Books and Manuscripts About Illinois High School Sports
In addition to the articles posted in the Illinois H.S.toric, we receive frequent inquiries looking for books about the history of Illinois high school sports. Here is a bibliography, with links to pages where the books can be ordered (most link to bn.com, the Barnes & Noble web site).
General
Interscholastics: A Discussion of Interscholastic Contests, by Charles W. Whitten. Illinois High School Association, 1950. A comprehensive summary of IHSA philosophy as the association grew from a disorganized band of principals, interested primarily in purging "ringers" from high school football games, into the overseer of statewide athletic competition in several sports. Whitten served from 1922 to 1942 as the IHSA's first chief executive. The following half-century remains to be documented. A few like-new copies of the book remain. Available in the IHSA Store.
Why Mascots Have Tales: The Illinois High School Mascot Manual, From Appleknockers to Zippers, by Fred Willman. Mascots Publishing, 2005. The title says it all -- everything you ever wanted to know about high school nicknames, mascots, and colors, with over 100 entertaining stories, many never before told. Available in the IHSA Store.
Boys Basketball
Classical Madness: A Celebration of Class A and AA Boys Basketball in Illinois, by Shawn Powell, Jeff Lampe, and Bob Leavitt. Illinois High School Association, 1996. Summaries of every Class A and Class AA boys tournament from the start of the two-class system in 1972 through 1995, plus dozens of fun lists assembled by basketball expert Shawn Powell. Over 100 photos. Now out of print, but superseded by 100 Years of Madness.
Courtside Memories: A History of Remembrances, compiled by Mel Roustio. Creative Ideas, 1998. A collection of anecdotes submitted by many Illinois high school basketball coaches and edited by veteran coach Roustio, who headed teams at Jacksonville and Decatur.
Dike Eddleman: Illinois' Greatest Athlete, by Diana Eddleman Lenzi. Sagamore Publishing, 1997. Dike Eddleman, a four-sport star at Centralia High School, led the Orphans to a state basketball championship in 1942. Eddleman's daughter chronicles the career of the state's first athletic superstar, from high school to an equally stellar career at the University of Illinois.
The DuSable Panthers: The Greatest, Blackest, Saddest Team from the Meanest Street in Chicago, by Ira Berkow. Atheneum, 1978. DuSable didn't win the state championship – the Panthers finished second to Mt. Vernon in 1954 – but Illinois high school basketball was never the same after DuSable's run-and-gun style turned the state tournament on its head. Berkow, now at the New York Times, saw it all as a teenager.
Fast Break to Glory: Marshall High School's 98-Game Winning Streak, by Red Mottlow. N.p., 2002. In the first half of the 20th Century, basketball wasn't just for the tall. Marshall's "junior" team -- for boys 5-foot-7 and under -- made headlines from 1939 to 1944 with the longest winning streak in Illinois history.
Grass Roots and Schoolyards: A High School Basketball Anthology, edited by Nelson Campbell. Viking Penguin, 1988. Stories from across the nation, including a handful from Illinois.
A History of the Illinois State High School Basketball Tournament (1908-1971), by Randall Rene Rodgers. Master's Thesis, University of Illinois, 1971. The only publication that documents (with sources) the inception of the tournament in 1908 and summarizes in text each tournament in the single-class series, which was abolished in 1971. A good starting point for research; someday someone will write the complete story. Available by interlibrary loan only.
Here's Johnny Orr, by Gene McGivern. Iowa State University Press, 1992. The longtime coach at Michigan and Iowa started out as a schoolboy star at Taylorville, where he played for Coach Dolph Stanley and the legendary 1944 Tornadoes, Illinois' first undefeated state champions.
Hoop Dreams: A True Story of Hardship and Triumph, by Ben Joravsky. Harper Publishing, 1995. Direct from the big screen to print, a retelling of the award-winning documentary about two Illinois high school basketball players, Arthur Agee of Marshall and Williams Gates of St. Joseph.
Illinky: High School Basketball in Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, edited by Nelson Campbell. The Stephen Green Press/Pelham Books, 1990. A series of stories from the heart of high school basketball.
March Madness, by Jim Enright. Illinois High School Association, 1977. Articles on some of the great teams and interviews with the great personalities in Illinois tournament history. Also includes scores and records from state final tournaments from 1908 to 1976, and photos of the championship teams. No longer available from the IHSA, but used copies can be often be found in online bookstores such as abebooks.com, amazon.com, bn.com, and on eBay.
March Madness Encyclopedia (Boys Basketball), edited by Scott Johnson. Illinois High School Association, 1995. Scores, statistics, and records covering the Illinois boys state tournaments from 1908 to 1995. Most of the information has since been updated and expanded on the www.marchmadness.org web site (which includes box scores of every state tournament game), but the printed version is still a must for the basketball stat freak. Available from the IHSA (309-663-6377).
Once There Were Giants: How Tiny Hebron Won the Illinois High School Basketball Championship and the Hearts of Fans Forever, by Scott Johnson and Julie Kistler. Illinois High School Association, 2002. Only one "small school" ever won Illinois' one-class tournament, which makes Hebron the state's most memorable champion in many eyes. The story of how the "Little David" school of just 98 students overcame all the odds is the Illinois version of Hoosiers. Over 100 photos. Available in the IHSA Store.
100 Years of Madness: The Illinois High School Association Boys' Basketball Tournament, by Scott Johnson, Curt Herron, Pat Heston, Jeff Lampe, and Bob Leavitt. Illinois High School Association, 2006. Summaries and statistics of every boys' basketball tournament from 1908 to 2006, with a photo of every championship team, plus many interesting features and hundreds of action photos. In softcover and hardcover. Available in the IHSA Store.
Sweet Charlie, Dike, Cazzie, and Bobby Joe, by Taylor Bell, University of Illinois Press, 2004. In sixty stories covering the 1940s through the 1990s, the dean of high school sportswriters covers the players, coaches, and teams that put IHSA basketball on the map. From small towns to the big city, Bell traveled the state to collect these fascinating tales.
Trout: The Old Man and the Orphans, by Don Schnake. Richview Press, 1992. Arthur Trout was an Illinois legend, leading Centralia High School to state basketball championships to 1918, 1922, and 1942. Schnake, who played on Trout's 1946 squad (which finished second to Champaign), paints a rich portrait of the "Old Man" as coach, teacher, and leader of men.
Vicarious Thrills: A Championship Season of High School Basketball, by Paul E. Bates. Southern Illinois University Press, 1995. Bates chronicles the 1993-94 season of the Carbondale Terriers, southern Illinois' best hope for a (large-school) state championship since 1957. The team came up one win short, losing to Peoria Manual in the title game.
Girls Basketball
March Madness Encyclopedia (Girls Basketball), edited by Scott Johnson. Illinois High School Association, 1995. Scores, statistics, and records covering the Illinois girls state tournaments from 1977 to 1995. Most of the information has since been updated and expanded on the www.marchmadness.org web site (which includes box scores of every state tournament game), but the printed version is still a must for the basketball stat freak. Available from the IHSA (309-663-6377).
Boys Track & Field
A Century of Greatness. Illinois High School Association, 1994. The commemorative program for the 100th boys state track and field meet contains 144 pages of articles, photos, trivia, lists, and a rundown of every meet starting with the first one, way back in 1893. Available from the IHSA (309-663-6377).
Boys Wrestling
Mat Madness, by Rob Sherrill. Center Mat Press, 1996. An encyclopedia of wrestling in Illinois, featuring articles, interviews, lists, and a rundown of every state meet from the inaugural in 1937 through the 1996 meets.