Picture Gallery
| Welcome to our Picture Gallery. All the
images displayed here on our web site are part of the extensive
photograph collection at the Archives. In addition to the brief
captions accompanying each photograph is the image number under
which is picture is cataloged. We hope you enjoy this special
on-line gallery of photographs highlighting historical sports
images in the Seattle Public Schools. |
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Leschi Elementary School Boys
Softball, June 1928, (#053-14)
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Sports in the Seattle Public Schools
Sports activities have been an integral part of the Seattle
Public Schools. In 1904, the Public Schools Athletic League was
organized. It acted as a board of control, making all rules of
eligibility and competition, settling all protests, furnishing all
important trophies, and taking full responsibility for providing
judges and other officials for all contests without any expense
whatsoever to the Seattle School District. Competitive sports were
organized on a club basis by schools. Modeled after the New York
Public Schools Athletic League, the Seattle League offered
competition in football, track, and baseball. It was administered
and funded by private citizens, with one representative of the
school system on its Board of Trustees. High school sports were
also organized on a club basis, funded by the participants and
spectator fees, with football covering the deficit created by the
other sports.
Franklin High School, Girl's Field
Hockey, ca. 1920s. (#013-5)
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| There was no inter-school competition for girls in
the early generations of the twentieth century. Women's sports
emphasized healthful recreation rather than developing competitive
talent. During the year 1926-1927, playground baseball, tennis,
field hockey, volleyball, and basketball were the most popular
sports. |
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Some educators had misgivings regarding the
schools' involvement in interscholastic sports; the general public
did not, however. The public wanted a strong, school-sponsored
interscholastic sports program. Sports in the Seattle Public
Schools were to be educative and tied to a sense of identification
with a particular school. |
East High School (later renamed
Garfield High School)
Frosh Basketball Team, ca. 1920. (#014-33) |
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Some information on this page was quoted
from: Nelson, Bryce E. Good Schools; The Seattle Public School
System, 1901-1930. University of Washington Press: Seattle,
1988.
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