By Woodrow Carroll
Thursday through Saturday this week, the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) girls track and field State meet will be held in Charleston on the campus of Eastern Illinois University. The following week, Thursday through Saturday, the boys State track and field meet will be held in the same location.
The first girls State meet in track and field was in 1973. A single-class system was in place through 1977. In 1978, the State meet went to a two-class system based on enrollment. A three-class State meet started in the 2008-2009 school year.
There have been many legends:.
• Nino Fennoy! East St. Louis is well known for high school sports, including football, basketball and track and field. Nino Fennoy became a legend as a high school coach in East St. Louis
In 1978 Lincoln High School captured the Illinois Class AA State meet in track and field with Fennoy as head coach. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who went on to Olympic Games glory, was Fennoy’s featured athlete. In 17 seasons as track & field coach at Lincoln, Fennoy’s Tigerettes captured 14 championships.
With Lincoln’s closing in 1999, Fennoy went on to coach at East St. Louis Senior High with continued success. In 2019, Fennoy’s East St. Louis Senior squad won the 2A State championship.
• The history of the Illinois boys track and field State meet is, to say the least, interesting.
In 1893, Illinois conducted its first high school State track and field meet. Peoria High School won the State meet with 42 points followed by Chicago Lake View with 31 points.
The most interesting aspect of those early years of the State track and field meet might have been the events, to include the 50-yard dash, one-mile bicycle race, and the baseball throw.
• One of the most prominent early communities was Wheaton, with Harold “Red” Grange and Edwin Hubble.
There is a nice statue of Grange on the west side of Memorial Stadium in Champaign on the campus of the University of Illinois. He was graduated in 1922 from Wheaton High School where he won four letters each in football, basketball, baseball, and track. He was known as the Galloping Ghost.
The first memorable figure to win an event in Illinois high school track and field likely was Wheaton’s Mr. Space Telescope, Edwin Hubble. In 1906, representing Wheaton High School, Hubble won the State high jump with a leap of 5-6. Hubble took part in all sports at Wheaton High School. He went on to the University of Chicago where he was a star athlete.
Today, we are most familiar with the Hubble Middle School in Wheaton, largely because of his work in the field of astronomy.