The historical snapshot notes that John C. Corey of Denver South resigned early from the board of control because Denver did not see fit to join the Conference. For several seasons that decision had a concrete cost: Denver's high school teams stayed outside the state league — and outside its championships.
In February 1923, the Rocky Mountain News reported CU fans' disappointment that East and West Denver would again miss the high school basketball tournament in Boulder:
“C. U. Fans Disappointed at Barring Of Denver Schools From Cage Meet”
The Silver and Gold, the University of Colorado student paper, explained the standoff bluntly: the board of control would not let a Denver team play without joining the league “on a parity with other schools,” and Denver school officials refused. Though it was already the sixth annual tournament, Denver schools had never participated.
The thaw came at the state league's annual spring meeting in Boulder on April 9, 1925. E. L. Brown, assistant superintendent of Denver schools, met with the Colorado High School Athletic Conference and intimated that the Denver–Boulder league would soon make formal application for membership. W. N. Greim, Denver's director of physical education, backed him. President R. L. Hunt of Las Animas and Secretary John C. Casey of Eaton said the state league was ready to welcome them.
“The difference between our leagues is not so great. Denver stands ready to do whatever it can to improve athletics within the state.” — E. L. Brown
That same Boulder meeting settled other unfinished business. The league voted to declare the University of Colorado Boosters Club track meet the official state meet — after university athletic officials promised to take charge instead of student managers — and hardened the age rule so a student became ineligible upon arriving at his twenty-first birthday. Football playoff dates were set, and twelve-minute quarters were recommended to the divisional leagues.
Nine divisions of the state league were represented that night. Denver's long absence — and the tournament bars that followed from it — finally looked ready to end.