Minneapolis City League Demise

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Moses87

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I grew up in the 70's and 80's when Minneapolis Basketball with North (Carpenter, El Amin, Bannister) and Henry(McKenzie) leading the way were dominent. Even schools like Roosevelt(John Thomas, Joe Woods), Washburn and South (Omar Lewis) had decent talent too...Lately, I haven't heard much coming out of city league. It's all Hopkins, Minnetonka, Robinsdale Cooper, DeLaSalle.

What is the status of the Minneapolis City Conference and are those suburb schools recruiting kids from Minneapolis Junior High teams? Are magnet programs taking kids out of the city? Can anybody enlighten me?
 

I have heard that Hopkins and DeLaSalle have been recruiting kids from Minneapolis from my nephew who plays in the conference, but I don't know how legitimate he is a source, he pointed out Hopkins, saying that they have also gone after minneapolis kids for football in most recent years, and that is why they have turned that program around in the recent years
 

Washburn won the 3A title in 09 and lost to Delasalle at the buzzer last year in the title game, I believe they're number 8 in the preseason 3A poll
 

Well North barely exists and the best city kids are going to De, Hopkins, Cooper, etc
 

The 70's and 80's? Most of those guys were playing in the 90's. If you are talking late 70's and 80's it would be Brett McNeil, Ben Coleman, Andre Griffin and Redd Overton.
 


Open enrollment & black flight to the Northern burbs (Cooper, Osseo, et al) killed city conference hoops.
 

With open enrollment ball players can pick the coach they want to play for. When the coach leaves you often see the program go as well (Look at Henry Sibley as an example). With the growth of AAU ball the kids talk with one another and make enrollment decisions based upon those conversattions. With the best coaches getting paid better salaries at suburban schools it naturally fits that these schools have the best players from Minneapolis and St. Paul. There are a few bastions of city ball strength. The one that many seem to overlook is St. Paul Johnson.
 

Coaches aren't getting paid more in suburban schools. They are all within $1,000-$2,000 of one another, with the top end being in the range of $6,000. The money isn't what's drawing these guys to coaching be it in the city or suburb. Also, the vast majority of coaches are also teachers, and teacher salaries are comparable, with Mpls being higher than many suburban districts.
 

Well now if you live in the city, you have to go to your district's school through your sophomore year unless you choose the private route and with all the new transfer rules, hopfully it will encourage kids to stay at their school
 



I know some schools like Minnetonka have a transfer agreement with underachieving academic schools. I believe any kid from Mpls North can enroll at Minnetonka because its like a "safe-haven" school that combats the poor academics of North. This allows their best athletes to go there, no questions asked, no sitting out, etc. Not sure if there are other schools in that agreement.
 

This makes me sad!

Most of the city schools can't compete with suburbs in academics or facilities. I am an old-timer so I would like to see kids play where they live. I don't blame students or families for wanting to be in the best situation possible. I wish Minneapolis would revamp their athletic programs and give the students a legitimate "neighborhood" option.
 

Prep Insider said:
This makes me sad!

Most of the city schools can't compete with suburbs in academics or facilities. I am an old-timer so I would like to see kids play where they live. I don't blame students or families for wanting to be in the best situation possible. I wish Minneapolis would revamp their athletic programs and give the students a legitimate "neighborhood" option.
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+1000

I'm a Roosevelt grad (class of 87) and I was saddened to learn they couldn't even field a Varsity Football team this past season. We had some great teams from 84-89 and I knew they struggled, but its really sad. Also, the same Hockey program that produced Reed Larsen and Mike Ramsey hasn't existed since the early 90's. Very sad!

When it comes to basketball, I can remember the days when a mediocre Mpls City team like Roosevelt or South would destroy the cake-eaters (as we called them) from the Suburbs. I've been gone from the Twin Cities for over 25 years so I don't know all the ins and outs of what has caused such a downfall, but I guess it's a product of the open enrollment and the mass exodus of families to the burbs.
 

Moses87 said:
+1000

I'm a Roosevelt grad (class of 87) and I was saddened to learn they couldn't even field a Varsity Football team this past season. We had some great teams from 84-89 and I knew they struggled, but its really sad. Also, the same Hockey program that produced Reed Larsen and Mike Ramsey hasn't existed since the early 90's. Very sad!

When it comes to basketball, I can remember the days when a mediocre Mpls City team like Roosevelt or South would destroy the cake-eaters (as we called them) from the Suburbs. I've been gone from the Twin Cities for over 25 years so I don't know all the ins and outs of what has caused such a downfall, but I guess it's a product of the open enrollment and the mass exodus of families to the burbs.
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Mpls Southwest (class of 88) here. When we were in school SW was a hockey school, producing NHL, WCHA & several D2 & minor league players. It broke my heart when I moved back up here to see we don't even have a hockey team anymore :(
 




We counted Southwest as cake-eaters too. :)

As much as it hurt to watch Washburn beat BSM last season, I was happy it was a Minneapolis team.
 


I have a lot of friends from growing up who were inner city kids who decided to enroll at my HS for athletics / academics.

It's hard to blame the individual kids for wanting to maximize their chance of improving their situation, I just think in whole it is terrible for the school and the community.

I just bought a home right across the street from Washburn, and I haven't talked to a single neighbor who is sending their kid to Washburn.
 

bemidjigopher said:
Washburn won the 3A title in 09 and lost to Delasalle at the buzzer last year in the title game, I believe they're number 8 in the preseason 3A poll
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Perkins left Washburn for Kennedy this year in large part because the rest of the Minneapolis City League is so bad. Washburn is so head and shoulders above the rest that the conference schedule has become a complete snooze.
 

Does Roosevelt still have a team? They were once pretty decent from the 89-93 years with John Thomas.
 

I had to drive down to Omaha the other day, so being in southwestern Minnesota and seeing the signs for the towns in the area, Luverne, St. James, Worthington etc., got me to thinking that none of the towns in the area with the rich basketball traditions of yesteryear send any kids to the Gophers. (Maybe they never did.) Who was the last kid from down there? Trevor Winter? Seems all the Minnesota kids that end up on the Gophers are from the metro. I'm thinking Rickert was the last one from Minnesota not from the Twin Cities area? One more random thought: does Rochester EVER have any big time basketball players? (These kind of thoughts happen when a person is too dumb to turn on the radio.)
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
I had to drive down to Omaha the other day, so being in southwestern Minnesota and seeing the signs for the towns in the area, Luverne, St. James, Worthington etc., got me to thinking that none of the towns in the area with the rich basketball traditions of yesteryear send any kids to the Gophers. (Maybe they never did.) Who was the last kid from down there? Trevor Winter? Seems all the Minnesota kids that end up on the Gophers are from the metro. I'm thinking Rickert was the last one from Minnesota not from the Twin Cities area? One more random thought: does Rochester EVER have any big time basketball players? (These kind of thoughts happen when a person is too dumb to turn on the radio.)
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Joel Pryz? Does Monticello count for Metro area?
 

If parents are sending their kids outside the city for academics they're not doing their research. Washburn seems to have turned it around and the Southwest Indians :) are always strong; not sure if South is still strong.

I get a kick out of all the kids I knew from the burbs that blasted the City growing up and now they're raising their families there. Slow learners.
 

Vast parts of Minneapolis are beautiful ranging from the Minnehaha Parkway, all the way to the river road heading toward the U of M campus...I know the Mpls public school system pales in comparrison to what you would get in the burbs, but the quality of life is much better in Minneapolis IMO. I grew up on 38th and the River Road area and loved it. As an adult, I've lived in the burbs several times and hate the "sub-division" lifestyle. No easy access to stores and shops...In many cases, no easy access to lakes or the "parkway" we have in Mpls. I just wish there was quick fix to the problems with the public schools in the city. Aside from getting state help, I doubt there is.
 

Moses87 said:
Vast parts of Minneapolis are beautiful ranging from the Minnehaha Parkway, all the way to the river road heading toward the U of M campus...I know the Mpls public school system pales in comparrison to what you would get in the burbs, but the quality of life is much better in Minneapolis IMO. I grew up on 38th and the River Road area and loved it. As an adult, I've lived in the burbs several times and hate the "sub-division" lifestyle. No easy access to stores and shops...In many cases, no easy access to lakes or the "parkway" we have in Mpls. I just wish there was quick fix to the problems with the public schools in the city. Aside from getting state help, I doubt there is.
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Very good post. Perhaps the only other possibility would be for Minneapolis to create magnet schools of academic excellence that also attracted top-notch coaches to the school (essentially run like a private school). Each magnet school would have a GPA criterion for acceptance to the school, which would draw quality academic students and thus encourage parents to keep their child in the city proper. It would be a tough sell and would essentially create an even greater "brain drain" from the traditional city schools, but it would also allow for some bright lights in the city schools.
 

Tiny - Tried tested and in some schools it still exists in Minneapolis for decades now. No positive result when it comes to athletics.
 

When I talk to old HS classmates who keep an eye on Roosevelt, they say things like the kids in the district can't afford to play...they need to work to support their families...But I don't buy it...I think the kids have been disheartened by the gradual decline from the 80's on....What really saddens me is that the kids in the city don't even think playing sports is cool anymore...They'd rather do other stuff like smoking pot, chasing girls and playing video games than go out and get embarrassed in sports where they don't feel they have a chance to compete against the big boys who have all the advantages in the suburbs. I guess that problem isn't unique to kids in my old district. It's probably happening all around the country in urban areas. I think the problem is probably worse in Minneapolis than other major urban areas and therefore, the University of Minnesota sports programs suffer for it.
 

Continuity. It starts with the youth sports and park programs. How do you build solid, consistent feeder programs up to and including 9th grade? I only know Mpls hockey and anecdotal stories about football.

Academics are there, but the perception is that they're not. This needs to change too.
 

fan of Ray Williams said:
I had to drive down to Omaha the other day, so being in southwestern Minnesota and seeing the signs for the towns in the area, Luverne, St. James, Worthington etc., got me to thinking that none of the towns in the area with the rich basketball traditions of yesteryear send any kids to the Gophers. (Maybe they never did.) Who was the last kid from down there? Trevor Winter? Seems all the Minnesota kids that end up on the Gophers are from the metro. I'm thinking Rickert was the last one from Minnesota not from the Twin Cities area? One more random thought: does Rochester EVER have any big time basketball players? (These kind of thoughts happen when a person is too dumb to turn on the radio.)
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longar longar was from rochester and played at oklahoma.
 

I've heard Washburn is comming back per a parent who went there and who's kids attended that school, got bad for awhile, South and Southwest have always been pretty good schools, they have the college prep programs and are probably as good as any of the suburban schools academically.

I think Roosevelt is mainly the Somali community that really does not have any base in American sports, may take another generation.
 

jovs said:
I've heard Washburn is comming back per a parent who went there and who's kids attended that school, got bad for awhile, South and Southwest have always been pretty good schools, they have the college prep programs and are probably as good as any of the suburban schools academically.

I think Roosevelt is mainly the Somali community that really does not have any base in American sports, may take another generation.
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I don't buy that about Roosevelt. There's still plenty all-american kids growing up around Lake Nokomis, Lake Hiawatha and between the lakes and the River Road over to 38th, the cut-off for the South District. I just think those kids are discouraged by the fall off in the last 20 years. When I grew up, we had Roosevelt Football teams that went to the State Tourney in the 70's and 80's and there was a tradition and passion for it...Its really sad for me to see they dropped football because only 20 kids came out.
 

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