The Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA), based in Montgomery

Montgomery, Alabama

Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...

, is the agency which oversees interscholastic athletic programs for public schools in Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

.

The AHSAA is a member National Federation of State High School Associations

National Federation of State High School Associations

The National Federation of State High School Associations is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. Most high schools, whether public or private, belong to their state's high school association; in turn, each state association...

 since 1924.

The AHSAA merged with the Alabama Interscholastic Athletic Association in 1968, forming one high school athletic association for the State of Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 in accordance with a court order relating to athletics. The AIAA had previously governed athletics at segregated

Racial segregation

Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...

 African-American schools.

The AHSAA sponsors state championships programs in 12 boys and 12 girls sports: Baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

, Softball

Softball

Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...

, Basketball

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...

, Football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

, Cross Country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

, Soccer, Swimming

Swimming (sport)

Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...

 and Diving

Diving

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

, Track and Field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

, Tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

, Volleyball

Volleyball

Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

, Wrestling

Scholastic wrestling

Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...

, and Indoor Track.

While the AHSAA is the primary sanctioning organization for high school sports in Alabama (and the only one allowed for public schools), it is not the only such organization. The Alabama Independent School Association

Alabama Independent School Association

The Alabama Independent School Association is an organization which sanctions and oversees high school athletics for approximately 40 private schools in the American state of Alabama. Its offices are located on the campus of Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama.The AISA was formed in 1967 as...

 sanctions athletics for approximately 40 private schools throughout the state. Other smaller organizations, such as the Alabama Christian Sports Conference and the Alabama Christian Athletic and Academic Association, sanction sports from smaller Christian school

Christian school

A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization.The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures...

s and home schools, particularly in eight-man football

Eight-man football

Eight-man football is a type of American football, generally played by small high schools. Rules and formations vary greatly among states and even among different organizations, but the one constant is eight players from each team on the field at one time, as opposed to eleven-man football, which...

.

The current executive director is Steve Savarese.

Championship locations

The AHSAA sponsors state championship events in various locations across the state of Alabama. Currently, championships are held in the following locations:

• Football ("Super 6") alternates between Bryant-Denny Stadium
  Bryant-Denny Stadium
  Bryant–Denny Stadium, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is the home stadium for the University of Alabama football team. The stadium opened in 1929, and was originally named Denny Stadium, in honor of former Alabama president George Hutchenson Denny...
  
   in Tuscaloosa
  Tuscaloosa, Alabama
  Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
  
   (odd-numbered years) and Jordan-Hare Stadium
  Jordan-Hare Stadium
  Jordan–Hare Stadium is the playing venue for Auburn University's football team located on campus in Auburn, Alabama, USA. The stadium is named for Ralph "Shug" Jordan, the University's winningest football coach, and Cliff Hare, a member of Auburn's first football team as well as Dean of the Auburn...
  
   in Auburn
  Auburn, Alabama
  Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama with a 2010 population of 53,380. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area...
  
   (even-numbered years)
• Basketball - Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex
  Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex
  The Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex is a sports, convention and entertainment complex located in Birmingham, Alabama...
  
   Arena, Birmingham
  Birmingham, Alabama
  Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
  
  
• Baseball - Paterson Field
  Paterson Field
  Paterson Field is a baseball stadium in Montgomery, Alabama. The stadium has a maximum capacity of 7,000 people and was opened in 1949. Paterson Field has played host to, among other professional teams, the Montgomery Rebels, a AA-class minor-league team affiliated with the Detroit Tigers, and the...
  
   & Riverwalk Stadium, Montgomery
  Montgomery, Alabama
  Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
  
  
• Cross Country - Oakville Indian Mounds, Lawrence County
  Lawrence County, Alabama
  Lawrence County is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is included in the Decatur Metropolitan Area, as well as the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. It was named after James Lawrence, a captain in the United States Navy from New Jersey. As of the 2010 census, the population was...
  
  
• Softball - Lagoon Park, Montgomery
• Soccer - John Hunt Park, Huntsville
  Huntsville, Alabama
  Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
  
  
• Swimming - University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
• Tennis - Decatur
  Decatur, Alabama
  Decatur is a city in Limestone and Morgan Counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. The city, affectionately known as "The River City", is located in Northern Alabama on the banks of Wheeler Lake, along the Tennessee River. It is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County...
  
  , Mobile, and Montgomery
• Track and Field - Birmingham-Southern College
  Birmingham-Southern College
  Birmingham–Southern College is a 4-year, private liberal arts college located three miles northwest of downtown Birmingham. Founded in 1856, it is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Approximately 1400 students from 30 states and 23 foreign countries attend the college...
  
  , Birmingham and Gulf Shores
  Gulf Shores, Alabama
  -External links:*...
  
  
• Volleyball - Pelham Civic Center, Pelham
  Pelham, Alabama
  Pelham is a city and suburb of Birmingham in Shelby County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 14,369, but has grown to 21,352 recorded by the 2010 census. It was named for famed Confederate American Civil War officer John Pelham...
  
  
• Wrestling - Von Braun Center
  Von Braun Center
  The Von Braun Center , known as the Von Braun Civic Center until 1997, is a multi-purpose indoor arena, meeting, and performing arts complex, with a maximum arena seating capacity of 10,000, located in Huntsville, Alabama...
  
  , Huntsville
• Cheerleading - Wallace State Community College
  Wallace State Community College
  Wallace State Community College is a community college located in Hanceville, Alabama. Wallace State offers a variety of associate's degrees. It is named for former Alabama governor George C. Wallace, who greatly expanded Alabama's community college system...
  
  , Hanceville
  Hanceville, Alabama
  Hanceville is a city in Cullman County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 2,951.-Geography:Hanceville is located at .According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
  
  

History

The AHSAA was founded in 1921. Charter member schools were:

• Abbeville
• Albany
• Aliceville
• Andalusia
• Auburn
• Baldwin County
  Baldwin County High School
  Baldwin County High School is a public high school that serves grades 9-12 in Bay Minette, Baldwin County, Alabama, forming part of the Baldwin County Public Schools....
  
  
• Barton Academy
  Barton Academy
  Barton Academy is a historic Greek Revival school building located on Government Street in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was under construction from 1836 to 1839 and was designed by architects James H. Dakin, Charles B. Dakin, and James Gallier. Gallier and the Dakin brothers also designed...
  
  
• Bessemer City
• Bibb County
• Buhl
• Carrollton
• Chambers County
• Charles Henderson
  Charles Henderson High School
  Charles Henderson High School is a grades 9-12 high school located in the city of Troy, Alabama. The namesake of the school, Charles Henderson, was the governor of the state of Alabama from 1915-1919...
  
  
• Chilton County
  Chilton County High School
  Chilton County High School is a secondary school located in Clanton, Alabama, which educates grades 9-12.As of 2008, the school principal is Mr. Gregory DeJarnett. The school mascot is the Tiger.-Notable alumni:...
  
  
• Clio
• Coffeeville
• Colbert County
• Conecuh County
• Cullman
  Cullman High School
  Cullman High School is the largest public high school in the city of Cullman, Alabama as well as Cullman County, Alabama. The school is classified as a 5A school and belongs to the Cullman City School District....
  
  
• Dadeville
• Demopolis
• Dothan
  Dothan High School
  Dothan High School is located in Dothan, Alabama, USA. It is located on U.S. Highway 231 inside Ross Clark Circle,about a mile and a half north of the southern tip of Ross Clark Circle. The school is one of Dothan's two public high schools...
  
  
• Elmore County
• Enterprise
  Enterprise High School (Alabama)
  Enterprise High School is a 6A public high school at 500 East Watts Street in Enterprise, Coffee County, Alabama, USA, in the Enterprise City School District. The school houses grades 10-12.-Desegregation:...
  
  
• Escambia County
• Evergreen

• Fayette County
• Fultondale
  Fultondale High School
  Fultondale High School is a public high school located in Birmingham, Alabama. 474 students attended the school in 2005. It is part of the Jefferson County School System.-Early years:...
  
  
• Gardendale
  Gardendale High School
  Gardendale High School is a public high school located in Gardendale, Alabama, United States, operated by the Jefferson County Board of Education. The school's first graduating class was in 1968. Gardendale High School was developed in the mid-1960s as a result of population growth in the area...
  
  
• Geneva County
• Georgiana
• Gordo
  Gordo High School
  Gordo High School is a public secondary school located in Gordo, Alabama. The school was established in 1898.-Location:Gordo High School is located in West Alabama in eastern Pickens County off of U.S Highway 82. The high school serves the residents of Gordo and its surrounding areas as well as...
  
  
• Greensboro
• Greenville
• Guntersville
• Hackleburg
• Hamilton
  Hamilton High School (Hamilton, Alabama)
  Hamilton High School is a high school located in Hamilton, Alabama, United States. The school is a part of the district. Hamilton was started in 1895 as West Alabama Agricultural School. Hamilton is in the Marion County School District...
  
  
• Headland
• Highland Home
• Jackson
• Lamar County
• Lauderdale County
  Lauderdale County High School (Rogersville, Alabama)
  Lauderdale County High School is a public elementary and high school located in Rogersville, Alabama. It is one of eleven public schools in the Lauderdale County, Alabama School District.- History :...
  
  
• Lincoln
• Lowndes County
• Marbury
  Marbury High School
  Marbury High School in Autauga County, Alabama serves grades 9-12 and is part of the Autauga County School System. As of the 2011-2012 school year, the schools student body consisted of 793 high school students.-External links:* * * *...
  
  
• Marengo County
• Marion County
• Monroe County
• Mortimer Jordan
  Mortimer Jordan High School
  Mortimer Jordan High School is a public high school located in Kimberly, Alabama. It is a part of the Jefferson County Board of Education.The school was named after Captain Mortimer Harvie Jordan, a war hero who lost his life in World War I. He was a soldier, officer and physician...
  
  
• Munford
• Notasulga
• Oneonta
• Opelika
  Opelika High School
  Opelika High School is located in Opelika, Lee County, Alabama. Opelika High School, of the Opelika City Schools, serves students in grades 9-12. The principal is Dr. Farrell Seymore...
  
  
• Oxford
• Palmetto School

• Pell City
  Pell City High School
  Pell City High School is the only high school serving the Pell City School system. The school has approx. 1,200 students in grades 9-12 and just recently finished adding on a $7.5 million dollar multi-purpose building which houses a 2200 seat sports arena as well as a 400 seat theatre...
  
  
• Phillips (Birmingham)
• Pickens County
• Pike Road
• Prattville
  Prattville High School
  Prattville High School, formerly Autauga County High School, is a high school in Prattville, Alabama and forms part of the Autauga County School System...
  
  
• Ramer
• Russellville
• Selma
  Selma High School
  Selma High School is a public secondary school in Selma, Alabama, part of the Selma City School System. It is the only public high school in the Selma City Schools System. It is also an eight-year accredited institution with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. -History:Selma High...
  
  
• Shelby County
  Shelby County High School (Alabama)
  Shelby County High School is a secondary school located in the city of Columbiana in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is a part of Shelby County Schools.- Mission statement :...
  
  
• Sidney Lanier
• Simpson
• Spring Hill
  Spring Hill College
  Spring Hill College is a private, Roman Catholic Jesuit liberal arts college in the United States. It was founded in 1830 on the Gulf Coast in Mobile, Alabama, by Most Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile, Alabama...
  
  
• Springville
• St. Clair County
• Sylacauga
• Tarrant
• Thomasville
• Tuskegee
• UMS-Wright
• Uniontown
• Valley
• Wagarville
• Walker
• Winston County

(Italicized schools indicate schools which have closed or are no longer members of the AHSAA.)