The Lost Glory Of The Philadelphia Catholic League Championship

[The Wizard Of Wyndmoor]

Once upon a time, the achievable goal of every sport in every Catholic high school in the Philadelphia Archdiocese was to win the Catholic League Championship.

The Philadelphia Catholic League commenced in 1920, and, through 1962, football’s regular season leader was crowned league champion. In case of tied records, a playoff game would be scheduled to determine the champion. Starting in 1938, and ending after the 1979 game, the Catholic League and Public League champions would square off in what was commonly referred to as the “City Title”.

Though the City Title was significant, winning the Catholic League Championship was always the more important goal.

Starting in 1963, due to the admission of 3 new “Bishop” schools (Egan, Kenrick, McDevitt), the Catholic League was split into two divisions, Northern and Southern, insuring a playoff game each year for the championship. The league grew with additional teams, and played in the two geographic divisions through the 1998 season.

Schools reveled in their league championship opportunities, with pep rallies, standing room only crowds, and great celebrations upon winning the championship. Team banquets, championship jackets, and eternal recognition among classmates and alums awaited those champions. Team reunions, like the recent 60th reunion of La Salle’s 1957 championship team, were must-attend events.

Back in the day at La Salle, lettermen could obtain blue pullover letter sweaters; if a championship was won, the sweater was white, glorifying the wearer as a champion. White letter sweaters are only seen in old trophy cases now.

In 1999, as enrollment at several schools declined significantly, and some forced to close, the Catholic League geographic divisions changed to large and small enrollment divisions (Red and Blue). The glory days of the Catholic League were now replaced by a diluted scenario where two Catholic League champions would be crowned, a structure that pre-conceived the participation in the PIAA.

Entry into the PIAA in 2008 brought back an ersatz City Title game against the Philadelphia Public League champion, but split the league further, into four divisions based loosely on PIAA classification. Losses of former Catholic League mainstays like North Catholic and Cardinal Dougherty to closure, as well as Kennedy-Kenrick, St. James, and St. Thomas More, further eroded the membership of the league.

Still, winning the Catholic League Championship within each division was a most notable achievement, won in a playoff game that seemed to double as a PIAA game, whether officially or not. For the schools that have tasted a State championship, there may be some argument as to the relative significance of a league title versus a state title, but for most athletes and coaches who compete in the Philadelphia Catholic League, the PCL League Championship hubcap, achieved by winning playoff games, was still the primary goal of each season.

Enter the new world order of the Philadelphia Catholic League in 2017, where the divisions have been reduced to two, each comprising multiple PIAA classifications, and the Catholic League championship for each division is reduced to the regular season winner with no playoff, an afterthought on the way to the PIAA playoffs.

A return to the glory days of the Philadelphia Catholic League, with one champion, and a season that ends with the championship game, will never occur. But one can still wish for a withdrawal of the Catholic schools from the PIAA sometime in the future, something that many people would endorse.

 

[ChesmontLeague1]

Winning Philadelphia Catholic titles still means a lot just not football. BTW - nice write up. I enjoyed watching my cousin play middle linebacker for Monsignor Bonner in the mid 70s and achieving All Catholic status. The league has progressed through the years By joining the Piaa and players having a chance to win a state title. I don’t think the league will majorly change in the future but some high schools may close but we may see Shanahan, pope John Paul 2, Holy Ghost as full members and maybe a Berks Catholic or Salesianum admitted as football members.

 

[tulla]

Winning Philadelphia Catholic titles still means a lot just not football. BTW - nice write up. I enjoyed watching my cousin play middle linebacker for Monsignor Bonner in the mid 70s and achieving All Catholic status. The league has progressed through the years By joining the Piaa and players having a chance to win a state title. I don’t think the league will majorly change in the future but some high schools may close but we may see Shanahan, pope John Paul 2, Holy Ghost as full members and maybe a Berks Catholic or Salesianum admitted as football members.

I can't see Salesianum joining the PCL mainly because they're not in the Philadelphia archdiocese. It's true that SJP and LaSalle are not diocesan schools but they are very much part of the archdiocese, which likes to exercise some control or at least influence over the league. Of course, as long as the PCL is part of the PIAA, having a member school from outside the state would be a major headache. Players (in individual sports) and teams from a school in Delaware would obviously not be eligible to compete for a PIAA championship.

I share much of the Wizard's nostalgia about the PCL of the past. But what made the PCL what it was is mostly gone. Most Catholics 50 or so and older who grew up in Philadelphia and the nearby suburbs, especially Delaware County and parts of Montgomery County (and maybe Bucks--but I'm less familiar with it), remember a world where individuals' and families' identities were tied up with parishes and parish grade schools. The high schools were a kind of extension of that. The Prep and LaSalle were exceptions since they didn't draw exclusively from neighboring parishes but all the vast majority of students in both schools came from parish schools and so when their high school team (SJP or LaSalle) played other PCL teams lots of Prep and LaSalle students looked across the field or the gym and saw kids they grew up with and maybe still hung out with. As we know, that world has mostly disappeared, never to come back.

 

[Stalker]

I can't see Salesianum joining the PCL mainly because they're not in the Philadelphia archdiocese. It's true that SJP and LaSalle are not diocesan schools but they are very much part of the archdiocese, which likes to exercise some control or at least influence over the league. Of course, as long as the PCL is part of the PIAA, having a member school from outside the state would be a major headache. Players (in individual sports) and teams from a school in Delaware would obviously not be eligible to compete for a PIAA championship.

I share much of the Wizard's nostalgia about the PCL of the past. But what made the PCL what it was is mostly gone. Most Catholics 50 or so and older who grew up in Philadelphia and the nearby suburbs, especially Delaware County and parts of Montgomery County (and maybe Bucks--but I'm less familiar with it), remember a world where individuals' and families' identities were tied up with parishes and parish grade schools. The high schools were a kind of extension of that. The Prep and LaSalle were exceptions since they didn't draw exclusively from neighboring parishes but all the vast majority of students in both schools came from parish schools and so when their high school team (SJP or LaSalle) played other PCL teams lots of Prep and LaSalle students looked across the field or the gym and saw kids they grew up with and maybe still hung out with. As we know, that world has mostly disappeared, never to come back.

Tulla and ChesMont; Just a thought per your Salesainum thoughts....I'd guess Berks Cath is still in the Allentown Archdiocese as were Holy Name a Central Catholic before the merger?

 

[tulla]

Tulla and ChesMont; Just a thought per your Salesainum thoughts....I'd guess Berks Cath is still in the Allentown Archdiocese as were Holy Name a Central Catholic before the merger?

I'm not sure if all of Berks County is in the Allentown Archdiocese, but I can't see Berks Catholic joining the PCL regardless. The distances don't make sense for things like after-school baseball and soccer games. It's enough of a stretch with Landsdale Catholic, and I understand there's been some discontent among LC people about the travel required and the feeling that their natural rivals are in their part of Bucks County.

 

[FJ78]

Why can't the PCL go back to having one champion again? I know it will not have the same feel with the open enrollment now, but there is no reason that they can't split the PCL into a North and a South and then split off into their respective classifications for state playoffs. The team that advances furthest in PCL playoffs from each class moves onto their playoffs. If two teams eliminated in the same round then they have open week or two to play head to head.

 

[tulla]

Why can't the PCL go back to having one champion again? I know it will not have the same feel with the open enrollment now, but there is no reason that they can't split the PCL into a North and a South and then split off into their respective classifications for state playoffs. The team that advances furthest in PCL playoffs from each class moves onto their playoffs. If two teams eliminated in the same round then they have open week or two to play head to head.

I suppose the thinking is that if you divided the league by geography rather than school size there would be too wide a gap between the best of the larger schools and the weakest of the smaller schools for the games not to be embarrassingly one-sided and maybe even dangerous. Would you have wanted to see the SJP 2016 team play the 2016 N-G team?

As for leaving a week open for a possible play-off to see which team goes on the state playoffs, that would seem to require staring the season another week earlier. And what what you do with a city title game--especially if the public league keeps creating champions for each PIAA classification?

 

[IAdelco]

What makes you think Salesianum would want to be in the Catholic League? They don't even play Malvern in football anymore. Why would they play St. Joe's or Wood?

 

[FJ78]

I wonder if teams like O'Hara and West Catholic would be able to put up more competition than teams like Judge and Roman over the past few years. And if you had to have an additional playoff game for two teams being eliminated in the same round you can have that game before the championship game or on the same weekend. For example: if two 5A teams lose in the semi finals to two 6A teams, then those 5A teams play each other before the two 6A teams play for the PCL championship to see who advances to their state playoffs.

 

[tulla]

I wonder if teams like O'Hara and West Catholic would be able to put up more competition than teams like Judge and Roman over the past few years. And if you had to have an additional playoff game for two teams being eliminated in the same round you can have that game before the championship game or on the same weekend. For example: if two 5A teams lose in the semi finals to two 6A teams, then those 5A teams play each other before the two 6A teams play for the PCL championship to see who advances to their state playoffs.

Well, it's true that last year O'Hara and WC probably would have given SJP and AW better games than RC, AR, and FJ did. But would anyone have wanted to see either SJP or Wood last year against B-P, BM, or LC? I'd be worried about safety issues--seriously.

 

[6daystosaturday]

It is a lost glory. So was winning the Philly Pub title. And if you are from Philly the city championship was a thing of beauty when you look back. But it's lost.
OHara would fit better in the central league now than they would in a league playing SJP, Wood or LS on a regular basis. Once upon a time making the PCL playoffs was the mark that you measured a season by. It's a great memory.

 

[paul from philly]

Once upon a time, the achievable goal of every sport in every Catholic high school in the Philadelphia Archdiocese was to win the Catholic League Championship.

The Philadelphia Catholic League commenced in 1920, and, through 1962, football’s regular season leader was crowned league champion. In case of tied records, a playoff game would be scheduled to determine the champion. Starting in 1938, and ending after the 1979 game, the Catholic League and Public League champions would square off in what was commonly referred to as the “City Title”.

Though the City Title was significant, winning the Catholic League Championship was always the more important goal.

Starting in 1963, due to the admission of 3 new “Bishop” schools (Egan, Kenrick, McDevitt), the Catholic League was split into two divisions, Northern and Southern, insuring a playoff game each year for the championship. The league grew with additional teams, and played in the two geographic divisions through the 1998 season.

Schools reveled in their league championship opportunities, with pep rallies, standing room only crowds, and great celebrations upon winning the championship. Team banquets, championship jackets, and eternal recognition among classmates and alums awaited those champions. Team reunions, like the recent 60th reunion of La Salle’s 1957 championship team, were must-attend events.

Back in the day at La Salle, lettermen could obtain blue pullover letter sweaters; if a championship was won, the sweater was white, glorifying the wearer as a champion. White letter sweaters are only seen in old trophy cases now.

In 1999, as enrollment at several schools declined significantly, and some forced to close, the Catholic League geographic divisions changed to large and small enrollment divisions (Red and Blue). The glory days of the Catholic League were now replaced by a diluted scenario where two Catholic League champions would be crowned, a structure that pre-conceived the participation in the PIAA.

Entry into the PIAA in 2008 brought back an ersatz City Title game against the Philadelphia Public League champion, but split the league further, into four divisions based loosely on PIAA classification. Losses of former Catholic League mainstays like North Catholic and Cardinal Dougherty to closure, as well as Kennedy-Kenrick, St. James, and St. Thomas More, further eroded the membership of the league.

Still, winning the Catholic League Championship within each division was a most notable achievement, won in a playoff game that seemed to double as a PIAA game, whether officially or not. For the schools that have tasted a State championship, there may be some argument as to the relative significance of a league title versus a state title, but for most athletes and coaches who compete in the Philadelphia Catholic League, the PCL League Championship hubcap, achieved by winning playoff games, was still the primary goal of each season.

Enter the new world order of the Philadelphia Catholic League in 2017, where the divisions have been reduced to two, each comprising multiple PIAA classifications, and the Catholic League championship for each division is reduced to the regular season winner with no playoff, an afterthought on the way to the PIAA playoffs.

A return to the glory days of the Philadelphia Catholic League, with one champion, and a season that ends with the championship game, will never occur. But one can still wish for a withdrawal of the Catholic schools from the PIAA sometime in the future, something that many people would endorse.

Ahhhh, the white letter sweater!! Didn't have many of them for football at College High but we had our fill of them for swimming!!!

 

[6daystosaturday]

Paul you forgot tennis and golf also.

 

[Burgundynewz]

Zzzzzzzzz..... Such a boring topic

 

[yesman3]

Zzzzzzzzz..... Such a boring topic

Yet you read the thread posts and decided to comment on it...

 

[roxychknpoxy]

Zzzzzzzzz..... Such a boring topic

Best league in the state for a long time. It's disheartening for those of us who knew and played it. Now, we get the 'privilege' of playing in PIAA.

Frankly, for what taxes are becoming, it won't matter what district you're in, it's becoming unsustainable. Your tax dollars should follow your child to any school, public, private, parochial, charter. It would ultimately improve things. Transportation could be coordinated. And for those yearning for the PCL downfall and that subsequent education, if these schools continue to close, your taxes will skyrocket as you will be building newer, bigger schools.

 

[HUNGRYDOGS]

PCL is still the best league in the state in football, basketball and baseball. Better than the WPIAL and Inter-Ac. While the PCL may not be what it once was, no league especially in football is what it used to be in PA. However, the PCL is still has unbelievable talent and today's top football teams for a variety of reasons, including school consolidation, increased program support (Prep and Wood), etc. would be competitive with any other era.