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Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association

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The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc., also known by its acronymn PIAA, is one of the governing bodies of high school and middle school athletics for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States.

Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association
AbbreviationPIAA
FormationDecember 29, 1913; 110 years ago (December 29, 1913)
TypeNonprofit Association
Legal status501(c)(3)[1]
PurposeTo promote and support the education values of interscholastic athletics and the high ideals of good sportsmanship.
Location
Region served
Pennsylvania
ServicesEstablishes and enforces uniform standards in athletic competition among member schools and promotes and supports safe and healthy athletic competition.
Membership
1,452 schools
Official language
English
Robert Lombardi
AffiliationsNational Federation of State High School Associations
Revenue (2018)
$12,706,657[2]
Expenses (2018)$13,363,160[2]
Employees25[2] (in 2017)
Volunteers (2017)
200[2]
Websitewww.piaa.org

The PIAA's main office is located in the Harrisburg suburb of Mechanicsburg.

History

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20th century

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PIAA's older logo
 
PIAA's current logo

The PIAA was founded in Pittsburgh on December 29, 1913. It is charged with serving its member schools and registered officials by establishing policies and adopting contest rules that emphasize the educational values of interscholastic athletics, promote safe and sportsmanlike competition, and provide uniform standards for all interscholastic levels of competition. As a result of the cooperative efforts of its membership, PIAA has assisted intermediate school, middle school, junior high school, and senior high school students in participating in interscholastic athletic programs on a fair and equitable basis, thus producing important education benefits.

Initially, and until 1972, PIAA membership was limited to public schools within the Commonwealth. It was and remains a voluntary organization[3] For example, until 2004, public schools in Philadelphia did not participate in the PIAA.

Pennsylvania Catholic or other private schools were not eligible for PIAA membership. As a result, most Catholic schools belonged to another voluntary athletic organization, the Pennsylvania Catholic Interscholastic Athletic Association (PCIAA). This organization was founded in 1943 and mirrored the PIAA.[4]

However, in 1972, the Pennsylvania State Legislature altered the role of the PIAA and passed Act 219 which stated, "Private schools shall be permitted, if otherwise qualified, to be members of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association."[3] The General Assembly's action in 1972 thus established the legislature's right to intervene in the PIAA's affairs, a precursor to other later interventions.

Although some predicted the legislation would lead to a merger of the PCIAA and PIAA, so many Catholic schools opted into the PIAA on their own that, two years later, after an abbreviated state basketball championship tournament in 1974, the PCIAA dissolved.[4]

21st century

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In 2000, the legislature again intervened and created the Pennsylvania Athletic Oversight Committee (PAOC).[5] The PAOC is a 17-member oversight committee consisting of administrators, coaches and legislators to review what some had seen as the PIAA's unrestricted authority. The new law also called for several reforms including switching to a competitive process for selecting sites for championship games, eliminating the restitution rule, which required school districts that lose court cases against the PIAA to pay the associations legal fees and that persons involved in interscholastic athletics be provided equality of opportunity and treatment without discrimination.

Timeline

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  • 1913: PIAA established
  • 1920: Pennsylvania basketball playoffs instituted (Class A Only)
  • 1943: PCIAA established
  • 1945: Basketball playoffs expand to Class A & B
  • 1948: Basketball playoffs expand to Class A, B & C
  • 1972: Act 219 signed into law, allows private schools to join PIAA
  • 1973: Pennsylvania girls' basketball playoffs instituted (Class A only)
  • 1974: PCIAA dissolved
  • 1976: Girls' basketball playoffs expand to Class AA and AAA; Boys' basketball playoffs designated A, AA and AAA
  • 1984: Basketball expands to 4 classes
  • 1988: Football playoffs instituted (four classes)
  • 1997: Pennsylvania passes charter school law
  • 2000: Act 91 becomes law; PAOC established, PIAA cannot discriminate
  • 2003: Philadelphia public league joins PIAA
  • 2007: PIAA investigates separation of public and private classes
  • 2008: Philadelphia Catholic League joins PIAA
  • 2012: PIAA votes down separation for “Boundary” and “Non-boundary” schools
  • 2015: PIAA approves expansion to six classes for football and basketball
  • 2018: PIAA prohibits students who transfer during the 10th grade and after from participating in the postseason for one year unless given a waiver, effective for the 2018 school year; competitive balance rule also passed, effective in 2020, teams could be bumped up in classification depending on success or use of transfer athletes. A very controversial rule, as those moving from public school to public school are forced to abide by this rule.

Districts

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The PIAA divides its member schools' counties into 12 geographical districts for the purpose of state championship competition. The following list is the district breakdown by county.

While this is a general outline of the districts, there are some notable exceptions:

East vs. West

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Traditionally for state championship competition for team sports, Pennsylvania is divided into Eastern and Western regions. Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, and 12 usually make up the Eastern Region; Districts 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 usually constitute the Western Region. The winners of each region compete against each other for the state championship. However, since the creation of District 12 with the admission of the Philadelphia Public Schools into the PIAA, the East vs. West format has been abandoned for some sports in certain classifications, particularly at the Class AAAA level where there are more large schools in the East. For example, in PIAA football, District 3 schools compete in the early rounds of the state playoffs against Philadelphia schools in some classes, and against Pittsburgh schools in others.

Sports

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J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, the largest high school stadium in the Mid-Atlantic United States and the home football field for three Allentown-based PIAA high school football teams, Allen High School, Allentown Central Catholic High School, and Dieruff High School

The PIAA sponsors 16 boys' sports and 16 girls' sports. However, the PIAA only sponsors state championships for 12 boys' sports and 12 girls' sports. The following is a list of PIAA sponsored sports championships.

There are Pennsylvania schools that offer sports not fully sponsored by the PIAA, including gymnastics, ice hockey, bowling, rifle, water polo, and other Olympic sports. These sports are governed by other sport specific bodies that use similar PIAA rules for classification and eligibility, but are not officially recognized as state champions by the PIAA. The PIAA took over jurisdiction of both boys' and girls' lacrosse in July 2008. Indoor Track and Field is not sponsored by the PIAA, but allowed under PIAA rules. The PTFCA governs indoor track and field instead of the PIAA in Pennsylvania.

School classifications

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Every two years, the PIAA divides the member schools into two to six different classifications for each sport, depending on the number of male or female students enrolled in each school.

The number of statewide member schools participating in a particular sport will determine how many different classifications there will be. For example, boys' volleyball, the sport with the smallest number of participating schools, only has a AA or AAA classification. By comparison, boys' basketball, which has the largest number of participating schools, has A, AA, AAA, AAAA, AAAAA, AAAAAA classifications. The number of A's signify how large or small the school is; Class A is the smallest classification while AAAAAA is the largest. The PIAA tries to place an equal number of schools in each classification.

Football enrollment requirements

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Total Male Enrollment
(Grades 9–11) 		Average Total Enrollment
(Grades 9–12)		 Classification Number of
Senior High Schools		  
1-140 1–375 A 90 [6]
141–200 376–535 AA 96 [6]
201–282 536–752 AAA 96 [6]
283–397 753–1,060 AAAA 89 [6]
398–563 1,061–1,503 AAAAA 103 [6]
564 and above 1,504 and above AAAAAA 96 [6]

School Classifications for Football

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District Counties A AA AAA AAAA AAAAA AAAAAA Total  
District 1 Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery 3 2 3 6 26 33 73 [7]
District 2 Lackawanna, Luzerne, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming 4 7 8 11 3 3 36 [7]
District 3 Adams, Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York 4 7 15 21 29 16 92 [7]
District 4 Bradford, Columbia, Lycoming, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, Sullivan, Tioga and Union 6 12 7 7 0 1 33 [7]
District 5 Bedford, Fulton and Somerset 7 3 1 1 0 0 12 [7]
District 6 Blair, Cambria, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Huntingdon, Indiana and Mifflin 19 12 9 2 2 3 47 [7]
District 7 Allegheny (excluding City of Pittsburgh), Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington and Westmoreland 23 24 23 18 18 13 119 [7]
District 8 Pittsburgh Public Schools 0 1 1 2 1 1 6 [7]
District 9 Cameron, Clarion, Elk, Jefferson, McKean and Potter 13 5 3 3 0 0 24 [7]
District 10 Crawford, Erie, Forest, Mercer, Venango and Warren 6 13 9 2 10 1 41 [7]
District 11 Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton and Schuylkill 5 6 11 7 4 13 46 [7]
District 12 Philadelphia Catholic League and the Public League 0 4 6 9 10 12 41 [7]
Total   90 96 96 89 103 96 570 [7]

Because the PIAA determines classifications separately for each gender in each sport, it is possible that a coeducational school may find its boys' and girls' teams in different classes in the same sport. Smaller schools can choose to compete at a higher classification—possible reasons are to maintain existing rivalries, or in rare cases to place their boys' and girls' teams in the same class—but larger schools can not choose to compete at a lower classification level. For purposes of all-star games and awards, the A and AA classes are referred to as small schools, AAA and AAAA are referred to as mid-sized schools, while AAAAA and AAAAAA referred as large schools. In 2016, there was a change, splitting the football tournament into six classifications, instead of the previous four. The PIAA made the decision to expand to six classes in Football, as well as Boys and Girls basketball, baseball and softball. Increasing to four classes is Boys and Girls Soccer, Girls volleyball. Field Hockey is expanded to three classes, and Boys and Girls Lacrosse to two. Football started using these classes with the 2016 season.[8]

State championships

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While some sports' championship games have been held at various venues and cities across the state, most have been held in Hershey, whose proximity to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and Interstates 81, and 83 makes it a convenient location for teams from around the state. Hersheypark Stadium hosts the football, soccer, and lacrosse championships; the Parkview Cross Country Course, located across the street from Hershey Park and Hershey's Chocolate World, hosts the cross country championships.[9] The Giant Center hosts the basketball, wrestling, and competitive spirit championships. The Hershey Racquet Club hosts the tennis championships.

In 2006, the PIAA announced that they had refused Hershey's application for a contract extension to host the basketball championships at Giant Center. Starting for the 2006–2007 season, the eight championship games will be played at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center. The PIAA cited monetary reasons for the move. As of 2014 they had returned to the Giant Center.

Even the non-PIAA sport of ice hockey hosted the 2005 Pennsylvania Cup championship at Hersheypark Arena. The PIAA football championships have been held since 1988, with the first games being held at various sites across the state. In 1992, the games were moved to Altoona's Mansion Park, in part because playing four games in two days would not affect the artificial turf playing surface on the field. The football championships were moved to Hershey in 1998 to add to the tradition of PIAA championship competition near the state capital.

Penn State University in State College hosts the baseball and softball championships.[10] Altoona previously hosted the baseball championships at Peoples Natural Gas Field, home of the Altoona Curve of the Class AA Eastern League. The track and field championships are held at Seth Grove Stadium on the campus of Shippensburg University in Shippensburg.

Championship sites

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Fall

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Sport Facility Location Gender(s) Classifications
Cross Country Parkview Cross Country Course Hershey Boys & Girls AA, AAA
Field Hockey Cumberland Valley High School Mechanicsburg Girls A, AA, AAA
Football Cumberland Valley High School Mechanicsburg Boys A, AA, AAA, AAAA, AAAAA, AAAAAA
Golf Penn State Golf Courses State College Boys & Girls AA, AAA
Soccer Cumberland Valley High School Mechanicsburg Boys & Girls A, AA, AAA, AAAA
Tennis Hershey Racquet Club Hershey Girls AA, AAA
Volleyball Cumberland Valley High School Mechanicsburg Girls A, AA, AAA, AAAA

Winter

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Sport Facility Location Gender(s) Classifications
Basketball Giant Center Hershey Boys & Girls A, AA, AAA, AAAA, AAAAA, AAAAAA
Competitive Spirit Giant Center Hershey Boys & Girls AA, AAA (Small, Large), Coed
Swimming & Diving Kinney Natatorium Lewisburg Boys & Girls AA, AAA
Wrestling Giant Center Hershey Boys AA, AAA

Spring

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Sport Facility Location Gender(s) Classifications
Baseball Medlar Field State College Boys A, AA, AAA, AAAA, AAAAA, AAAAAA
Lacrosse Panzer Stadium State College Boys & Girls AA, AAA
Softball Nittany Lion Softball Park State College Girls A, AA, AAA, AAAA, AAAAA, AAAAAA
Tennis Hershey Racquet Club Hershey Boys AA, AAA
Track & Field Seth Grove Stadium Shippensburg Boys & Girls AA, AAA
Volleyball Rec Hall State College Boys AA, AAA

Lists of champions

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Football

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Main article: List of PIAA football state champions
See also: PIAA football records

Basketball

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Main article: List of PIAA basketball state champions

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Inc." Tax Exempt Organization Search. Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Inc. Internal Revenue Service. June 30, 2018.
  3. ^ a b De George, Matthew. "Private Problem, Public Debate: Complicated dance between PIAA, legislature has always loomed large – PA Prep Live". Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Smiles, Jack (February 8, 2015). "PCIAA faded away 41 years ago". The Citizens Voice. Wilkes-Barre.
  5. ^ "PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE OF 1949 - OMNIBUS AMENDMENTS, Act of Nov. 22, 2000, P.L. 672, No. 91 Cl. 24, Session of 2000, No. 2000-91, SB 1403" (PDF).
  6. ^ a b c d e f "Enrollment Requirements". PIAA. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association". Piaa.org. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  8. ^ Harlan, Chris (October 7, 2015). "PIAA votes to expand classifications in football, other sports". TribLIVE. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  9. ^ "PIAA announces sites for 2014-17 fall sports championships" (PDF). Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  10. ^ "/ccpa/". TribLIVE.com. Archived from the original on September 7, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
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