Little Seven (aka Little 6, Little 5) & Jayhawk (II) Football League: 1936-1982    Return to AREA FB                   HOME   

    This organization started football competition in the fall of 1936. The first LITTLE FIVE was comprised of DE SOTO, EUDORA, GARDNER, SPRING HILL & WELLSVILLE. As mentioned in the discussion of the KVL, EUDORA & DE SOTO belonged to this new league as well as the KVL in 1936. DE SOTO dropped football in 1937 and joined the TRI-COUNTY League that same year. Independent school BALDWIN was admitted to replace DE SOTO - EUDORA also competed in the last year of the original KVL in 1937.

    TONGANOXIE was allowed into the league in 1938 - they were a former member of the KVL. LOUISBURG joined in 1941 after playing a limited league schedule in 1940 (games that year were not included as league games). Tonganoxie pulled out after 1941 and played as an Independent. 

    WW II disrupted most high school league football play. SPRING HILL dropped football from 1943-1945. LOUISBURG dropped out for the year of 1943. The remaining four teams played each other twice in 1943 in order to fill out the league schedule. The Kansas School for the Deaf (KSD-OLATHE) played just one season in the circuit (1944) . LOUISBURG played again in 1944-46 before exiting the group. SPRING HILL  & DE SOTO resumed football play in 1946.

    Membership stayed the same until 1954 when LOUISBURG returned to the league. This group stayed together as the LITTLE SEVEN League until 1967 when all members plus STANLEY  began play as the same league but with a different name - JAYHAWK. This version should not be confused with the original JAYHAWK that existed from 1930-1961. In 1969 GARDNER and DE SOTO joined  the new PIONEER League. The league brought in BASEHOR (previously TRI-COUNTY) and SANTA FE TRAIL-CARBONDALE (previously INDEPENDENT) in 1970. That same year STANLEY merged with STILWELL and played under the new name BLUE VALLEY. PIPER-K.C. was admitted in 1976 - BLUE VALLEY joined the EKL in 1979. SANTA FE TRAIL joined the MID-EAST League in 1981.

    Many leagues were shook up after the 1982-1983 school year. The decision had already been made in early 1982 to disband the JAYHAWK. EUDORA, BASEHOR and PIPER-K.C. joined the new KAW VALLEY League. BALDWIN, WELLSVILLE, LOUISBURG and SPRING HILL joined the new FRONTIER League. 

    This league provided one KSHSAA State Champion listed below.    

1981 Baldwin     JAYHAWK II (13-0) Merle Venable

    TDC Football Poll: Mythical State Champion: CLASS 2A (later known as 3A)

1968 Baldwin   JAYHAWK II (9-0-0) Merle Venable

  Year          Team                       League        All            Coach

1936 Wellsville (4-0-0) (5-0-0)   Jim Miller
1937 Wellsville (3-0-0) (4-2-2) Jim Miller
1938 Eudora (5-0-0) (6-1-1) Herbert Knipp
1939 Baldwin (5-0-0) (9-0-0) Joe Wallace
1940 Baldwin (4-0-1) (8-0-1) Charles Bonebrake
1941 Baldwin (6-0-0) (9-0-0) Charles Bonebrake
1942 Wellsville (5-0-0) (8-0-0) Carl Bierman
1943 Eudora (5-1-0) (5-1-0) George Figgs
1944 KSD-Olathe (5-0-0) (8-0-0) Charles Bilger
1945 Baldwin (4-0-0) (9-0-0) Charles Bonebrake
1946 Wellsville (6-0-0) (9-0-0) Carl Lewis
1947 Wellsville (5-0-0) (8-1-0) Carl Lewis
1948 Eudora (5-0-0) (9-0-0) J.E. Raker
1949 Baldwin (4-1-0) (6-2-0) Clarence Broadfoot
1950 Baldwin (4-0-1) (7-1-1) Clarence Broadfoot
  Wellsville (4-0-1) (7-0-2) Bob Moore
1951 Baldwin (5-0-0) (8-1-0) Clarence Broadfoot
1952 Wellsville (5-0-0) (8-1-0) Ray Waddell
1953 Baldwin (5-0-0) (9-0-0) Clarence Broadfoot
1954 Gardner (5-0-1) (7-0-1) Dale Jones
1955 Spring Hill (5-0-1) (8-0-1) Merle Gibson
1956 Spring Hill (5-0-1) (7-0-1) Merle Gibson
  Baldwin (5-0-1) (7-1-1) Clarence Broadfoot
1957 Spring Hill (6-0-0) (8-0-0) Merle Gibson
1958 Louisburg (6-0-0) (9-0-0) Norton Hartsook
1959 Louisburg (5-1-0) (7-2-0) Norton Hartsook
1960 Eudora   (7-0-1) Perry Miller
1961 Louisburg (5-0-1) (7-1-1) Norton Hartsook
1962 DeSoto (6-0-0) (8-0-0) Roy Braley
1963 Baldwin (5-1-0) (5-2-1) Dick Hedges
  Gardner (5-1-0) (6-2-0) Lowell Hoch
1964 Baldwin (6-0-0) (8-0-0) Dick Hedges
1965 Baldwin (5-0-1) (7-0-1) Norman Cobb
1966 Spring Hill (5-1-0) (7-1-0) Dennis Versch
  Gardner (5-1-0) (5-3-0) Dennis Delay

League name was changed to Jayhawk League in 1967

1967 Gardner (6-0-1) (7-1-1) Dennis Delay
1968 Baldwin (7-0-0) (9-0-0) Merle Venable
1969 Baldwin (4-0-1) (8-0-1) Merle Venable
1970 Baldwin (6-1-0) (8-1-0) Merle Venable
1971 Baldwin (7-0) (10-2) Merle Venable
1972 Eudora (6-1) (8-2) Don Laws
1973 Wellsville (7-0) (10-1) Rick Clark
1974 Wellsville (7-0) (11-1) Rick Clark
1975 Wellsville (7-0) (8-1) Bob Moore
1976 Louisburg (6-1) (7-2) Dee Graham
1977 Baldwin (8-0) (11-1) Merle Venable
1978 Baldwin (8-0) (12-1) Merle Venable
1979 Baldwin (7-0) (10-2) Merle Venable
1980 Baldwin (7-0) (8-2) Merle Venable
1981 Baldwin (6-0) (13-0) Merle Venable
1982 Baldwin (5-1) (7-2) Merle Venable
  Wellsville (5-1) (11-2) Bart Kjolhede