First High School Basketball Game Involved MPA 125 Years Ago

CHICAGO, IL - Here's something out of the book of "who knew?"

Did you know that the first high school basketball game ever played in the United States involved Morgan Park Academy? I didn't, and I was a student there for eight years.

As far as historians can determine, Chicago was the site of the first basketball game to include a high school team. That was on Feb. 24, 1893 when Morgan Park Academy played against a West Side YMCA team. The Warriors, or whatever nickname MPA went by in the late 19th century, won the game 11-8.

The game was played just 14 months after James Naismith debuted the sport and spread it through YMCA teams. Amos Alonzo Stagg, a Naismith colleague, brought the game to MPA through its connection as a laboratory school with the University of Chicago.

MPA celebrated the 125th anniversary of that first game at the school's gymnasium on this year's Feb. 24.

According to a news release from the school, the Academy received a statehouse proclamation as the first high school to play basketball in Illinois, and "exhaustive research by school historians" has been unable to uncover any evidence of an earlier game anywhere in the nation. Officials at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame confirmed that they do not have a record of any high school playing a basketball game before the Academy’s first game.

MPA still has a rich basketball tradition to this day, with both boys and girls varsity teams completing successful seasons in 2017-2018. RELATED: All-Time Girls Basketball Scoring Record Broken At MPA

Photo: Students at Morgan Park Academy celebrate the 125th anniversary of the first high school basketball game ever played, which involved the school in 1893. Courtesy of Morgan Park Academy