The Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) was organized in Louisville in April 1917, when a small group of male educational leaders met by appointment during the annual meeting of the Kentucky Educational Association to discuss the regulation of inter-high school athletic contests. The writing of a constitution and by-laws was left to the organization's governing body, to be known as the Board of Control. The original board consisted of President Moses E. Ligon, principal of Lexington High School, W.O. Hopper of Mt. Sterling and John H. Way of Carrollton. The Board's initial meeting on September 22, 1917, established the KHSAA's purpose--to purify athletics and codify basic rules of player eligibility and athletic conduct. Although the Association's Secretary, John H. Way, in his first letter to high school principals, declared that high schools had long felt the need for the influence of such an association, only eighteen schools were sufficiently interested to join it. Charter members were: Frankfort, Louisville Male, Owensboro, Carrollton, Lexington High School, Carlisle, Anderson County, Monticello, Somerset, Ashland, Stanford, Paris, LaGrange, Morganfield, Danville, Clark County, Cynthiana, and Covington.

Enthusiasm for membership in the Association was slow to develop. By 1918 only twenty-one schools had paid their $1.50 annual dues. During the 1920s and 1930s high school sports achieved greater popularity, which in turn led to rapid growth for the KHSAA. The Association grew in part because it continued to adhere to its original purpose of developing and regulating high school athletics by the adoption of uniform rules of player eligibility and by making the school's principal responsible for their observance. Other contributing factors included the improvement of the status of the coach, and the promotion of boys and girls post-season championship tournaments in basketball.

To be eligible for KHSAA membership, a school was required to be listed in the Kentucky Public School Directory. By 1938 over 600 schools had joined the Association, and the KHSAA's authority to impose penalties and sanctions against member schools violating rules and regulations had been upheld by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. In addition to determining player eligibility, the organization performed many other functions, such as determining tournament sites, managing the state high school championships, establishing rules and regulations of competition, controlling game officials sanctioning All-Star and out of state games, resolving scheduling conflicts, investigating player and crowd misconduct, and administering the Player's Protection Fund which paid claims to injured athletes.

From its inception in 1918, the Boys State Basketball Tournament has been the Association's major source of revenue. The initial tournament was held at Centre College in Danville. It moved to Lexington and the University of Kentucky's Alumni Gymnasium in 1919 and remained there until 1941 when it moved to the Louisville Armory which had a larger seating capacity. The KHSAA did not begin to make significant revenue until the late 1930s when increased attendance made the Sweet Sixteen tournament one of the premiere sporting events in Kentucky. This attendance, coupled with increased revenue from radio broadcasting rights, assured the financial success of the Association. From the 1940s on, the boys tournament site has been located either in Louisville or Lexington. The girls basketball tournament began in 1921 and continued until 1932 when basketball was abandoned as a high school sport. The tournament was re-instituted in 1975. Other sport championships were gradually added to the KHSAA's sanctioned list of athletic contests, which presently includes 29 championships in twelve sports.

The Association's structure also changed through the years in part as a response to various changes which have occurred within society. In 1935, the Board of Control's membership increased to five. Four years later, another person was added. In 1937, a delegate assembly of school representation was established. Instead of each member school sending a voting member to the annual meeting (always held in Louisville to coincide with the meeting of the Kentucky Educational Association), sixty-four districts were established in the state with each member school allowed to vote for a delegate from the district to attend the annual meeting.

Until 1947 the Association's chief administrative officer had been the President, who was selected every year. Only four men, with M.S. Ligon and W.F. O'Donnell of Carrollton having the longest tenure, served as president prior to the beginning of World War II. The war seriously interrupted high school sports scheduling due to the rationing of gasoline and the inability of schools to acquire buses for team transportation. Shortly after the end of the war, the Board of Control voted to hire a full time commissioner to oversee all the Association's activities. Longtime board member Theodore A. Sanford of Henderson was selected. Under Sanford's direction, the Association grew and prospered, with revenues from the boys basketball tournament showing a substantial increase. Sanford negotiated the KHSAA's television contract for the 1955 boys basketball tournament, and during his tenure, the Association moved to its first permanent location on Rose Street in Lexington. Additionally, the integration of all black high schools into the KHSAA in the late 1950s occurred during his presidency. Sanford retired in 1972 and was replaced by his longtime assistant Joe Bill Mansfield, who was succeeded by Tom Mills in 1976.

The 1970s saw the KHSAA continue to prosper and experience many other significant changes. In response to a federal court order in 1971, the Association added a black assistant commissioner (Louis Stout) in 1972, as well as two black members to the Board of Control. In 1976 the organization's first female assistant commissioner, Diane Caines, was selected, following the return of the Girls State Basketball Tournament in 1975. The composition of the Board of Control has changed to its current total of twelve members, two of which must be black and two of which must be female. Another significant change to the KHSAA's structure was the passage of SB60 by the 1978 Kentucky General Assembly, which placed control of interscholastic athletics under the Kentucky Department of Education. The Education Department has delegated authority to the KHSAA to manage athletics and is only involved in the appeals procedure. In response to dwindling attendance at the boy's basketball tournament in Louisville in the early 1970s, the Association moved the championship to Rupp Arena in Lexington for several years. Attendance, as well as revenue, increased dramatically.

Under the direction of Commissioner Tom Mills, the Association continued to grow with the addition of championships in soccer and softball, the continued growth of both boys and girls basketball tournaments, and the inception of a program to help with drug and substance abuse. In 1991, Commissioner Mills retired and was replaced by assistant commissioner Billy Wise. In 1992, the KHSAA moved into its new headquarters on Executive Drive in Lexington. When Wise retired in 1994, the KHSAA's first black commissioner, Louis Stout, was selected.

Important Dates in KHSAA History (1917-1994)

1917: KHSAA Organized.

1918: First Boys State High School Basketball Tournament.

1920: First State Track Meet.

1921: Ten District Tournaments Held, First Girls State High School Basketball Tournament.

1922: State Divided into 16 Districts.

1924: State Divided into 18 Districts.

1927: State Divided into 24 Districts, 6 Regions, A and B Classification Adopted for All Tournaments.

1928: State Divided into 32 Districts, 8 Regions.

1931: State Divided into 64 Districts, 16 Regions, A and B Classification Discontinued for State Tournament, First State Tennis Tournament.

1932: Girls State Basketball Tournament Discontinued.

1933: A and B Classification Discontinued for All Tournaments.

1934: Eight Semester and Twenty-Year Age Limit Rules Put into Effect.

1935: Board of Control Membership Increased to Five.

1938: Plan for Registering and Training Officials Adopted. Officials' Clinics in Football and Basketball Begun, Board of Control Membership Increased to Six, Secretary Takes Over Management of State Basketball Tournament, Printing Association Magazine The Athlete Authorized, Regional Track Meets Made Part of State Program.

1939: National Federation Basketball Rules Adopted, KHSAA Protection Fund Incorporated, First State Golf Tournament.

1940: Association Joins National Federation, First State Baseball Tournament.

1942: Board of Control Membership Increased to Seven.

1943: Number of Districts Doubled, With 16 Regions and 4 Sections.

1944: Sectional Tournaments Discontinued.

1945: Number of Districts in Region Reduced to 4.

1946: First KHSAA Sponsored State Swimming Meet.

1947: Full-Time Commissioner Selected, Board of Control Membership Increased to Eight, Rules Re-Codified.

1948: Number of Basketball Games Limited, Sanction Rule Strengthened, Commissioner Authorized to Determine Regional Tournament Sites.

1949: Assistant Commissioner Added to Association Office Staff.

1950: Classes Adopted for State Swimming Meet, Regional Golf and Tennis Tournaments Made Part of State Program.

1952: Awards Rule Adopted.

1953: First KHSAA Sponsored Cross Country Run.

1954: District and Regional Basketball Trophies Standardized.

1955: First Televised Basketball Championship Game.

1956: Regional Cross Country Made Part of State Program.

1957: KHSAA Integrated

1957: Coaches Required to Attend Rules Clinic.

1958: Board Given Authority to Set Up Football Championship Plan.

1959: First Football Championships, Requirements of Coaches Increased.

1960: First State Tennis Tournaments for Girls.

1961: First Football Districts Established.

1962: First State Swimming Meet for Girls, First State Rifle Championship.

1963: Wrestling Made Part of State Program.

1964: Delegate Assembly Adopts Age Limit of 19, New Rule to Take Effect in 1968.

1965: First State Golf Tournament for Girls.

1966: First State Track Meet for Girls, Classes Adopted for Boys Track.

1967: First State Gymnastics Meets for Boys and Girls, First Required Registration of Baseball Officials, Classes Adopted for Cross Country Run.

1968: Regional Wrestling Tournaments Made Part of State Program.

1969: Classes Adopted for Girls Track, Age Rule Modified, Second Assistant Commissioner Added to Association Office Staff, First Registration of Wrestling Officials.

1971: New Office Building Erected.

1972: Board of Control Membership Increased to Ten, Third Assistant Commissioner Added to Association Office Staff, First State Soccer Tournament.

1974: First State Fencing Tournaments.

1975: Girls State Basketball Tournament Revived, First Girls Cross Country Run.

1976: First Woman Assistant Commissioner Added to Association Office Staff.

1978: State Board of Education Delegated Authority to KHSAA for Management of Inter-Scholastic Athletic Program of the Secondary Schools.

1979: First Volleyball Tournament.

1980: Registration of Track Officials.

1981: Change to Meters in Track.

1982: Limitation of Season Placed on All KHSAA Sponsored Events.

1983: First Girls Softball Tournament, Registration of Softball Clinics.

1984: Sports Information Director Added to Association Office Staff.

1986: Kentucky-Indiana Championship - "Mid-American Classic" Begun, First Consultant for Corporate Sponsors Hired by Association Office, Agreement Reached with Dawahares to Sponsor Dawahares-KHSAA Sports Hall of Fame.

1988: Twenty-six Former Participants, Coaches, Officials, and Contributors Inducted as the First Class of Inductees for the Dawahares-KHSAA Hall of Fame.

1989: Twenty-five Inducted as the Second Class for the Dawahares-KHSAA Hall of Fame.

1990: Fifteen Inducted as the Third Class for the Dawahares-KHSAA Hall of Fame, Ground is Broken for the New KHSAA Headquarters, Which Will House the Offices of the Association, as Well as Nearly 15,000 Square Feet of Space for the KHSAA/Dawahares Hall of Fame and Museum.

1991: Twenty-one Inducted as the Fourth Class for the Dawahares-KHSAA Hall of Fame, Billy Wise Named KHSAA's Fourth Commissioner.

1992: Dawahares Agrees to a Four-year Contract Extension as Sponsor of the Hall of Fame. In Return, the Family Provides the New Furniture for the KHSAA Office Building and Hall of Fame, KHSAA Moves into its Third Headquarters Building, Located on Executive Drive off Winchester Road Near the Junction of I-75 and I-64, Twenty-one Inducted as the Fifth Class for the Dawahares-KHSAA Hall of Fame, First Girls State Soccer Tournament Held.

1993: Twenty-six Inducted as the Sixth Class for the Dawahares-KHSAA Hall of Fame.

1994: Nineteen Inducted as the Seventh Class for the Dawahares-KHSAA Hall of Fame, Louis Stout Named KHSAA's Fifth Commissioner, Board of Control Closes on a Refinancing Package Designed to Stabilize KHSAA's Finances.