History
The VHSL was established in 1913 by members of both the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society and the Washington Literary Society and Debating Union at the University of Virginia to originally serve as a debating league for the state's high schools. Over the course of the 1910s, it expanded to over 250 schools and added championships in oral reading, baseball, basketball, and track and renamed itself the Virginia High School Literary and Athletic League.
After World War II, it adopted other sports and began standardizing officiating practices for high school sports. In 1969, it merged with the Virginia Interscholastic Association, which was a similar organization that had served black schools around the Commonwealth during segregation. Girls' sports were added around this time. Statewide football playoffs began in 1970.
Read more about this topic: Virginia High School League
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