Western North Carolina High School Activities Association Football Champions (1930-76)
The Western North Carolina High School Activities Association was founded on December 10, 1929. Charter members of the organization included Belmont, Concord, Kings Mountain, Lexington, Lincolnton, Monroe, Newton, Mooresville, Black Mountain, Cliffside, Hickory, Lenoir, Marion, Morganton, and Rutherfordton-Spindale schools.
The WNCHSAA would grow to more than 42 members and four conferences before it was dissolved in June of 1977 and its members joined the NCHSAA.
Only three of the 42 members failed to win a Western title in some sport during the WNCHSAA’s existence and it had some outstanding football programs in it. W.C. Clary served for many years as the executive director of the organization.
From 1930-53, the WNCHSAA had two conferences; South Piedmont and Western. Round-robin leagues schedules not played; therefore numerous times two teams would finished tied for the loop crown. Occasionally, a playoff was held for a particular conference, but an overall WNCHSAA title game was rarely played.
| 1930 | Hickory and Monroe – no game |
| 1931 | Hickory and Morganton – no game |
| 1932 | Hickory and Newton-Conover – no game* |
| *These two teams met late in the regular season with Hickory winning 19-0. However, an official title game was not played. | |
| 1933 | Lexington and Newton-Conover – no game |
| 1934 | Lexington and Cherryville – no game |
| 1935 | Concord 39, Newton-Conover 0 |
| 1936 | Winston-Salem Children’s Home and Newton-Conover – no game |
| 1937 | Winston-Salem Children’s Home and Forest City – no game |
| 1938 | Winston-Salem Children’s Home, Lexington and Lenoir |
| 1939 | Lexington and Morganton – no game |
| 1940 | Lexington, Statesville and Morganton – no game |
| 1941 | Barium Springs and Morganton – no game |
| 1942 | Thomasville Mills Home and Marion – no game |
| 1943 | Winston-Salem Children’s Home and Hickory |
| 1944 | Albemarle 19, Shelby 0 |
| 1945 | Winston-Salem Children’s Home and Newton-Conover – no game |
| 1946 | Albemarle and Morganton – no game |
| 1947 | Winston-Salem Children’s Home and Shelby – no game** |
| 1947 | Harvest Bowl: Concord 13, Shelby 6 |
| 1948 | Statesville and Charlotte Tech – no game |
| 1949 | Winston-Salem Children’s Home, Monroe, and Lenoir – no game** |
| 1949 | Harvest Bowl: Monroe 13, Lenoir 13 |
| 1950 | Asheboro and Lenoir – no game |
| 1951 | Lenoir 19, Wilkes Central 14 |
| 1952 | Lenoir 25, Children’s Home 19 |
| 1953 | Albemarle 7, Belmont 6 |
| 1954 | Lexington 19, Albemarle 14 |
| 1955 | four conference champions – no game |
| 1956 | Lexington and Kings Mountain – no overall title game |
| 1957 | Albemarle 54, Marion 6 |
| 1958 | Asheboro 33, Hickory 14 |
| 1959 | Hickory 34, Albemarle 13 |
| 1960 | Kannapolis Brown 0, Hickory 0 (Tie) |
| 1961 | Mooresville 13, Hickory 12 |
| 1962 | Wilkes Central 14, Asheboro 7 |
| 1963 | Asheboro 21, Shelby 6 |
| 1964 | Thomasville 20, Hickory 13 |
| 1965 | Asheboro 34, East Rutherford 7 |
| 1966 | Hickory 41, Statesville 7 |
| 1967 | Lexington 33, Lincolnton 12 |
| 1968 | Shelby 32, Thomasville 12 |
| 1969 | East Rowan 26, Shelby 21 |
| 1970 | Shelby 13, Salisbury 7 |
| 1971 | Salisbury 14, Belmont South Point 14 (Tie) |
| 1972 | Shelby 26, Mooresville 21 |
| 1973 | Salisbury 13, Watauga 0 |
| 1974 | Salisbury 14, Shelby 3 |
| 1975 | North Davidson 21, Shelby 21 (Tie) |
| 1976 | Shelby 25, Lexington 0 |
** In 1947 Hickory officials inaugurated a bowl game to be played at Lenoir-Rhyne University featuring two of the top teams in the WNCHSAA; one from each conference. The game was played from 1947-50. The teams were selected several weeks before the conclusion of the regular season, making it difficult to pick the league champion.
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