Nastiest High School/Area Rivalry (Cincinnati, Hamilton: appointed, houses, private schools)

[CincyIU29]

Enjoyed the state rivalry post in the General US thread, thought it'd be interesting to discuss our many high school and area rivalries.

My picks for nastiest are:

St.X v. Elder

Turpin v. Anderson

[kjbrill]

I will throw a vote in for the GMC. It has a mixture of closer in large schools such as the Sycamore Aviators, Princeton Vikings and Colerain Cardinals. Then you have the long standing Hamilton Big Blue and Middletown Middies. Then you add the relative upstarts Lakota East and West and Mason joining the big school ranks. This should not slight either Fairfield or Oak Hills. These schools do not have the long history together of others, but they will give a run for their money to just about anyone in the state.

The GCL is the one I feel historically has offered the best competition year in and year out. But this stands to reason as they are private schools and not subject to all of the pressures of public institutions. So yes, a St X v Elder rivalry is historic.

[CincyIU29]

There's no doubt the GMC has ton of talent but I really don't see any bad blood rivalries between these teams. Colerain vs. St.X might be a rivalry due to the recent sucess of these teams and the demographic disparity of sorts between the two.

Anyways for the East Side here's my "list" of rivalries as well as rank is terms of how good they are:


1. Turpin vs. Anderson: Pure hatred. Anytime these two play, especially in football, you'd be brave to cross State Road wearing school colors during the week before or after a game. During short lived talks about meging the schools many Anderson siders wanted merge because Turpin has started to outshine its "big brother" while Turpin siders mostly vehemently opposed the measure, threatening to move and even talks of secession from the township if a merger was ever approved.

2. Anderson vs. Glen Este The longtime battle for the FAVC, hints of economic disparity and Hamilton vs. Clermont in an annual slugfest.

3. Turpin vs. Kings: Ever since the rise of Turpin football, Kings has developed a heated rivalry with the Spartans that has spilled over to every other sport, especially basketball.

4. New Richmond vs. Bethel and Bethel vs. Batavia: Nasty country rivalries
not much heralded in the Enquirer but very bitter and passionate fans.

5. Indian Hill vs. Madeira: Somewhat obvious, class differences factor into this rivalry.

6. Indian Hill vs. Turpin: Relatively new, IH and THS relatively upstart football teams sparked a rivalry that led to Indian Hill making shirts for the annual clash, which in one instance Turpin fans got a hold of some and burnt them in Indian Hill's parking lot Also as Turpin has gotten better at lacrosse it has become more competitive.

7. Glen Este vs. Amelia: This rivalry would be a lot better if Amelia was good at any sport.

8. Mariemont vs. Indian Hill: Rich kids vs. even richer kids. The battle of the beamers

9. Loveland vs. Milford: The big schools in Clermont county.

[SonnyDaze]

Here's some from the North-Central part of town...

St. Xavier - Colerain

Northwest - Mt. Healthy

North College Hill - Lockland

Finneytown - Wyoming

Fairfield - Hamilton

Purcell Marian - Norwood

Winton Woods - Roger Bacon

[kjbrill]

The lack of blood rivalries betwen the GMC teams is due to the relative newness of the current schools in the conference. It takes time to build an intense rivalry.

Mason - Kings used to be such a rivalry in the old FAVC, adjacent districts and similar sized. But the growth of Mason and switch to the GMC caused this to dissipate. Mason - Lebanon was another natural rivalry until they ended up in separate conferences.

Years ago, my class year at Madeira was the first year IH had a graduating class for all 4 years, 53-57. Half of my 8th grade class at Madeira left to attend the brand new HS in IH. Madeira lost a lot of students to the new schools in IH. For a number of years Madeira just tromped all over IH, but gradually it evened out. As stated it was a natural rivalry and the fact the two districts are of similar size it remains so.

[Chemistry_Guy]

Having experienced GCL south rivalries for 4 years while in HS and well over a decade as an alum, I can say they are very intense, but I don't know if I would say 'nasty'. As a GCL south alum, when your home team is eliminated from competition, your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th favorite teams are your league rivals. When it comes to legitimate bad blood in rivalries, I would say that Purcell-Norwood or Moeller-Middletown are much nastier.

[kjbrill]

When I think about this subject, and back to my era which is ancient history, I have to think of Madeira and Loveland. At that time Madeira was changed from a sleepy crossroads to a thriving bedroom community primarily due to GE Evandale being built. The workers at GE needed a place to live and Madeira was ripe for the development. This was still prior to I-71, I-275 and just about everything else currently around them. The main routes to Evandale were Section Rd, Galbraith Rd, Cooper Rd and Glendale Milford from the east to Reading and then to GE. Many of you cannot understand how Madeira got started. You would have to look at a map from that era to understand how reasonable it then was.

The route from Madeira to Loveland was Loveland-Madeira Rd, hardly a major artery. For us living in Madeira it was going to East Jesus as we called Loveland. Madeira was growing rapidly as a bedroom community and Loveland was primarily farmland. Downtown Loveland, if you could call it a downtown, was a couple of blocks along the Little Miami with nothing to distinguish it other than some broken down grain mills. The schools, being of similar size, for years played each other in sports.

For us in Madeira it was our trip to the country to play the hicks. Now naturally when you think of and address someone as hicks there is going to be a reaction. The outcomes were often something you don't like to remember as part of your high-school days, with the police freqently being involved.

I can appreciate intense rivalries between HS athletics of any kind. Good competition should be relished, and a hard fought victory appreciated. But what I DO NOT APPRECIATE is the attitude of some, primarily from my younger days, who viewed victory in HS athletics as the pinnacle of life's success. I remember some who viewed victory in a HS sport as some type of lifetime achievement award.

I also remember at HS graduations when many would demonstrate part way through the ceremony in a vociferous manner their pride and joy the family offspring had actually made this level. How sad if this is the summit of their life's achievement.

This summer I attended my grandson's HS graduation from LaSalle held at the Arnoff Center. One of the things which impressed me was the absolute requirement for quiet decorum during the entire ceremony and the final declaration they were simply passing from one phase in their life to the next. Whether you are passing from HS to college or into the work force, it should be viewed as an opportunity, not that you have already passed your pinnacle. If at that age you feel like you have attained the best in life, the only path is down.

[insightofitall]

Back in my day (early 80s), the big westside rivalry was Oak Hills vs. Western Hills. I have no idea what it would be now.

[motorman]

In the 1970s: arch rival powerhouses Princeton Vikings (led by legendary coach Pat Mancuso) vs. Moeller Crusaders (led by future Notre Dame coach Gerry Faust)

[kjbrill]

When you go back to the past eras, some schools stand out. My uncle, Don Brill was fortunate to be an AP all-state RB for Purcell HS football from 1943 to 1947. Three of those years they were undefeated, he was city scoring leader, and he earned 11 varsity letters in 4 sports. Their coach was Ed Kluska who moved on to be coach of Xavier U football from 1947-54. Many thought Don would follow Ed to Xavier, but my grandfather insisted he go to UC as they were the only school who guaranteed him a full 4-year athletic scholarship regardless of success in football. And he was recruited by some big schools, Purdue, ND, and OSU. As it turned out Don blew out his knee in Freshman practice and played in all of about 3 games as a senior at UC. But he got his degree.

I also remember grandfather being disappointed he turned down a farm team opportunity with the Reds as a catcher to go to UC. The catcher position is also physically rugged on the knees, but he may have achieved far more athletic success if he had stuck with baseball. In addition to his legs in football he had one Hell of an arm. That combination made Johnny Bench a major star years later.

So back when Moeller was not a concept, and likely also Princeton, Purcell was the football powerhouse in Cincinnati. Their main adversary back then had to be Roger Bacon. In fact if you look it up the GCL league champ from 1931 to 1965 was either Purcell or Roger Bacon. I doublt if you can find a longer time duration between two schools in just about any conference in the state.