West Aurora High School - Athletics

Athletics

West Aurora, since 1997, competes in the DuPage Valley Conference. Prior to this, the school was a member of the Upstate Eight Conference. WAHS is a member of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), which governs most interscholastic sports and competitive activities in the state of Illinois.

Officially, Chief Blackhawk serves as the mascot for the school. The red and blue logo of the chief is painted on the back of the school's football stadium, as of 2006, replacing the school's WA logo. Use of the "Chief" character has been controversial for its depiction of a Native American. For a time, the school strictly used the WA symbol, which appears in place of the logo of Chief Blackhawk on all official DuPage Valley Conference logos. The school also invented new characters named "WA Man" and "WA Woman" as mascots, but has recently reinstated the Chief as official mascot. Teams continued to compete as "Blackhawks" during this time.

The school sponsors interscholastic sports teams for young men and women in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, and volleyball. Young men may compete in baseball, football, and wrestling, while young women may compete in badminton, bowling, cheerleading, and softball. While not sponsored by the IHSA, the Athletic Department also sponsors a poms team for young women.

The following teams have finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state tournament or meet:

• Badminton: 4th place (1983–84); 3rd place (1982–83, 92–93)
• Baseball: 4th place (1990–91)
• Basketball (boys): 4th place (1957–58); 3rd place (1948–49, 72–73, 79–80, 83–84, 2003–04); 2nd place (1927–28, 58–59, 75–76, 96–97), State Champions (1999–2000)
• Basketball (girls): 2nd place (1989–90)
• Bowling (girls): 4th place (1975–76, 82–83, 94–95); 3rd place (1988–89); 2nd place (1991–92, 2000–01)
• Golf (boys): 4th place (1964–65)
• Tennis (boys): 4th place (1985–86, 89–90); 3rd place (1980–81); 2nd place (1977–78)
• Tennis (girls): 4th place (1975–76, 94–95, 1999–2000); 3rd place (1981–82, 98–99, 2001–02); 2nd place (1982–83); State Champions (1996–97, 97–98)
• Track & Field: 4th place (1907–08, 2008–09); 3rd place (1900–01); 2nd place (1898–99); State Champions (1905–06)

The Boys Soccer team in 2002-03 won AA Regionals by defeating Crystal Lake 1-0. Advanced to Sectionals then right away beat Rockford(Boylan) 2-1 in the semi-finals but were defeated by Rockford(Guilford) in the Sectionals Championship in an upset.

The 2006 football game with rival East Aurora High School was the 114th played between the two schools, and was won 33–0 with a complete domination by the Blackhawks over the Tomcats. The rivalry between these two public high schools is the second oldest in the state of Illinois.

The 1951 Girl's Golf season saw great controversy which nearly resulted in a cancelation of the season. The issuse began when a member of the team refused to wear the required uniform, which consisted of a polo shirt with the West Aurora Blackhawks logo and a pleated, knee length skirt. The aformentioned team member arrived for the first tournament at the links wearing a pair of men's golf trousers, stating that if she had worn the required skirt, she would either have to sacrifice a full force swing or her modesty. Wanting to keep his player's feminity as well as their ability strike the ball 200 yards at the same time, Coach Ralph Fletcher came up with the idea of dressing his girl's in culottes. These split, pants-like skirts were designed to provide women more freedom to do activities such as gardening, cleaning, bike riding, etc. and still look like one is wearing a skirt. With the conflict resolved, the girls were able to "roll on" to a winning season.