Oh Go,
You Romans
Athletics at Latin
From the earliest days, providing a proper college preparatory
education and involving students in sports and fitness went hand
in hand at Chicago Latin School.
The 1918 football
season was canceled
due to the worldwide
flu epidemic.
A field hockey team
from the early 1900s.
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L AT I N M AGAZINE
Both Mabel Slade Vickery and Robert Peck
Bates believed that physical well-being was
an important component of student learning,
and Mr. Bates in particular felt that Latin
students needed to develop athletic skills to
be sufficiently prepared for college.
In addition to the academic curriculum,
the school had a Department of Physical
Development from the start. According to
Latin's 1899-1900 admissions brochure:
"The policy of the school encourages and
assists in the formation of athletic teams
and development of bodily power and
skills as a preparation for the athletic life
of the college. …The wisdom and success
of the policy of the school in the direction
of practical athletics was demonstrated in
1898-9 by the development of the best
baseball and football teams of all the Chicago
private schools."
At the time, Latin
teams participated in
the Prep League, playing
Harvard, U High and
Princeton-Yale, and won
seven championships
in football, basketball,
baseball and track
between 1900 and 1907.
In the early 1900s, a
Boys Athletic Association
was formed, and rules
were published regarding
the "Wearing of the L."
By 1906, the boys school
had adopted orange and
blue as the official school
colors. At the girls school,
Mabel Slade Vickery
hired her own full-time
gym teacher, Miss Schill,
