The Louisiana High School Athletic Association is the agency that regulates and promotes the interscholastic athletic competitions of all high schools in the state of Louisiana.
Organization
LHSAA was founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on October 1920. The LHSAA's main office was in Hammond from 1953 until 1972, when it returned to Baton Rouge. The LHSAA is governed by an Executive Director and an executive committee, with representatives from each of the association's class divisions. LHSAA member schools include public, private, and parochial schools throughout the state. LHSAA is affiliated with the National Federation of State High School Associations. As of 1996, LHSAA included 410 member schools and an annual certification of approximately 70,000 student athletes each year. LHSAA is divided into nine statewide classes and divisions, based on each school's student enrollment for grades nine through twelve: Classes 5A, 4A, 3A, 2A, 1A, and Divisions I, II, III, and IV. Divisions are made up of schools of a private/religious nature; the smallest schools are all either members of Class 1A or Division I. Classes 2A through 5A and Divisions II through IV may include some schools that do not play football, including schools that have all-girl enrollments. Schools with single-gender enrollments have their enrollment numbers doubled for classification purposes. LHSAA has twenty-three competitive sports programs, twelve for boys and eleven for girls. The LHSAA sports programs are Baseball, Softball, Basketball, Swimming, Bowling, Tennis, Cross Country, Indoor Track and Field, Outdoor Track and Field, Football, Golf, Volleyball, Gymnastics, Wrestling, and Soccer. Starting in 2016, select enrollment schools and non-select enrollment schools will participate in different playoffs in Football, Baseball, Softball, and Basketball.
History
Before 1935, Louisiana had organized athletic programs for white children only. In 1935 William Gray of Southern University established the Louisiana Interscholastic and Literary Association to provide organization for the African-American students of the state. This organization was absorbed into the LHSAA in 1969 when the federal courts forced Louisiana to integrate the public schools. The LHSAA does not recognize the accomplishments of the negro schools and their students before integration. In 1990, Louisiana became the first state in the nation to include a wheelchair division in its state track and field competition for disabled student athletes. Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita hit Southern Louisiana at the beginning of the 2005 high school football season. The evacuation of New Orleans and other communities forced dozens of high schools to close for months, and several campuses were damaged or destroyed by flooding and wind damage. The football season was not canceled, but several games were postponed or canceled. Some schools in the disaster area were forced to withdraw from competition. Most public schools in Orleans Parish, St. Bernard Parish, and Plaquemines Parish were so badly damaged that they were forced to cancel their entire school year. Other disaster-area schools combined to form joint teams in fall of 2005 and spring of 2006. By the 2006 school year, most of the affected LHSAA schools were able to compete under their own school teams.
Awards
The Southern Quality Ford Cup is the Louisiana High School Athletic Association's All Sports Award that recognizes the leading overall athletic program in each of the LHSAA's seven classes. The competition is based on a school's performance in the 23 sports governed by the LHSAA. Any team that finishes in one of the top four places in the state earns points towards a school's quest for the cup. At the end of the academic year, the school that has accumulated the most points in its class is presented with the award.
