Toledo City League
The Toledo City League, or known simply as the "City League" in the Toledo area is an athletic conference made up of
high schools that are within the cities of Toledo and Oregon. The league sponsors the sports of: football,
Current members
- Toledo Bowsher Rebels
- Toledo Central Catholic Fighting Irish (parochial)
- Oregon Clay Eagles
- Toledo Libbey Cowboys/Cowgirls
- Toledo Notre Dame Eagles (girls parochial)
- Toledo Rogers Rams
- Toledo St. Francis de Sales Knights (boys private)
- Toledo St. John's Jesuit Titans (boys private)
- Toledo St. Ursula Arrows (girls private)
- Toledo Scott Bulldogs
- Toledo Start Spartans
- Toledo Waite Indians
- Toledo Whitmer Panthers
- Toledo Woodward Polar Bears
Former members
- Oregon Cardinal Stritch Cardinals (parochial, members from 1970-1992)
- Toledo DeVilbiss Tigers (closed in 1991)
- Toledo Macomber-Whitney Macmen/Lady Macmen (joint-vocational schools, closed in 1991)
- Toledo McAuley Lions (girls parochial, closed c. 1987)
History
The league was formed in the fall of 1926 with charter members Libbey, Scott, Waite, and Woodward. Later additions were Central Catholic (c. 1928), DeVilbiss (1931), Macomber (c. 1938), St. Francis (c. 1955), Bowsher and Start (1963), Rogers and St. John's (c. 1966), and eventually Clay and Whitmer in 2003.
In 1966 the City League expanded to include 12 teams, with two 6-team divisions created. The divisional winners would meet annually in the Shoe Bowl for the city championship at the University of Toledo's Glass Bowl until the end of the 1991 school year. Due to financial problems and declining enrollment, DeVilbiss and Macomber-Whitney were regrettably closed by the Toledo Public School District after the 1990-91 school year. Afterwards, the divisions and the Shoe Bowl were eliminated, with the league championship being replaced with the "Hall of Fame Game." More financial problems caused the parochial schools to play an independent schedule for the 1991 football season, as the remaining public schools played for the league title. The parochial schools would return to league play for the 1992 football season, but Cardinal Stritch had withdrawn its membership after the 1991-92 school year since their enrollment numbers were substantially smaller than the other schools. For the 2003-04 school year, Clay and Whitmer joined, leaving the crumbling Great Lakes League, which had folded at the end of the 2003 school year. There were talks of using the division format again, but the league has continued to play in all sports without them.
The league was the first major conference in Ohio to sponsor girls' sports, hosting a championship track meet in 1970 (five years prior to the first OHSAA state track championship). The 1972 City League championship meet was the first-ever coed track meet in Ohio.
| Old Divisions for City League Football | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Division | Blue Division | ||
| Central Catholic | Bowsher | ||
| DeVilbiss | Libbey | ||
| Macomber | Rogers | ||
| Scott | St. Francis | ||
| Start | St. John's | ||
| Woodward | Waite | ||
| Cardinal Stritch* | |||
- Cardinal Stritch joined the league after the divisions had been set.
In the summer of 2006, it was announced that the Shoe Bowl would return on August 18, 2006 not as the championship game, but as the round-robin exhibition tournament that it was originally created for from the 1930s to the mid 60s. Toledo St. John's, Toledo Scott, Toledo Start, Toledo Woodward, Temperance Bedford (MI), Metamora Evergreen, and Oregon Cardinal Stritch scrimmaged against each other in the pre-season action at the Glass Bowl.
External links
- Return of the Shoe Bowl
- Results of the 2006 Shoe Bowl Classic
- Toledo City League Track & Field History
- Rogers Hall of Fame
See also
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