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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. 34 1 2 5 Y E A R S O F H I S T O R Y 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, A field hockey team from the early 1900s. The 1918 football season was canceled due to the worldwide flu epidemic.