What you are about to read, you may find a bit benumbing. Probably quite a bit so. Only a CPA auditing General Motors’ books would find this benumbing, too – but from boredom.

You’re going to come across a lot of statistics, numbers, a “best this” list and a “best that” list.

The scorching weather we’ve had lately was a good time to stay indoors and research a question that nagged me (and probably only me) — namely, how well has the Catholic League fared in state tournaments? The league was founded in 1926; it’s the only, and the longest-existing, Catholic high school athletics league in the United States.

To make all of this a bit palatable for you – at least, I hope so – I’m going to ask you to use your imagination.

For example, 54 CHSL teams have played in 738 state championship contests. Can you envision how the coaches, players, parents and fans were feeling as the time of the game approached, as it was played, as the winners celebrated being Number 1, and the losers tried to find consolation as Number 2?

CHSL teams won 448 of those games, and lost 290, a creditable 60.1 percent success rate, based on my research of CHSL and the Michigan High School Athletic Association records.

Would you believe that the first CHSL team to win a state championship came in 1927, a golf team from Detroit U-D Jesuit, coached by C. H. Chamberlain? (Does anyone have more information to pass along?)

Nine all-boys schools have made 251 finals appearances, winning 162, losing 89. The two schools most in the finals are Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice (89 times, 60 wins), and Novi Detroit Catholic Central (84 finals, 57 wins).

Seven all-girls schools competed in 113 championship finals with a 61-52 record. Bloomfield Hills Marian appeared in 44 finals, winning 24, and Farmington Hills Mercy appeared in 29 finals, winning 14.

Some 38 coed schools made it to the finals 374 times, coming out on top 225 times, losing 149. The most successful were Detroit St. Martin De Porres in 49 appearances (41 boys teams, 36 wins; eight girls teams, five wins.)

The mention of De Porres reminds of a somber note: of the 54 CHSL teams who have played for a championship, 30 have closed. (Question: what happened to all those trophies?)

De Porres and Detroit East Catholic, both of whom shut their doors around 2005, dominated the local sports scene for nearly three decades, from 1978-2005. De Porres boys went 36-5 (16 wins in track that is still the best-ever in the state; 12 in football, another standing state record; and eight in basketball) while East Catholic won eight in basketball and five in track.

Here are other remarkable achievements: Tom Mach’s 10 football titles at Catholic Central. Al Fracassa’s nine at Brother Rice. Rice’s 13 wins in lacrosse, 13 in hockey, 11 in swimming. Madison Heights Bishop Foley’s 12 wins in girls soccer. CC’s 13 titles in wrestling. Mike Boyd’s 8-of-8 softball championships at Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes. Coach Diane Laffey’s 6-for-6 in her softball squads’ championship games; she is Michigan’s winningest softball coach with 1,182 in a career that stretches from 1963 through 2018 – and still going strong. A still-alive winning streak by coach Beth Campbell’s Pontiac Notre Dame Prep competitive cheer squad, which has won the Class B title the last five years.

Also of note: Livonia Ladywood, the most recent school to close, has the distinction of being the only CHSL girls team to win a state championship in cross country — and that was way, way back in 1980!

Of the 26 sports in which the CHSL competes state tournaments, only one has never had a winner: girls bowling.

Oh, there is much, much more, but my space is limited, and, besides, your imagination may have run dry. Let me know about your favorite team.

Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].