I’ve got a fondness for the Iowa High School State Baseball summer championships, just completed this past Saturday, August 2. Maybe that’s because I had the great experience of being a state champion myself. I played on Remsen St. Mary’s first two state championship teams in the fall seasons of 1980 and 1981.

However, I am even more proud to be a member of the Catholic family, which means my celebration of state baseball titles goes far beyond those two championships! Let me explain…

A public school’s borders extend out to towns that have been consolidated into its district; thus the long drawn out names such as Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto (who made their first state tournament appearance in 35 years). And the district is linked to the educational system of the state of Iowa. However, all of that is a professional relationship and not so much a family.

As Catholics, we are united in the one faith as one family. We all have God our Father, but also our Holy Father, Pope Francis, our Bishop Fathers, and our Father priests in our parishes. We have our Blessed Mother, Mary the Mother of God, and Holy Mother Church. We are all brothers and sisters in one baptism. We can attend the same Mass in Dyersville, Davenport, Des Moines or Ft. Dodge, and pretty much on every day of the week.

Thus, when Remsen St. Mary’s lost a heartbreaking one-run game to Gehlen Catholic in this year’s 1A district final, as I see it “we” were still in the tournament by virtue of our Catholic family. Gehlen won the substate and earned a trip to Principal Park in Des Moines… yay! Of course there are several levels of relationship that enhance this overall family. For example, Gehlen is ably coached by 1983 Remsen St. Mary’s graduate Marty Kurth, my fellow middle-infielder at St. Mary’s.

From 1946, when the Iowa High School Athletic Association first held a state baseball championship, and through the 1972 season, all schools were lumped into one class and played about 25 to 35 games per season before school let out for summer. Clinton St. Mary’s became the first Catholic school to win the championship in 1963. This was quite the feat as almost every year the champions were from the big public schools of the big cities of Iowa (exceptions were 1951 – Exira – and 1952 – Colesburg). Dyersville Beckman Catholic (Archdiocese of Dubuque) was the only other Catholic school to win a baseball championship (1968) in that era.

Things changed substantially in 1973 when the IHSAA changed the format to two classes, 1A and 2A, and created a summer season. Schools began to play 40 or 50 games thanks to the extended season and its clement weather. Smaller schools – namely, Catholic schools – had a much better chance to win a title. Granville Spalding Catholic took advantage and became the first Catholic school to win a 1A championship in 1974, and made it back-to-back 30-3 championship seasons in 1975. During the era of the 2-class system (1973-1980), Gilbertville Don Bosco (1978) and Independence St. John (1979), both of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, joined Spalding as 1A Catholic champs. During this era public schools won all eight 2A titles and the other four 1A titles. Not bad… Catholic schools won half of the 1A titles in this period, and half of the 1A “Catholic” titles belonged to the Sioux City Diocese!

Another substantial format change arrived in 1981 as the IHSAA announced it would crown four class champions, 1A (small schools) through 4A (large schools). Council Bluffs St. Albert (Diocese of Des Moines) quickly took advantage and won the 3A crown that summer. In 1982 two Catholic schools of the Diocese of Davenport became the first Catholic schools to capture 2A (Burlington Notre Dame) and 4A (Davenport Assumption) titles under the new system. Thanks to the abundance of talented ballplayers in SE Iowa that year, Catholics could claim state championships in every class offered by the IHSAA.

Some Catholic highlights in the four-class era (which continues to this day) include:

• Back-to-back-to-back 2A state titles by my alma mater, Remsen St. Mary’s, from 1983-85. Hard to believe we were 2A then and now one of the smallest schools in the state (but still 1A summer state participants in 2007, 2010 and 2013).
• Granville Spalding won three additional crowns (’89, ’00, ‘01) in the four-class era for a total of five, making them “champs” among the Catholic schools of the diocese of Sioux City, before merging with Gehlen last year.
• Gehlen Catholic of Le Mars won two titles (’96 and ’99) and lost in the opening round of the tournament at Des Moines this year.
• Have you noticed that Spalding Catholic, Remsen St. Mary’s and Gehlen Catholic are all within a roughly 25-mile radius characterized by heavy Luxembourgish settlement? With 10 summer titles combined, could it be that the Luxembourgers had baseball blood in their veins?
• In 1999, it was a “Catholic sweep”; Gehlen Catholic won the 1A title, Council Bluffs St. Albert took 2A, Davenport Assumption won 3A and West Des Moines Dowling was the 4A champ!
• Bancroft St. John won two titles (’85, ’86) before the school closed; and Sioux City Diocesan Catholic schools Bishop Heelan (’01, ’05), Fort Dodge St. Ed’s (’09), and Storm Lake St. Mary’s (’93) also added state titles.
• Catholic schools of the Diocese of Sioux City have captured a total of 16 summer state baseball championships, the most among the four dioceses in Iowa.
• The Dubuque diocese has 11 summer titles led by Dyersville Beckman (five) and Mason City Newman Catholic (four), along with Cedar Rapids Xavier and Independence St. John (one each). Beckman and Newman both lost in state championship games on Saturday.
• The Des Moines Diocese has eight summer championships (West Des Moines Dowling with five and Council Bluffs St. Albert with three).
• The Davenport Diocese has taken nine summer titles, amazingly all by the same school, Davenport Assumption (that's them on the traditional "dog pile" - Catholic style - in the photo above on Saturday). By virtue of Assumption’s ninth crown earned on Saturday, a Catholic school joins public school Kee of Lansing in a tie for the most Iowa high school summer state baseball championships ever.

All said and done, public schools have won 88 summer state titles, Catholic schools have won 44, and other Christian schools have won two (Pella Christian and Iowa Mennonite School). Isn’t it amazing that Catholic schools have won half as many state titles as public schools despite the greatly smaller number of Catholic schools competing?

I’ve watched in amazement as some Catholics root for public schools over Catholic schools, maybe because that particular Catholic school beat them out of the tournament. I don’t get it. Don’t they understand that they are rooting against family? If the state championship trophy cannot reside in my Catholic school, my next choice is to see it in the halls of a school that belongs to my brothers and sisters in Christ. I’ll admit, the closer a state champion Catholic high school is to my own parish, the better, but Heaven is our true home. Go Catholics!

Deacon Rick Roder is a 1982 graduate of Remsen St. Mary's High School and serves Remsen St. Mary's and Oyens St. Catherine's Parishes.