GAME ON Timeline of Interscholastic Sports In Rhode Island
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GAME ON Timeline of Interscholastic Sports In Rhode Island
If you play high school sports in RI the group that runs the programs, keeps the play fair and the refs on schedule is the Rhode Island Interscholastic League. Most student-athletes or even coaches know that the legacy of the league goes all the way lack to 1918. The official Rhode Island Interscholastic League started in 1932 - follow the timeline.
Timeline of Interscholastic Sports In Rhode Island
1918
Hope High School
Providence Tech (now Central High School)
Burrillville
St. Raphael
Rogers
La Salle
South Kingstown
Pawtucket (now Charles E. Tolman High School)
America was at war in World War I.
1926
A separate Interscholastic Hockey League forms, consisting of only four schools: Cranston, Hope, La Salle, and Mount Saint Charles.
1932
Jack Martin, a Providence Journal Sports Writer, brings together the separate existing leagues, to form the Rhode Island Interscholastic League. In the inaugural season, 1932-33, only boys competed in the RIIL in the following sports:
Baseball
Basketball
Ice Hockey
Football
Tennis
Golf
Cross Country
Indoor Track
Outdoor Track
Swimming
1968
Girls Basketball is added to league competition, the first female sport.
The following sports have since been instituted to the RI Interscholastic League:
1970: Golf (co-ed)
1971: Girls Cross County
Field Hockey
Gymnastics
Girls Volleyball
Girls Outdoor Track
1973: Girls Tennis
1983: Girls Soccer
1987: Boys Volleyball
1990: Girls Indoor Track
1991: Swimming (co-ed)
2001: Boys and Girls Lacrosse
2002: Girls Hockey
2007: Cheerleading
About the RIIL
The Rhode Island Interscholastic League is a voluntary organization of principals who pledge their high schools and participants in the League. There are 54 public, private, and parochial high schools who make up the membership and participate in 24 sports. Over 20,000 young men and women compete annually in thousands of competitions among Rhode Island Interscholastic League member schools. The purpose of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League is to supervise and administer the athletic programs, contests, and schedules and matters related thereto in participating schools of the State of Rhode Island.
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