In the seven seasons from 1940 through 1946, Jefferson High School lost only three football games. Cumberland Township followed their 1952 WPIAL Championship season with another undefeated campaign, going 9-0 and featuring future Steeler Larry Krutko. The 1957 and 1958 West Greene teams were both undefeated and featured future WVU All-American Jerry Yost at quarterback. The 1966 Waynesburg team and the 1968 Mapletown team both went undefeated and featured many future college players. However, none of those teams even made the playoffs. Due to the Gardner Points system, the accomplishments of these teams were unrewarded. The Gardner system was supposed to reward a strength of schedule, but it did not.
Outstanding basketball teams at Waynesburg Central and Carmichaels were left out of the playoffs in the 1970s because they had the misfortune of finishing second in the section behind generational teams at South Park and German Township. The 1973 Jefferson-Morgan baseball team went 14-1. Their sole loss was a 5-4 game against California. There was only one baseball classification at the time, and they received no post-season bid. In wrestling, there are myriad stories of undefeated wrestlers failing to advance because of a single bad move at sections or WPIALs. Only section and WPIAL champions advanced for many years. The record books would look completely different if there had been wrestlebacks in those days.
The single or double classification grouping for high school athletics was increasingly unfair. The idea that a tiny rural school could compete with a large suburban sports factory like Upper St. Clair or Pine Richland only works in movies like Hoosiers.
However, by the 1980s a new philosophy had entered the realm of high school sports and society in general. Often, in a move to address a problem and redress past wrongs, the pendulum can swing disproportionately in the other direction. Depending on the sport, we went from single and double classifications to as many as six. We went from only the “top” section and conference champions to including teams with losing records in the post-season. This everyone-gets-a-trophy philosophy came about with the honorable intention to build self-esteem. It was also a reaction to the toxic hyper-competitiveness that could be physically dangerous to young people. My intention is not to be the grumpy old man lamenting the softness of today’s sports. I am simply pointing out that rewards without accomplishments can subvert the development of young people.
If we tell young people there are rewards without self-sacrifice and hard work, we are not building self-esteem. We are simply creating a sense of entitlement. This philosophy has expanded to the schools themselves. Many high schools are afraid to name a valedictorian because someone’s feelings might be hurt, or a parent might complain. Some schools even have grading policies that forbid failing grades. Of course, colleges must stay in business, so they continue the charade, or they will lose students. In 1960, A’s were 12 percent of all collegiate grades. By 1988, they were 31 percent of the grades, and today make up 43 percent of all grades given in college.
The feel-good pendulum has swung so far, we sometimes see a 3-7 football team against the number one seed in the playoffs so we can include as many kids as possible. However, all we are doing is exposing these kids to an embarrassing defeat, so the WPIAL can line its pockets with playoff receipts. Somewhere in the middle of our past and present is a commonsense realm where good teams are rewarded without abandoning the integrity of the system.