1906-07 WCHS Basketball
State Champions?

Washington High School's 1906-07 team ended the season as the self-proclaimed state champions, but was that coronation justified, and should it be celebrated?  Let's look at the evidence.

The IHSA did not begin its state tournament series for boys basketball until the next season, 1907-08.  Until that time, a state championship was a game of "King of the Mountain," where someone would proclaim they were the best, and then get challenged.  Win that game, and you're on top of the mountain for the next challenger.

Sort of.  In researching that time frame, it is very clear that the home-court advantage was much more pronounced than it is today.  Referees were just local people.  Gymnasiums were shoeboxes, wildly varying from place to place.  Some teams even played outside (weather permitting).

Case in point: during the 1906-07 season, which is our topic, the Washington team finished with a 17-3 record.  Two of those losses came on the road against Wenona and the Peoria YMCA.  Washington also played those two teams at home.  Washington beat Wenona at home 61-14 and the Peoria YMCA at home 56-6.

In February 1907,  Washington declared itself the champion of Illinois with a 14-0 record (they refused to count the YMCA loss).  They challenged Evanston High School near Chicago, which refused to play.  Washington then played and lost the game to Wenona. The team also refused to accept this game as a legitimate defeat and went on to challenge Wheaton High School, which had declared itself the state champion.

On March 2, 1907, Washington paid for Wheaton to come here for the challenge game.  With one official from Wheaton and one from Washington, an overflowing crowd watched Washington soundly defeat Wheaton 49-27.  A rematch in Wheaton two weeks later resulted in a 29-27 Washington victory, and the "champion of Illinois" moniker looked to belong to Washington.

But the boys from Washington could not leave well enough alone.  At the end of March, Washington issued a challenge to Rockford to play for the state championship in Washington.  Rockford had ended their season, but were not going to refuse a challenge written like this:

On April 6, 1907, Rockford arrived in town and put a whipping on our boys to the tune of a 54-36 score.  Immediately,  Washington made claims that Rockford did not actually send their high school team but sent a team of all-stars, as every player on their team showed star skills.  Rockford accounts of the game vehemently denied the wild accusation, yet Washington continued to declare itself the state champion.

The Washington High School 1906-07 team finished with a final record of 17-3, refusing to acknowledge their three losses, and ultimately crowned themselves the Champions of Illinois.