Catholic High School League
Encyclopedia
The Catholic High School League (CHSL) is a school athletic conference based in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

. All of the schools are currently part of the Michigan High School Athletic Association
Michigan High School Athletic Association
-About:The Michigan High School Athletic Association is a service organization for high school sports in Michigan and is headquartered in East Lansing...

, the governing body for Michigan scholastic sports. Unlike many similar leagues, the CHSL governs secondary, middle, and elementary sports for most of the parochial and private Catholic schools in the Detroit area. Some league schools are not Catholic, but other religious denominations. At the high school level, the league supports 13 boys and 14 girls sports:

Boys: 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...

, 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...

, bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...

, 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...

, 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...

, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

, lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

, 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...

, 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...

, track
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...

 and 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...



Girls: 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...

, bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...

, cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

, 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...

, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

, ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

, field hockey
Field hockey
Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

, pom-pon
Pom-pon
A pom-pon is a fluffy, decorative ball or tuft. Pom-pons may come in many colors, sizes, and varieties and are made from a wide array of materials, including wool, cotton, paper, plastic, and occasionally feathers....

, soccer, 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...

, 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...

, 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...

, track
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...

 and 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...

.

Accomplishments

CHSL member schools have won more than 250 state titles since its founding in 1921.

Since the MHSAA started competing for statewide football championships in 1971, CHSL teams have won 36 state titles in all eight classes. Of the top ten all-time winningest football programs, Detroit Catholic Central is eighth. Current Birmingham Brother Rice head coach (and former Royal Oak Shrine head coach) Al Fracassa holds the state's record for all-time coaching wins with 389, while Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes' Mike Boyd is third at 339 and Catholic Central's Tom Mach fifth with 303.

In basketball, Orchard Lake St. Mary's is the state's second-winningest all-time program with 1,250 wins. The Eaglets have captured four MSHAA championships in boys basketball.

In other sports, Madison Heights Bishop Foley holds the most girls' soccer titles in Michigan history, with 11. and Catholic Central has captured nine hockey titles.

Current member secondary schools and division alignment

The CHSL is divided into four divisions for most sports. The division names and structures vary from sport to sport, but there is almost always a "Central" division, which consists of largest, most competitive schools and consists mostly of single-sex high schools (with the exception of Divine Child High School
Divine Child High School
Divine Child High School is a private Catholic high school in Dearborn, Wayne County, Michigan, United States. The principal is Peggy Knuth and the Assistant Principal is Damian Hermann. The school's pastor is Father Jim Bilot...

, which is co-ed).
Central Division - Boys Central Division - Girls
Brother Rice High School Warriors
Brother Rice High School (Michigan)
Brother Rice High School is a Roman Catholic all-boys non-residential college prep school with approximately 700 students located in Bloomfield Township, Michigan . Until 1993 its address was in neighboring Birmingham, Michigan's postal district. In 1993 the U.S...

 (Birmingham/ Bloomfield Hills)
Marian High School Mustangs
Marian High School (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan)
Marian High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school for girls in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit...

 (Birmingham / Bloomfield Hills)
Detroit Catholic Central High School Shamrocks
Detroit Catholic Central High School
Detroit Catholic Central High School is a private, Catholic, all-male, college preparatory high school in Novi, Michigan. Founded in 1928 in Detroit, Michigan by the Archdiocese of Detroit, the school is operated by the Congregation of St. Basil...

 (Novi)
Ladywood High School Blazers
Ladywood High School
Ladywood High School is a private, Roman Catholic, all-girls high school in Livonia, Michigan. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit.-Background:Ladywood was established in 1950 by the Felician Sisters....

 (Livonia)
De La Salle Collegiate High School Purple Pilots
De La Salle Collegiate High School
De La Salle Collegiate High School is an all-boys Catholic high school run by the De La Salle Christian Brothers. Founded in 1926, the school was located on the east side of Detroit before moving to its current location in Warren, Michigan in 1982. The school is dedicated to the Catholic education...

 (Warren)
Regina High School Saddlelites
Regina High School (Michigan)
Regina High School is a Roman Catholic, private, four year college preparatory high school for girls in Warren, Michigan. From the school's founding in 1956 through June, 2007, Regina was located in Harper Woods, Michigan, but moved to Warren, Michigan at the start of the 2007-2008 school year...

 (Warren)
St. Mary's Preparatory Eaglets
St. Mary's Preparatory
St. Mary's Preparatory is a Catholic secondary school in Orchard Lake Village, Michigan.-Overview:St. Mary's was founded in 1885 on Detroit's east side by Rev. Joseph Dabrowski as a school for Polish-American boys to train for the priesthood...

 (Orchard Lake
Orchard Lake
Orchard Lake is a medium-sized inland lake, 795 acres . It has a 110 feet maximum depth and is in the city of Orchard Lake Village, Oakland County, in Michigan, USA. It is the second-largest lake in Oakland County after Cass Lake....

)
Mercy High School Marlins
Mercy High School (Farmington Hills, Michigan)
Mercy High School is a private, Roman Catholic, all-girls high school in Farmington Hills, Michigan. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit and is recognized as a national Exemplary Private High School by the United States Department of Education.-Background:Mercy was...

 (Farmington Hills)
University of Detroit Jesuit High School Cubs
University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy
The University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, founded in 1877, is one of two Jesuit high schools in the city of Detroit, Michigan...

 (Detroit)
Divine Child High School Falcons
Divine Child High School
Divine Child High School is a private Catholic high school in Dearborn, Wayne County, Michigan, United States. The principal is Peggy Knuth and the Assistant Principal is Damian Hermann. The school's pastor is Father Jim Bilot...

 (Dearborn
Dearborn
-Places:In the United States, all named after Henry Dearborn :* Dearborn, Michigan* Dearborn, Missouri* Dearborn County, Indiana* Fort Dearborn * Fort Dearborn , in present-day Odiorne State Park...

)


The divisional alignments for the other conference schools changes from sport-to-sport, depending on the level of talent for each school as well as geographic location within the Detroit area. A list of the other schools is as follows:
  • Academy of the Sacred Heart High School Gazelles
    Academy of the Sacred Heart High School (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan)
    Academy of the Sacred Heart High School is the oldest independent school in Michigan. Founded in 1851 in Detroit, the Academy moved to its campus in Bloomfield Hills in 1958. It is a Catholic, college-preparatory school for young women from infancy through Grade 12 and for boys from infancy...

     (Bloomfield Hills)
  • Bishop Foley Catholic High School Ventures
    Bishop Foley Catholic High School
    Bishop Foley Catholic High School is a co-educational Catholic high school affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. Founded in 1965, it is named for the first American Bishop of Detroit, John Samuel Foley. It is located in Madison Heights, Michigan and has an enrollment of 400...

     (Madison Heights)
  • Cabrini High School Monarchs (Allen Park)
  • Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School Cardinals
    Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School (Marine City, Michigan)
    Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School is a private, Catholic high school in Marine City, Michigan. The curriculum focuses on college preparation. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. Enrollment is about 200 students.-Notable graduates:...

     (Marine City)
  • Everest Catholic High School Mountaineers
    Everest Catholic High School
    Everest Academy and High School is a private, independent Roman Catholic school offering co-ed education for preschool through grade 2, and gender-specific education for grades 3 to high school on a campus near Clarkston, Michigan, United States. The high school opened to 9th grade students in...

     (Clarkston)
  • Father Gabriel Richard High School Fighting Irish
    Father Gabriel Richard High School (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
    Fr. Gabriel Richard High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lansing, and was established in 1868 by Father Patrick O'Kelly. It was originally named St. Thomas the Apostle School and included an elementary school. ...

     (Ann Arbor)
  • Frankel Jewish Academy Jaguars
    The Jean and Samuel Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit
    The Jean and Samuel Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit , formerly the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit , is located in West Bloomfield, Michigan at the Dan and Betty Kahn Jewish Community Center. The Frankel Jewish Academy is a college preparatory Jewish day high school...

     (West Bloomfield)
  • Gabriel Richard Catholic High School Pioneers (Riverview)
  • Light & Life Christian School Crusaders (Taylor)
  • Loyola High School Bulldogs
    Loyola High School (Detroit)
    Loyola High School is a Catholic school in the Jesuit tradition,nurtures a culture of hope and academic successfor young men in Detroit challenged by an urban environmentand prepares them to be men of Christian love, justice, and service...

     (Detroit)
  • Notre Dame Preparatory Fighting Irish (Pontiac)
  • Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School Comets
    Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School (Wyandotte, Michigan)
    Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School, closed 2011, was the last remaining private, Roman Catholic high school in Wyandotte, Michigan. It was closed as the last Polish-American Catholic High School in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit.-History:...

     (Wyandotte
    Wyandotte, Michigan
    Wyandotte is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 25,883 at the 2010 census, a decrease of 7.6% from 2000. Wyandotte is located in southeastern Michigan, approximately south of Detroit on the Detroit River, and is part of the collection of communities known as...

    )
  • Our Lady of the Lakes High School Lakers
    Our Lady of the Lakes High School (Waterford, Michigan)
    Our Lady of the Lakes High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Waterford Township, Michigan, United States. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit.-Background:Our Lady of the Lakes Parish School was established in 1956....

     (Waterford)
  • Shrine Catholic High School Knights
    Shrine Catholic High School
    Shrine Catholic High School is a private, co-educational, Roman Catholic secondary high school located in Royal Oak, Michigan, affiliated with National Shrine of the Little Flower Church. It has an attached middle school called the "Academy"...

     (Royal Oak)
  • St. Mary Catholic Central Falcons/Kestrels
    St. Mary Catholic Central
    St. Mary Catholic Central High School, known colloquially as SMCC, is a private, coeducational Catholic senior high school located at 108 West Elm Avenue in Monroe, Michigan. The school is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. The school itself is listed as a contributing property...

     (Monroe)
  • Urban Lutheran High School Vikings (Detroit)
  • Christo Rey High School Wolves (Detroit, scheduled to open in 2008)
  • Saint Catherine of Siena Stars (Wixom)
  • St. Thomas of Villanova, a high school in LaSalle, Ontario
    LaSalle, Ontario
    LaSalle is a town in Essex County, Ontario, Canada, on the Detroit River. It is a bedroom community of the City of Windsor and part of the Windsor Census Metropolitan Area, and is located south of that city. LaSalle, along with Windsor, is the oldest French settlement area in Southwestern Ontario,...

     (20 miles from Detroit), competes in the CHSL in baseball.

Notable athletics alumni

  • Aloysius Anagonye
    Aloysius Anagonye
    Aloysius Anagonye is a Nigerian American professional basketball player with the KK Union Olimpija of the Adriatic Basketball League. A graduate of Michigan State University in 2003, Anagonye has also played for the Basket Livorno and theSutor Basket Montegranaro in Italy...

    , (Detroit St. Martin De Porres, defunct)
  • B. J. Armstrong
    B. J. Armstrong
    Benjamin Roy "B. J." Armstrong, Jr. is a retired American professional basketball player. As a starting point guard, he was an integral part of the NBA's Chicago Bulls dynasty of the 1990s....

    , retired NBA guard (Brother Rice)
  • Connor Barwin
    Connor Barwin
    Connor Barwin is an American football linebacker for the Houston Texans of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Texans in the second round of the 2009 NFL Draft. He played college football at Cincinnati.-Early years:...

    , Houston Texans DE (University of Detroit Jesuit)
  • David Bowens
    David Bowens
    David Walter Bowens is an American football linebacker who is currently a free agent of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the fifth round of the 1999 NFL Draft...

    , New York Jets DB (St. Mary's Prep)
  • Mark Cambpell, New Orleans Saints
    New Orleans Saints
    The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....

     TE (Bishop Foley)
  • Gary Danielson
    Gary Danielson
    Gary Danielson is a former professional football player, a quarterback in the National Football League . He played for the Detroit Lions from 1976 to 1984 and for the Cleveland Browns in 1985, 1987, and 1988...

    , former NFL WR, CBS
    CBS
    CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

     analyst (Divine Child)
  • Dave DeBusschere
    Dave DeBusschere
    David Albert DeBusschere was an American NBA and major league baseball player and coach in the NBA. In 1996, DeBusschere was named as one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history....

    , retired NBA forward/ coach (Detroit Austin Catholic High School)
  • Braylon Edwards
    Braylon Edwards
    -Cleveland Browns:-2005:Edwards began his rookie season as Cleveland's third wide receiver – he would have started higher, but a hold-out caused him to miss the beginning of training camp. Early in the season Edwards revealed that he had a staph infection, and missed a few weeks as a result of it....

    , Cleveland Browns
    Cleveland Browns
    The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

     WR [Madison Heights Bishop Gallagher High School, defunct)
  • Andy Farkas
    Andy Farkas
    Andrew Geza Farkas was an American football fullback in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins and the Detroit Lions.-Early life:Farkas was born in Clay Center, Ohio of Hungarian origins, and attended St...

    , former Washington Redskins
    Washington Redskins
    The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...

     HB, (University of Detroit Jesuit)
  • Stan Heath
    Stan Heath
    Stanley Heath, III is the head men's basketball coach at the University of South Florida Bulls...

    , head men's basketball coach University of South Florida
    University of South Florida
    The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...

     (Catholic Central)
  • Gus Johnson
    Gus Johnson (sportscaster)
    Augustus Cornelius "Gus" Johnson, Jr. is an American sportscaster. Formerly employed by CBS Sports, he currently calls play-by-play for Fox Sports, Showtime, the Big Ten Network and EA Sports.-Education:...

    , CBS college sports and NFL play-by-play announcer (University of Detroit Jesuit)
  • Mike Lodish
    Mike Lodish
    Michael Timothy Lodish is a former professional American football player who was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the tenth round of the 1990 NFL Draft. A 6'3", 270-lb. defensive and nose tackle from UCLA, Lodish played in 11 NFL seasons from 1990-2000 for the Bills and Denver Broncos...

    , NFL LB (Brother Rice)
  • Kalin Lucas
    Kalin Lucas
    Kalin Lucas is an American professional basketball player with Olympiacos. He attended St. Mary's Preparatory in Orchard Lake, Michigan and played college basketball at Michigan State.-College career:...

    , Michigan State PG (St. Mary's)
  • Meg Mallon, pro golfer (Mercy)
  • David Moss, Calgary Flames
    Calgary Flames
    The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the...

     RW (Catholic Central)
  • Geoff Pope
    Geoff Pope (American football)
    Geoffrey "Geoff" Pope is an American football cornerback who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football at Howard....

    , NFL CB and Super Bowl champion (University of Detroit Jesuit)
  • Steve Phillips
    Steve Phillips
    Steve Phillips is a former American baseball analyst for ESPN and baseball executive. He served as the general manager of the New York Mets from 1997–2003...

    , former New York Mets
    New York Mets
    The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...

     GM, ESPN
    ESPN
    Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

     Baseball Tonight
    Baseball Tonight
    Baseball Tonight is a program that airs on ESPN. The show, which recapitulates the day's Major League Baseball action, has been on the air since 1990.-Air times:...

     analyst (De La Salle)
  • Ron Rice, former Detroit Lions
    Detroit Lions
    The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...

     safety, (University of Detroit Jesuit)
  • Chris Sabo
    Chris Sabo
    Christopher Andrew Sabo is a former third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds , Baltimore Orioles , Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals . At 6'0" and 180 lb , he batted and threw right-handed...

    , former Cincinnati Reds
    Cincinnati Reds
    The Cincinnati Reds are a Major League Baseball team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the National League Central Division. The club was established in 1882 as a charter member of the American Association and joined the National League in 1890....

     1B (Catholic Central)
  • Frank Tanana
    Frank Tanana
    Frank Daryl Tanana is a former Major League Baseball left-handed pitcher. He was the California Angels' 1st round draft pick in 1971....

    , former MLB pitcher (Catholic Central)
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