High School Tournaments were not always the eight team cut and dried weeklong affairs popular today. In the early years, the standard tournament format in the regular season was sixteen teams, single elimination format with first and third place games. Saturday was normally a doubleheader day for players with semifinals in the afternoon and first and third place games that night. Regional tournaments, now called District Tournaments, also featured somewhat meaningless third place games.
      Perhaps the most unusual tournament was the regional tournament of 1948. Chillicothe sported a 20-2 record heading into the championship showdown with Maryville. The Hornets lost 39-16, but both teams were given berths into the State Tournament, with Chillicothe receiving a #4 ranking. In their first ever State Tournament game, the Hornets lost in Springfield to Rocky Comfort 45-34.  

Bert Who?
     At 5'6" and 144lbs, he was slightly below average size for a football player of his day. However, when Bertram Clark stepped onto the Hornets football field, he was far from average. Clark started in the Hornets backfield for four years from 1918 thru 1921, playing both Quarterback and Running Back. Clark was a threat from anywhere on the field, scoring by the run, the pass, special teams and even by the rare field goal. In a 1921 romp over Pattonsburg, Clark had five rushing touchdowns, three receiving touchdowns, one punt return touchdown and passed for one touchdown.
     After graduation, Clark headed to Principia Junior College then transferred to University of Missouri at Columbia where he lettered in 1925, 26 and 27. In 1996, Clark was inducted into the University of Missouri Hall of Fame. This is what the MU website says about Chillicothe's Bert Clark:
 

     After graduation from Mizzou, Clark returned to Principia college where his 1933 football team went undefeated, untied and unscored upon for the season. Clark was inducted into Principia's hall of fame in 2006.

End of an Era
   After standing proud for more than 80 years and more than 100,000 students, the old Chillicothe High School building is being torn down. View Pictures

THE Game
          When Chillicothe hit the Hearnes Center floor in March 1982, few people were giving the defending State Champions a chance against legendary basketball powerhouse St Louis Vashon. The Hornets under the guidance of Coach Rich Fairchild calmly showed a stunned Hearnes Center crowd patience, teamwork and incredible desire to calmly pick apart the nationally ranked Vashon team. Coach Fairchild used just five players to pull off one of the biggest upsets in Hornets history, 61-53. The next day however, The Hornets could not duplicate that feat and lost the title game to Logan-Rogersville 61-57.
          Vashon would have to wait 16 seasons for a rematch. They would fair no better in front of a packed Hornets Field House on a cold Saturday in December 1997, when a half court shot at the buzzer failed, and Chillicothe again upended Vashon 50-49.

Chillicothe vs Maryville
     When Chillicothe plays Maryville in football, most anything can happen. Here's a look at some of the memorable moments in this series.
8/31/2007- Maryville 20, at Chillicothe 18 - The first time in 20 years Chillicothe lost their season opening game. Chillicothe scored on their first two possessions, but a penalty at the end of the first quarter gave Maryville an un-timed down where they turned a screen pass into a 74 yard touchdown. Chillicothe scored late in the game but missed their third straight conversion attempt.
9/1/2006 - Chillicothe 30, at Maryville 14 - Maryville scored with 42 seconds left in the first half to close the game to 9-7. Chillicothe answered with a 54 yard drive to score on the final play of the half. Maryville closed the game to with in two points early in the third quarter but could get no closer.
9/10/2004 - Chillicothe 7, at Maryville 6 - In a defensive struggle, Chillicothe blocked Maryville's extra point kick, then in the third quarter blocked a Maryville punt. Four plays later Chillicothe scored and holds on for the win. The Hornets had 137 total yards and the Spoofhounds had 142 total yards
11/8/2003 - Chillicothe 28, Maryville 14 - Chillicothe's Clint Macoubrie scored late in the second quarter to take the lead for good and give Chillicothe a District title. 5 days later Chillicothe would end Platte County's 52 game winning streak.
11/5/1999 - at Chillicothe 10, Maryville 7- Chillicothe went 83 yards early in the fourth quarter to tie the game. Late in the game, Chillicothe drove 77 yards on 13 plays, including 11 carries by Adam Cooper. Chillicothe's Zach Graham booted a 26 yard field goal with three seconds left to give Chillicothe the district championship.
11/8/1998 - Chillicothe 28, at Maryville 14 - Chillicothe's Wyatt Pickering rushed for 247 yards to give Chillicothe the upset win and the district title over previously unbeaten Maryville. A 14-point third quarter for Chillicothe was the difference in the game.
9/12/1997 - Maryville 7, at Chillicothe 0 - Chillicothe lined up in punt formation but snapped the ball over the head and raised arms of 6' 6" punter Justin Bland. Maryville took over on the 9 yard line and scored on the next play for the only touchdown of the game. It marked the first time Chillicothe was  shut out in any football game in 10 years.
11/4/1994 - Chillicothe 23, at Maryville 21 - With Maryville trailing, the Spoofhounds took over on the 6 yard line with 1:34 left in the game. On the final play of the game, Maryville Quarterback Matt Redd passed to Scott Courter for a 45 yard pass to the end zone, with the Hornets Jeff Beemer in coverage. With no time left on the clock, the officials indicated no catch, signifying the receiver was not in bounds. With the win, Chillicothe earns a district championship and a share of the conference crown.

The Team vs The Students
     1915 was not a good year for Hornets football. They had only a four-game schedule and lost all four games by a combined score of 81-12, including a loss to a make-shift team of Chillicothe High School Alumni. So, when a group of fellow classmates taunted that the team was so bad, even they could beat them, the football  team readily accepted the challenge.
     The game was treated as a full regulation game with officials, paid attendance and newspaper coverage. It didn't take long for the upstart students to realize they had underestimated their 0-4 school team. It was the Hornets team that had the last laugh, with a 51-0 thumping of the students

Back To Back Blowouts
     The Hornets Football team has had their fair share of big wins over the years, but in the days before State Playoffs and Conference races, Chillicothe did something that likely will never be done again. They outscored their opponents by a combined 165-0 in back to back games.
     It was 1921 and football was slowly taking hold in the world of sports, despite attempts to have it outlawed and labeled as brutal and barbaric. More high schools were forming teams and in the years before conferences became popular, schools played neighboring towns mainly in an effort to reduce costs of travel by train.
     Under second year coach Tom Moles, Chillicothe had won two in a row to improve to 5-4 for the year. With two games left on the schedule, the Hornets had their sights set on a second straight winning season. On November 18, 1921 the team and fans boarded the train and headed to Hamilton for a Friday afternoon game. Chillicothe built a 48-0 lead at the half, then added another 33 points in the 3rd quarter. The game was called due to darkness at the end of the 3rd quarter for a 81-0 Chillicothe win. Few other details are known about the contest.
     The final game of the season was a Thanksgiving Day showdown with Pattonsburg on the C.B.C. field. Chillicothe forced Pattonsburg to three plays and punt to start the game. Chillicothe's Quarterback Bertram Clark fielded the punt and returned it for Chillicothe's first touchdown. Clark added a 12 yard run later in the quarter and by halftime, Chillicothe had built a 28-0 lead. Three more touchdowns in the 3rd quarter gave Chillicothe a 49-0 lead. The Hornets didn't let up, putting 35 points on the board in the 4th quarter for an 84-0 win. Chillicothe had the ball inside the five yard line at least four other times but did not score. Clark scored nine touchdowns in the game, including five rushing,  three receiving and one by punt return, plus threw one touchdown pass. Team Captain Rudy Stucker had two touchdown runs and threw three touchdown passes. Chillicothe Kicker Russell White also went 12-for-12 on extra point kicks. Clark would go on to become a three-year letter winner for the University of Missouri Football team.

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.