Winning Prep League meant more than state title

By Ron Brocato
Clarion Herald

The city has enjoyed a love affair with baseball for more than a century.

And even though New Orleans no longer has a professional franchise to call its own, fans haven’t lost their fervor for the sport.

Interest in baseball is not as ardent as it had been in the so-called “Golden Age.” But fans still wend their ways to the playgrounds and high schools to watch future stars display their talents.

But there was a time when winning the city prep school championship was more important to the schools and their fans than prevailing as the best team at the state level.

While thumbing through N. Charles Wicker’s all-but-forgotten Sports Record Book (1954-69), I came across some unusual entries in the high school championships section. But first let me say that Wicker was the preeminent prep writer in New Orleans from the late 1920s through most of the 1960s. His record book could be found at the city’s many sporting goods stores, sponsored by “nickel” ads.

What caught my eye was that Wicker’s book listed Jesuit as the prep league’s champion, but noted that S.J. Peters (a.k.a. Commy High) was the state champion in 1928 and 1929.  Then in 1933 and 1934, it listed Jesuit as the state champion, but Peters as the city champion.

So, how could the city champion and state champion be different for two schools that played in the same league?

Creation of a State Rally

I discovered that when the LHSAA was organized in 1920, it took great interest in having a football playoff for its two classes. But basketball and baseball (along with girls’ tennis) championships were determined by the winners of a tournament in conjunction with the State Rally in Baton Rouge.

In the spring, the rally – the highlight of which was the state track and field meet – took place in Baton Rouge in late April. The New Orleans Prep League championship playoffs began in early May after the “state” title game had been contested.

Seven schools in the city vied for the Prep League title: Warren Easton, Jesuit, Fortier, Peters, Holy Cross, St. Aloysius  and Behrman. Following the end of the first round, the top four teams, by record, moved on to the second (championship) round.

In the meantime, the State Rally admitted any teams that wanted to participate.

Usually, three teams from New Orleans went to the rally: Easton, Fortier and Peters prior to 1930. The reason was that the LHSAA was a public school organization until 1929 when the association opened its arms to Catholic and private schools.

The rally determined the state champion until the mid-1960s. That was followed by a home-and-home championship playoff. Then in 1970, the LHSAA began playing a state championship tournament at a pre-determined site for schools that won district titles (and later added runners-up and wild cards to the brackets).

New Orleans teams dominated the State Rally from 1931-55, winning 22 of 23 state titles. There were no baseball championships contested in 1932 and 1943. The local blitz of champions was bolstered during the WWII years when gas rationing made it difficult for teams to travel the state. But local teams found their way to Baton Rouge with the following results: Peters defeated Holy Cross in 1942, Holy Cross beat Peters for the 1944 title, and Jesuit won in 1945 over Fortier.

Local baseball venues

Although just a handful of teams from Baton Rouge and Shreveport embraced the sport on a statewide level, baseball was a big deal in New Orleans. The ballparks of choice were strewn across the landscape. Holy Cross has its own stadium for all Prep League teams to use. Sportsman Park, Canco Park, Kempster Park and Tokay Tea Park were used. But the facility of choice was the premier Heinemann Park, home of the New Orleans Pelicans minor league team.

The Prep League championship series drew upwards of 2,000 fans, and some interesting advance articles, as the local newspapers noted.

The T-P reported on the morning of the 1936 city playoffs: “Gala plans have been made by the athletic officials of Commy and Jesuits to have a great crowd on hand for their big battle today.

“The two schools’ bands are expected to turn out. The Commy High bands will march at the head of a parade which will start from the Broad Street school, out Banks Street to Carrollton Avenue, around Jesuit High, and then up Carrollton to the ballpark.

“Jesse Danna will be Coach Gernon Brown’s (pitching) choice to face the Wildcats, who will depend on their ace, John ‘Lefty’ Antoine.”

Today, the reader cannot find even a schedule in the paper.

I discovered a few unusual traditions while examining the box scores.

Prep games were nine innings in duration. There was no “mercy rule” which ended a game if one team was leading by 10 or more after five or seven innings. In Warren Easton’s last championship year of 1951, it defeated Byrd, 20-0, for the Class 2A state title. The game went a full nine innings and is still the largest rout in playoff history.

Only the plate umpire was listed in the box score by name. Rally games began as early as 10:30 a.m. Prep games followed major league rules of the day. There was no designated hitter.

With Alex Box Stadium still seven years in the future, the baseball games were held at both the LSU varsity diamond and the freshmen field on the parade grounds.

The first listed state champion (in 1909) was Boys High, which morphed into Warren Easton in 1911 via a name and location change in 1913.

Since then eight local schools have won state titles.

Jesuit is the leader with 21 between 1933 and 2021. Next is Boys High/Easton with 13 from 1909-1951.

De La Salle has won six –  the first in 1958 and the last in 1988.

Archbishop Rummel won five, the first in 1974 and the last in 1997.

St. Aloysius (1949-55) and S.J. Peters (1928-48) followed with four each.

With the late, great Mike Miley supplying the fireworks at the plate, East Jefferson won in 1971 and 1972 and again in 1978.

And Holy Cross won its first state title in 1944 and second in 1969.