In The Beginning
     While educational facilities of some form have been around Chillicothe since the earliest days of settlement, the first 4-year school building was built in 1875 with the first official Chillicothe High School Senior Class graduating in 1877. Prior to this school building, education was only offered through the Junior year. In 1901 a new School was built at a cost of $25,000 that served the district until the early 1920's.
     There is no definite starting date for most Chillicothe High School athletic teams, however the 1903-04 and 1904-05 school years mark the apparent beginning of Chillicothe High School sports. Newspaper coverage was sparse in the early days and there were no grand announcements made of new athletic teams. In the earliest days, athletic teams were often frowned upon by School Administrators who feared it would deter from the learning process. Around 1920 School Officials began to recognize the importance of physical fitness as a part of the educational process. 
     Chillicothe fielded High School Football, Baseball and Track  teams  as early as 1904. The exact date of the first Chillicothe football game is not known, but the 1904 yearbook makes mention of the "old rugby boys" playing the first season of football. Articles in a 1901 Brookfield Newspaper had detailed accounts of several Brookfield vs. Chillicothe football games. Two games were against the "Chillicothe Normal School" (not to be confused with the Chillicothe High School), plus a game with the "high school team" which Brookfield won, and what was listed a return game with the "Chillicothe Maupinites." The definition of a "Maupinite" remains a mystery. The article makes no mention of the score of the final game other than a hard played game in which Brookfield's share of the gate was $3.75, which to the dismay of Brookfield, failed to cover the $14.20 it cost the Brookfield players to ride the train over to Chillicothe. The article, written by a reporter that admitted few people knew anything about the sport or terminology of Football, states "the boys lost that much coin, some hair, a little skin and bruised their tempers on the trip." Media hype and controversy apparently are as old as sports itself. It is unclear if the 1901 game or games were an organized school sport or merely a group of boys looking for something to do on a Saturday afternoon.
     Boys Basketball began in the 1910-11 season while Girls Basketball was a highly successful fall sport for Chillicothe briefly in the 1920s before being turned into an intramural sport, where each class would field a team and all four would play for the "Class Championship". Baseball was played as early as the 1903-04 school year when the team went 4-3 with wins over Liberty, Cameron and Braymer twice and losses to Moberly, Liberty and Cameron. The first Chillicothe School Yearbook was published in 1904 but these early yearbooks were printed in the spring, usually before Baseball and Track seasons were completed, or in some cases started. Chillicothe fielded Baseball teams sporadically until around 1915 when it diminished into an intramural only sport. A competitive baseball team returned in 1922-23 school year under Coach John Huntz but apparently only existed for a couple of years. The popularity and success of the Chillicothe Track program attracted most of the athletes at a cost to the baseball program. Track and Field teams competed as early as the 1903-04 school year but consisted only of a home meet and an overnight meet in Maryville, which most likely was a sort of "regional championship" held at the college. Boys Golf and Tennis were mentioned as early as the 1926-27 season and there was even mention of a Girls Field Hockey team for a couple years starting in 1927-28. Wrestling made a brief and successful appearance in the 1930s before being shelved until the 1960s,
      Early sporting facilities were sparse to non-existent as were qualified officials. Football teams would play in parks or farmers pastures with ankle to calf high grass. Basketball was played where ever there was space including skating rinks, factory buildings and in the case of one girls game, a school hallway. It would be the 1920s before modern day facilities were built. 1915 marked the first mention of Red and Black as Chillicothe school colors, and the nickname "Hornets" followed in 1916.