World War II brought hardships to many Americans, both abroad and on the home front. No American was unaffected, as wartime travel restrictions and fuel rationing was implemented nationwide. The rationing of fuel and the restriction of roadways proved a heavy burden for sports leagues at all levels, from biddy leagues to the pros. From 1940-1945 many semi-pro teams and leagues were forced to cease operations. Even America's greatest pastime did not come out unscathed as Major League Baseball officials decided to cancel the 1945 all-star game.

At the high school level many leagues were reorganized, disbanded or adjourned, while a great number of individual schools were forced to cease fielding sports teams altogether. While no MVL School was forced to stop fielding teams, the league did feel the pressures of wartime restrictions. The following is the story of the disbandment and reorganization of the MVL in light of those pressures.

In the winter of 1942 following the Glouster Tomcats run to the MVL Championship MVL representatives met to discuss the future of the league in light of travel restrictions and gas rationing. At the time the league included schools from five counties, and spanned a driving area of 48 miles east to west, and 53 miles North to South. An entire weeks gas ration could easily be spent on a single trip from Glouster to New Concord and back. In addition to the gas ration, a 35mph national speed limit, put in place to reduce rubber consumption, meant that that same two-way trip from Glouster to New Concord might take as much as three and a half hours to complete. While outlying schools like Glouster, Caldwell and New Concord were most affected by the wartime restrictions, all school's were feeling the pinch as the league's schools were so dispersed over such a great area.

While these restrictions were an albatross for the league as a whole, the prospect that individual member schools may be in danger of losing their athletic programs due to wartime restrictions was also an impediment to the league's continuation. Having discussed several options to maintain the league, officials finally voted 4 to 3 to disband the Muskingum Valley League. The members agreed that the disbandment would be only temporary and promised that the league would resume following the conclusion of the war and the lifting of travel restrictions; or as the papers put it, the league would "disband until victory."

And so it was. The MVL canceled their 1943 Football and Basketball schedules, though many member schools continued to play other member schools within a reasonable driving distance. Caldwell, for example, played schools in the eastern portion of the league. New Lexington, Crooksville and M&M appeared on each other's schedules. Glouster lost touch almost entirely with the league, scheduling only M&M for the 1943 football season. To fill the void in their schedules, it happened that many teams had scheduled Roseville. Roseville was a centralized school within reasonable distance of almost all member schools, and the school had no obligations to any other league.

So the 1943 football season came and went with the MVL member schools resolved to maintain play upon the cessation of the war. But then something happened.

On Wednesday, November 24, 1943, following the close of the 1943 season, a meeting was called at Roseville high school to discuss options for area football in the absence of the MVL. Invited to the meeting were representatives from each of the seven MVL schools, along with representatives from Bremen, Roseville, Zanesville, and St. Thomas. The meeting resulted in the formation of a new league to be called the Valley Athletic League (VAL). The league was to be made up of Philo, New Lexington, Crooksville, M&M, Caldwell, Glouster, Roseville, and St. Thomas. All of the old MVL schools were members with the exception of New Concord, who had declined an invitation to the meeting. That same night the league elected a president, Byron Eby, head coach of Roseville; and a secretary, Crooksville coach Ray Osborne.

The next day the papers announced the formation of the new league, and specified the scheduling procedure. Roseville, Crooksville, Philo and M&M would play all other member schools, while St. Thomas & New Lexington would play six league opponents, and Glouster & Caldwell would each take on five league opponents. The champion of the VAL was to be determined on a percentage basis providing that the percentage leader had competed in at least five league games. The league president, Byron Eby, reassured the public that the league would only serve as a substitute for the MVL during the war and would cease operations when the MVL reorganized.

In the days that followed, the Zanesville papers published a VAL schedule and offered a handful of articles

Proposed VAL Schedule

about the new league, but on December 1, 1943, one week following the formation of the VAL, Chauncey Swingle, president of the disbanded MVL, announced that a movement was underway to reorganize the MVL. The movement, he said, was prompted by the announcement of the formation of an MVL substitute. The fact that six of the seven league teams, who had voted 4-3 only a year earlier to cease league operations, were now wanting to join a new league was indication enough that there was a need within the area for the rules and regulations afforded by league play. And so, league president Chauncey Swingle called a meeting of MVL representatives to take place on December 5th at McConnelsville high school. In addition to the MVL members, representatives from St. Thomas and Roseville were also invited to attend.

One day after the December 1st announcement the Times Recorder published an article stating that it was New Concord

MVL President Chauncey Swingle

that had put pressure on Swingle to reorganize the league. The paper also speculated that the meeting would likely see the reorganization of the MVL as well as the extension of invitations to Roseville and St. Thomas to join the league. Also mentioned was the fact that several schools were unabashedly unhappy with the inclusion of one of the old member schools, which the paper referred to as an "out-of-the-way team." This would seem to indicate that several schools had been unhappy with having to travel to Glouster for MVL contests. Elsewhere, I have learned that several members were strongly opposed to the inclusion of St. Thomas into the league; the reasons for this, however, are to obscured to be printed. At any rate, all of this made for quite a dramatic few days as the papers speculated about what would take place at the league meeting.

The December 7th headline heralded, "MVL Revived with 9 Teams". As expected, the league did indeed extend invitations to Roseville and St. Thomas to join in the football and basketball loops. To cope with wartime gas rationing and travel restrictions, the original cause of the MVL's disbanding, it was announced that league football would operate on truncated schedules, as not all teams would play all other teams. The champion would be decided on a percentage basis. The vote for reorganization was unanimous, and the papers were sure to state that the VAL was automatically dissolved upon the recommencement of the MVL.