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TSSAA timeline: How the current classifications came to be

Staff photo by Robin Rudd / Hudson Petty, left, holds the championship trophy as Josh Wingo, right, prepares to kiss it after the Whitwell Tigers beat Connersville 7-6 to win the TSSAA Class 1A football state title in December 2018 at Tennessee Tech. Staff photo by Robin Rudd / Hudson Petty, left, holds the championship trophy as Josh Wingo, right, prepares to kiss it after the Whitwell Tigers beat Connersville 7-6 to win the TSSAA Class 1A football state title in December 2018 at Tennessee Tech.

By Stephen Hargis December 1, 2021 2 min read

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story originally appeared in the Times Free Press on Sept. 16, 2021.

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GROWING APART

A timeline of the TSSAA dividing member schools, first into classifications based on enrollment and later separating public and private schools.

1968: TSSAA Board of Control votes 188-20 to implement a three-classification playoff system for football beginning in 1969 based on each school’s enrollment.

Stephen Hargis

Stephen has covered sports in the tri-state area for the Times Free Press for more than 35 years and was named Sports Editor in February of 2015 after 10 years as assistant sports editor, where he oversaw the prep sports staff. Stephen is among the most decorated writers in the TFP newsroom, having won more than 60 awards at the state, regional and national level ranging from investigative work to feature and news writing. Stephen was named one of the top 10 sports writers in the nation at the Associated Press Sports Editors' conference in Kissimmee Fla., in 2012, and has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists with Green Eyeshade southeast regional awards three times. He received an Associated Press national award for a season-long story following the Taft Youth Center football team, was named the state's top overall sports writer by the AP Media Editors as well as Tennessee Sports Writers Association three times and has also been named the state's top prep writer 19 times by the TSWA. Stephen is a lifelong Chattanooga area resident and has two children, Riley and Lauren.

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.