher, joins the CHSAA staff — the Association’s first female administrator, and one of the first in the nation — to help build an official girls sports program.

A new Girls' Sports Coordinating Committee (GSCC) is formed. It "recommends that there shall be no emphasis placed on the winning of championships and that no formal schedule for girls' sports shall be sanctioned by the CHSAA."

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is passed, requires that males and females be provided equitable opportunities to participate in sports. It is instrumental in providing increased athletic opportunities for females across the country. The impact upon high school sports in Colorado, however, is not immediate.

CHSAA's Board of Control approves girls to field teams sports. However, "there will be no district or state championships in team sports."

Team scores are permitted to be recorded in individual sports "at the local league levels" but there still "will be no district or state team championships awarded for individual sports."

The Board of Control passes a motion "which could eventually pave the way for a girls' state basketball tournament." It requires every school to use NFHS rules.

Girls swimming is added as a sanctioned sport. The first state meet is held, and individual champions were recognized, though no team scoring was recorded. Cherry Creek swimmers win 10 of the 12 events.

The InterScholastic—notes that, "Indications are that team scoring will be instituted in state meets for the 1974-75 school year."

Baseball permits aluminum bats to be used in all games.

Ice hockey’s inaugural culminating season produces a wild title game: Littleton defeats Cheyenne Mountain 9–8 for the first prep state hockey championship.

The following winter, girls skiing names a champion for the first time: Middle Park.

That spring, girls track and field crowns four champions, the first in the sport's history: Fountain-Fort Carson (AAA), Byers (A), and also co-champions Gunnison and University (who tied in Class AA).

Girls tennis awards its first official team championship, with Thomas Jefferson winning — distinct from the earlier individual state tennis meets that began in 1970.

Finally, after decades of fighting — and after a federal civil rights law — girls sports are given equal treatment. The bylaws are merged to cover both boys and girls sports.

Under the major changes, the following is written: "The CHSAA, in order to effectively equalize athletic opportunities for members of both sexes, promotes and encourages the use of comparable athletic teams for members of each sex where selection for such teams is based upon competitive skills. This effort is to promote and encourage the growth of female involvement in athletic programs sponsored by this organization."

All references to not allowing score to be kept and the disallowing of spectators are deleted.

The age rule is given a slight update. It now reads that any student is ineligible upon turning 19, unless that 19th birthday occurs on or after August 1. A version of this rule is in place today.

Basketball and volleyball join gymnastics, skiing, tennis and track and field as girls sports.

Boys soccer is added as a sport in 1975. Cherry Creek wins the first championship with a 4-0 victory over Columbine.

The NFHS passes a rule allowing the use of a designated hitter in baseball. It is first used in Colorado in the spring of 1976. This rule remains in effect today.

The bylaw disallowing competition at nights prior to school days is eliminated.

Girls gymnastics adds a second classification. Teams are now split into Class AAA and Class A-AA.

Golden (Class AAA), Wray (AA) and Campo (A) win the first girls basketball titles.

In a vote during a special meeting, the Executive Committee votes to "remove soccer from the list of activities sanctioned by the CHSAA, effective immediately," according to the InterScholastic.

The move comes following a decision by a United States District Court in a class-action lawsuit brought by Donna Hoover, at the time a junior at Golden High School.

Hoover had been participating with Golden's boys soccer program at the junior varsity level, but her principal ordered her removed from the team, because it was a violation of a CHSAA rule which classified soccer as a male-only sport.

Soccer had only been sanctioned four years previous, and held its first championship in 1975. The lawsuit sought sanctioning for girls soccer.

Judge Richard P. Matsch makes a ruling in late March, ordering that either Hoover (and other females) be permitted to play on the boys team, that CHSAA offer girls soccer in addition to boys soccer, or that CHSAA may opt to drop sanctioning for boys soccer.

CHSAA opts to drop sanctioning for boys soccer, and not add girls soccer. The reasoning, from the Executive Committee, was that it was not "the purpose of the association to create new activities, but instead to govern those which develop through the interest of member schools." In other words, the committee determined, "schools select the programs and instruct CHSAA to regulate them."

Fortunately, this evolves rapidly.

Though they hadn't planned on revisiting the issue of soccer sanctioning until April 1978, the Executive Committee reverses course entirely, and sanctions not only boys soccer but adds girls soccer, too.

Just one week after their April 26 meeting, the Executive Committee meets again on June 3, where the Skyline League requests that both boys and girls soccer be sanctioned. A survey of member schools indicates that 40 schools would be fielding girls soccer teams in the spring, regardless of sanctioning. This shows the Executive Committee that sanctioning should be considered.

Shortly after, the Centennial, Jefferson County and Denver leagues all submit requests for sanctioning.

As a result, at its July meeting, the Executive Committee ultimately votes to establish a set of girls soccer bylaws, and reinstate boys soccer. The first girls season will be held in the spring of 1978, and the boys don't miss a season, continuing their play in the fall of 1977.

Arapahoe beats Cherry Creek 2-1 in the first girls soccer championship match.

Football grows to five classes: 4A, 3A, AA, A and 8-man.

Baseball merges its A West and A East classifications into a single class: Class A. The sport now has three classes.

Centauri (Division II) and Pueblo East (Division I) win the first girls cross country championships.

Boys and girls basketball have their classifications overhauled. Teams now compete in five classes: Class 4A, 3A, AA (2A for the girls), A-I and A-II.

Girls volleyball expands to five classes: 4A, 3A, AA, A-I and A-II.

For the first time since it went away in 1957, CHSAA offers a 6-man football division. There are now six football classes: 4A, 3A, AA, A, 8-man and 6-man.

Girls are permitted to play football.

Ray Plutko, who led a section office for California's state high school association, is hired as Ball's replacement as Commissioner. He serves for four years.

Plutko brought in a lot of new ideas which helped set the stage for the modern Association, including the reorganization of some state tournaments to bring them together to one site. Plutko also initiated corporate partnerships.

Boulder beats Pomona 2-0 in the first-ever softball championship game.

The CHSAA office moves again, this time to its current location at Sable Blvd. and 2nd Ave. in Aurora.

Though initially offered as a sport during the tumultuous fight for equal treatment in the 1960s, and then subsequently removed as a sanctioned sport, the first girls golf championships are held in 1990. Cherry Creek wins.

For the first time 25 years, CHSAA undergoes a major overhaul of the classification system.

Gone are the mixing and matching of classification names (AAA, AA, A, A-I, A-II, as well as Division I and Division II). They are replaced by the naming convention still used today: 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A and 1A.

A new large classification — Class 6A — is added at various times in football, volleyball, soccer, gymnastics, cross country, softball, spirit, tennis, basketball, wrestling, baseball and track. It lasts until 1995, when the classification system is reverted to five classes for most sports.

Football is the biggest sport with seven classes. Volleyball and basketball have six classes; wrestling, track and baseball have five; cross country and soccer both have three; while girls gymnastics, softball, tennis, cheer, and swimming each have two. All other sports remain unclassified.

Arapahoe and Montbello claim titles in cheer, the first-ever sanctioned spirit championships.

The final boys gymnastics championship is held, with Loveland winning.

Spirit expands for the first time, and adds pom along with cheer. There are three classes of each division.

Spirit adds another new division: Co-Ed Cheer.

Girls are permitted to participate in wrestling.

The 6A classification is eliminated across the board, with some citing that it had watered down the competition level.

Several sports reduce their number of classifications: Volleyball and basketball move from six to five classes; track, wrestling, and baseball move from five to four. Class 5A is now the largest classification.

This structure remains in place today.

Jazz is added as a spirit division. Pom and cheer each expand to four classes.

Field hockey joins CHSAA, becoming the first new sport added since the Title IX explosion in the mid-1970s.

Colorado Academy beats Fountain Valley 2-1 to claim the state's first field hockey championship.

Softball adds a third classification: Class 3A.

Co-ed cheer adds a second classification at the state spirit championships, with teams now competing in 5A and 4A.

In an epic game, Kent Denver outlasts Cherry Creek 12-7 in overtime to win the first girls lacrosse title.

Boys golf adds a third classification: Class 3A.

Boys and girls cross country each add a fourth class: Class 2A.

The growth of CHSAA sports in the late-1990s continues, and boys lacrosse joins the fold.

In the first championship game, Kent Denver beats Regis Jesuit 16-3.

Boys golf adds a second classification: Class 4A.

Bill Reader, hired by Plukto in 1988, and later Ottewill's Associate Commissioner, is hired as the Commissioner in 2002. He serves for eight years, and oversees a relatively stable time in the Association.

Very financially savvy, Reader ensured the membership received a refund each year of his tenure.

The biggest changes under Reader's direction came in the area of technology, including the explosion of the internet and the rise of social media. Seeding meetings became more efficient. "It is clear that technology has streamlined the workload for the CHSAA staff," Reader wrote upon his retirement. "Jobs that used to take the entire staff almost an entire week no are completed by two people in a matter of hours."

A new item is added to the transfer rule, making it so that any transfer "found to be substantially motivated by athletic considerations" cannot be approved for a hardship waiver.

Student Council, as an activity under CHSAA's sanctioning, is renamed Student Leadership.

A new bylaw states that each member school grants CHSAA "exclusive telecast or broadcast rights to all events at the playoff level."

Baseball adds a fifth classification: Class 1A.

A new bylaw is passed which states that CHSAA "does not prohibit transgender student-athletes from participation."

CHSAA dips its toes into social media, starting accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

Spirit adds Hip-Hop to its state championship meet. By this time, co-ed cheer is now being competed in two divisions at 4A/5A and 2A/3A.

In a landmark policy, the CHSAA office creates a new policy supporting the right of transgender participation. It is modeled across the country.

A bylaw is added which states that if a student is "removed from participation due to head trauma" they must obtain written permission to return from "a licensed practitioner."

Paul Angelico, a former school administrator and gymnastics coach who was later an assistant and associate commissioner, becomes CHSAA's eighth commissioner. He serves for seven years.

Under Angelico's guidance, the Association continued the fight for gender equity, and made specific advances for the LGBT community, including a new policy on transgender participation which was used as a model nationally.

He helped to refocus the Association on the mission of high school sports, which is to serve as an extension of the classroom. He helped to increase the promotion of high school activities by opting into the creation of the NFHS Network, and starting CHSAANow.com.

Angelico's tenure also started a long process of overhauling the classification system, which for the first time began to look at factors outside of purely school enrollment.

CHSAA's Board of Control is renamed the Legislative Council. And the Executive Committee is renamed the Board of Directors.

Track and field adds a fifth classification: Class 1A.

Private schools are given "attendance boundaries," which are the public school district in which they reside.

The bylaw recognizing the right to participation for transgender students is strengthened. It now states that CHSAA "recognizes the right of transgender student-athletes to participate ... free from unlawful discrimination based on sexual orientation."

Boys lacrosse adds a second classification: Class 4A.

With traditional media reducing their coverage of high school sports and activities across the state, Angelico oversees the creation of CHSAANow.com to cover and promote CHSAA activities.

"We knew that if our students were to receive the recognition they deserved, we needed to be the people to get that done," Angelico writes upon his retirement.

Girls soccer adds a fourth classification: Class 2A.

Girls swimming, girls golf and girls tennis each add a third classification: Class 3A.

Rhonda Blanford-Green, a trailblazer in a number of areas, becomes the first female and first black Commissioner in CHSAA's history. Five years earlier, she became the first African-American female to lead a state association when she was hired in Nebraska.

A former standout track athlete who went on to a Hall of Fame career at the University of Nebraska, Blanford-Green was first hired at CHSAA by Ottewill in 1996. She was later Angelico's Associate Commissioner from 2010-12 before being hired by the NSAA.

Blanford-Green returned to Colorado in 2017 following Angelico's retirement, and has overseen the growth of the Association, both in terms of member schools, sports offered, but also in terms of technology.

Boys soccer adds a fourth classification: Class 2A.

Co-ed cheer splits into three classes: 5A, 4A and 2A/3A.

The Legislative Council approves three new sports, growing CHSAA's sanctioned list for the first time in 20 years. Unified bowling, boys volleyball and girls wrestling will begin in the 2020-21 season.

Spirit adds another new division, the sixth, with the addition of game day cheer. Teams compete in 4A/5A and 2A/3A classifications.

The nationwide COVID-19 pandemic causes the cancellation of the state basketball tournaments, as well as the spring season. It marks the first time since 1956 that a sport will not hold a championship game.

Ice hockey and girls lacrosse are each set to add second classifications during the upcoming season, with the addition of a Class 4A.