AURORA — Despite a plea from Denver Public Schools athletic director Karen Higel on Tuesday, the state’s football committee will recommend a realignment that will disband the Denver Prep League.
Under the proposal, which will be sent for ratification at the Colorado High School Activities Association’s legislative council meeting on Jan. 19, the former DPL schools will be split among six separate leagues across three classifications for the 2012-13 seasons, eliminating a football league that has been around in some fashion since 1901.
The DPL would remain intact in all other sports.
Once the reigning power across the board in athletics, the DPL, like other big-city leagues across the country, has been overcome by the suburbs. Population bases have changed, and opportunities have become more attractive in surrounding areas, including among private schools.
However, longtime city coach Steve Finesilver said he will begin a move to bring DPL football back for 2014-15.
“I think it’s terrible, and it hurts me deeply,” said Finesilver, who has coached at Montbello and George Washington over three decades. “We have always had a Denver Prep League. I don’t like it. I think it hurts our kids.
“I’m very disappointed. I’m going to work with (DPS) to reunite our league after this cycle. I think that’s a terrible thing to do that to a league.”
Higel opposed the realignment, saying it would put financial stress on her schools.
Disbanding the DPL, which has struggled to attract numbers of participants as well as followers, was first floated last month after the release of the second draft of the realignment proposal.
Among the changes opposed by Higel:
• Denver East and Abraham Lincoln will remain in 5A, though in separate leagues.
• Denver South, George Washington, Montbello and John F. Kennedy will move to 4A. George Washington and Montbello will be in the Mountain League; JFK and South will go to the Plains League.
Points that were not contested:
• Lakewood (a Jefferson County school and member of the 5A DPL of the 2010-11 cycle) will move to 5A’s Super 6 league.
• Thomas Jefferson will move from 5A to the 3A Northern league.
“Oh, my gosh!” said Herman Motz, former football coach at Thomas Jefferson, the last city team to win a state title, in 1989. “That’s a big change. It’s strange.”
According to state records, Denver schools, among the largest in the state and centered in its most populated area, ruled in-state sports from the 1930s into the 1970s, when Colorado began a boom as an attractive place to move.
However, the league is without a football championship on any level in 22 years. Very few programs have come close, and teams consistently have taken one-sided poundings from suburban teams in nonleague and the postseason games.
The move is not a surprise. For many, it was a matter of when.
“You know what?” South football coach Tony Lindsay said. “Everything changes so much. West, Lincoln and North hardly have teams.”
A 1977 graduate of Thomas Jefferson, Lindsay said, “It’s hard to see it be dismantled like that, but our schools are fluctuating. The numbers aren’t right.”
Lindsay said East, for example, has an enrollment around 2,400 students and others “will be more like 1,300.”
The DPL also lost once-proud Manual, which was closed, then reopened. It competes in 2A.
Higel’s proposal would have kept the city teams together, albeit in a cross-classification league that straddled 4A and 5A. Lincoln and East would have made up the 5A contingent; South, George Washington, Montbello and JFK would have composed 4A.
Acknowledging that her reasoning was “selfish,” Higel spoke before the committee at its meeting on Tuesday morning, telling them that the proposal came from a “purely financial standpoint.”
“It’s all about dollars,” Higel said.
She estimated that if the DPL teams were to split, it could put an additional burden of $35,000 on the district’s athletic budget. Higel reasoned that instead of having to hire one team of officials for a game between DPL teams, she’d have to hire two teams of officials for separate games in separate leagues.
Ultimately, the committee decided to approve Option A of the 5A realignment — namely, disbanding the DPL. It was a quick end to a long discussion, culminating in a unanimous oral vote that took all of a few seconds.
Dick Nelson, who has worked as a statistician for DPL football, basketball and baseball games since 1967 and is known around town as a historian of the league, said he was sorry to see the league disband but understood the necessity in terms of keeping teams competitive.
“That’s kind of sad,” Nelson said, “but that’s also kind of a sign of the times.”
Said Finesilver: “This bothers me a bunch. I’m going to try to get some things going.”
History of DPL football
The state’s football committee recommends the Denver Prep League be disbanded for football next season. DPL-area teams started playing one another in 1893, according to Dick Nelson, who has kept track of city schools for decades
• The league was officially formed in 1901.
• It has existed in some form since then, including a stint in the 1920s and ’30s as the Denver- Boulder Prep League.
• At one point, there were 10 city schools in the league — East, South, North, West, Thomas Jefferson, John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Manual, Montbello and George Washington.
• Football state championships won: East (2); South (1); Thomas Jefferson (2); John F. Kennedy (1).
• The last city team to win a state football title was Thomas Jefferson in 1989. — Neil Devlin
Football teams in motion
The state football committee proposes disbanding the Denver Prep League in football. Among the changes would be shifting George Washington and Montbello to the Mountain League; South would go to the Plains League, Lakewood to the Super 6 league, Thomas Jefferson to the Northern League, Lincoln to East Metro, and Denver East to the Aurora League. (.)
Mountain League (Class 4A)
Broomfield
George Washington
Golden
Monarch
Montbello
Standley Lake
Plains League (Class 4A)
Dakota Ridge
Denver South
Green Mountain
John F. Kennedy
Littleton
Wheat Ridge
Super 6 (Class 5A)
Arapahoe
Bear Creek
Chatfield
Columbine
Lakewood
Mullen
Northern League (Class 3A)
Centaurus
Denver North
Erie
Frederick
Holy Family
Thomas Jefferson
Aurora (Class 5A)
Adams City
Aurora Central
Denver East
Gateway
Hinkley
Rangeview
East Metro (Class 5A)
Abraham Lincoln
Brighton
Northglenn
Prairie View
Thornton
Westminster
