A year to remember

There were plenty of highlights and a few lowlights in high school sports in 2008. Chicago Public League schools won four basketball state titles, and a fight at a girls basketball game gave the Martin Luther King Shootout a black eye.

Here are the top five high school sports stories from 2008:

The Illinois High School Association gave us the first four-class state tournaments in boys and girls basketball, softball and baseball. Girls volleyball had its four-class debut late in 2007.

It created a nightmare for schools in Class 4A, especially in boys basketball, where top teams started dropping in the regionals.

In the end, Marshall, the Class 3A champion in boys and girls basketball, was ranked No. 1 ahead of Class 4A boys winner Richards -- which saw alum Dwyane Wade fly to Peoria before the title game -- and Class 4A girls winner Whitney Young.

The response was lukewarm at best for four classes. It created a nightmare for the boys Public League tournament when a Class 2A school, eventual state champion North Lawndale, made the city semifinals after its state tournament already had started.

The IHSA announced plans in the spring for random drug testing at state tournaments. The testing started with fall sports. No results have been announced, but no one, it appears, has tested positive.

It also was announced that the IHSA would begin a state series in bass fishing in the spring of 2009. Sun-Times outdoors writer Dale Bowman said there is a lot of statewide excitement for the new event. There were 214 schools that signed up, including Brother Rice, De La Salle, Marist, Simeon and Taft from the city. An IHSA administrator predicted that number could more than double for 2010.

Another issue the IHSA is going to have to deal with is recruiting, which many people think has gotten totally out of control.

It used to be a rule that an athlete couldn't transfer from one private school to another without sitting out for a year. That rule went away, and transfers were allowed if the principals signed off.

So far, no one has seen a principal who didn't sign off on a transfer. It has gotten ridiculous. Everyone knows the transfers are for no reason other than sports.

''Getting rid of that rule was the worst thing that ever happened to high school sports in Illinois,'' one suburban coach said.

For the first time, a team that finished the regular season with a 5-4 record won a football state championship. Immaculate Conception defeated Casey 36-17 to win the Class 2A title. The Knights, who had to win in Week 9 to reach the postseason, rolled past its five playoff opponents by a combined 214-67 score.

Bill Schmidt, who coached IC to the title, stepped down after the season when he took a job as an assistant principal at a junior high school. Schmidt said he still would help out with the football team but couldn't continue as head coach.

Back in 1958, a sophomore named George Wilson and a coach named Spin Salario combined to lead the Commandos to the boys basketball state championship. It was the first for a Public League school.

Fifty years later, Marshall won the boys and girls Class 3A titles. The girls, led by Sarah Rogers, Terranika Reynolds and Adrienne GodBold, gave coach Dorothy Gaters her eighth state championship with a victory against Freeport.

Then the Marshall boys won a state title for the first time since 1960 by knocking off Simeon 69-61. Ryan Hare and Darius Smith were the team leaders.

First-year boys coach Courtney Hargrays rallied the Commandos after taking over from Lamont Bryant, who was dismissed in the fall of 2007. Before the new season started, Hargrays' position was eliminated, then he was removed as coach after an investigation into paddling.

In the spring, the state lost its winningest football coach when Gary Korhonen stepped down after 36 years at Richards, where he compiled a 306-91 record and won two state championships.

''It's time,'' he said at the time. ''I'm healthy, and I never wanted to leave my job because of health. Someone once told me that if you take a job on your own terms and leave on your own terms, regardless of how many games you won or lost, you've been a success.''

• • Payton and Lake View reached the state finals in girls volleyball and boys soccer, respectively, bringing home state trophies. They were the first Public League teams to earn state trophies in those sports since the automatic bid was abolished after the 2001-02 season.

• • Morgan Park sophomore Nigel Jolly didn't show up for the long-jump finals at the Class AA boys state track meet in May after coach Lexie Spurlock said he got lost on the way to the stadium at Eastern Illinois. But no one beat Jolly's jump of 22 feet, 10 inches, and he was declared the winner.

• • Two boys basketball players from Bloom were arrested and charged with armed robbery near an ATM in Chicago Heights.

• • The old SICA West might be a fading memory, but Lincoln-Way Central -- another former member of what was once the most dominant softball conference in the state -- earned its first trip to the state finals and a state title in June.

HIGH SCHOOLS | 2008 IN REVIEW: