From bowling to basketball, here are 10 moments in the history of U-High sports:
- Annual alumni-varsity game: The Jan. 23, 1973, edition describes how alumni and former frosh-soph basketball coach Terry Kneisler, 1966, and Jim Naisbitt, 1971, returned to U-High to compete in this game. Once occurring every December, the annual “cage return” allowed for former students to demonstrate that they could “still play a mean game of basketball.”
- “Why is the City of Big Shoulders all gigly:” This sports story by former Midway writer Gabe Bump, Class of 2009, celebrated the “near celestial” state of Chicago sports teams in the early 2000s. With Joakim Noah joining the Bulls and the success of the Blackhawks, Chicago sports fans were excited about upcoming games for the first time in years.
- Girls versus faculty field hockey game: Passionately described in the Oct. 22, 1965, edition as a “spectacle of otherwise sweet, demure young ladies transformed into snarling, raging sportswomen,” the longstanding tradition of the female field hockey bash between female students and faculty once occurred every October.
- The United States Second String hockey team: In 1965, physical education teacher Margaret Mates founded the team, and after performing well in the 1964 United States hockey tourney, she received the position of an alternate.
- “Soccermen make history with season”: After an eight-year rivalry with Latin School of Chicago, the U-High Maroons finally beat their most notorious opponent and won the International Soccer League title on Oct. 7, 2008, according to the Dec. 9, 2008, edition.
- Separate boys and girls physical education departments: The June 4, 1965, Midway reported that the girls P.E. department introduced softball and tennis as options for female students.
- “Should Phys-Ed Grades count?” This was the central topic of discussion in Benji Pollock’s opinion column on Oct. 10, 1972. Mr. Pollock argued that U-High should only supply colleges with grade average and rank solely based on a student’s academic record, excluding P.E. from the calculation.
- The Midway Plaisance Ice Skating Rink: Now a familiar winter tradition, its opening was an exciting addition to the Hyde Park community in 1996. Anticipating its cafe and praising its “Olympic size,” U-High students were excited for its opening in the Nov. 12, 1996 paper.
- In 2021, the girls tennis team won the IHSA 1A State Championship after scoring a total of 39 team points. The team also won the state championship in 2019, with no competition held in 2020.
- U-High bowling club: Among other sports that have since been discontinued at U-High, bowling club used to be a popular sport among U-High students, according to newspapers from March 5 and April 9, 1964.
