One in a series, looking back at notable individuals, teams and events in Western Pennsylvania high school sports.
When the PIAA started six classifications in a few sports in 2016, the WPIAL was against it. So, some critics of six classes suggested the WPIAL should pull out of the PIAA.
Well, there was a time four decades ago when the 14 largest schools in the WPIAL threatened to pull out of the WPIAL in football because of a new conference alignment.
The year was 1982 and the 14 schools threatening to leave the WPIAL became known as the Big 14. They became big critics of the WPIAL.
The backstory goes like this: In 1980, the WPIAL decided to add a fourth classification to football only. There were no PIAA football playoffs back then, so the WPIAL was free to do whatever it pleased. Also, there was no Class 4A anywhere else in the state. So, for 1980 and ’81, 30 WPIAL teams played Class 4A and they were split into four conferences, based on geography.
But in 1982, the WPIAL, under the direction of Charles “Ace” Heberling, made a big change in the football landscape. The WPIAL took the 14 biggest schools in terms of enrollment and put them in two conferences. Geography didn’t matter. The WPIAL put the next 14 biggest schools in two other conferences.
This would be the new Class 4A, but the top 14 schools were steamed at the WPIAL’s move. The top two conferences had the biggest schools, and the vast majority of the best teams. Competition would be stiff on a weekly basis in the top two conferences. Meanwhile, the other two conferences in Class 4A were thought to be considerably weaker.
And what really upset the Big 14 is that only two teams from each conference would qualify for the playoffs. That meant the much weaker conferences were getting equal representation for the Class 4A playoffs — and had a much easier schedule.
The 14 schools formally notified the WPIAL in April of 1982 that they would leave the league and have their own championship, unless the WPIAL modified the playoff format. The 14 schools also wanted a new formula to distribute playoff revenue. The 14 schools were Baldwin, Bethel Park, Butler, Central Catholic, Connellsville, Gateway, Hempfield, McKeesport, Mt. Lebanon, North Allegheny, North Hills, Norwin, Penn Hills and Shaler.
“The die has been cast,” Bethel Park coach Bob King told the Pittsburgh Press in 1982. “Everybody’s taken a stand. It’s either this system or we’ll have our own league.”
For a month, there was dialogue back and forth between the schools and the league. The schools were serious about departing the WPIAL, and one of the biggest critics of the WPIAL’s new system was North Hills coach Jack McCurry.
“The coaches of the big schools are unanimous in this,” McCurry said 38 years ago.
The Big 14 wanted four teams from each of the conferences to make the playoffs.
“I think it’s quite realistic,” McCurry said. “If they don’t (do it), we’ll drop out and do the same thing.”
In late April, the WPIAL board of control had a meeting and relented to the largest schools. The conference alignments would not be changed, but four teams from each of the two largest conferences would make the playoffs. All 14 schools in the Big 14 decided to stay in the WPIAL.
What the WPIAL actually did that year was split Class 4A into two divisions — Division 1 and Division 2. Division 1 had the 14 biggest schools and Division 2 the next 14. Essentially, the WPIAL then had five classifications. The league allowed eight teams to the playoffs in Division 2 also.
The two Class 4A divisions had separate championships. McCurry guided North Hills to its first WPIAL title when the Indians beat Butler, 9-0, in a second game of a championship doubleheader at old Pitt Stadium. McCurry wore a New York Yankees batting helmet in every 1982 playoff game because he jokingly thought of himself and North Hills as the evil empire to the WPIAL.
Ringgold won the Division 2 title with a 6-3 victory against New Castle.
The WPIAL had Division 1 and Division 2 for only one more season. The league went back to four classifications in 1984. The WPIAL also started Class 4A in boys and girls basketball for the 1983-84 season.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: July 3, 2020, 10:00 a.m.
