Success of MAC sprouted from humble beginnings

Just as he has done nearly every afternoon for as long as he can remember, the first thing Jon Sidenbender seeks out when he picks up his issue of The Daily Standard is the sports section to check out what is going on in the local sports scene. The recurring theme, as has also been the case for as far back as he recalls, is that Midwest Athletic Conference teams are typically enjoying an overwhelming dose of success. The league's yearly achievements are something Sidenbender holds close to his heart after having a stage front seat to the formation of the conference and serving as commissioner from 1973-1997.

"Until the early 1970s, Marion Local, Minster, Parkway, Ansonia and Bradford were all in the Tri-County League for football and there were all kinds of problems," he explained. "Coldwater was in the WBL at the time and really wanted to get out, and with St. Henry and New Bremen just starting football programs, all of those schools decided to form a new league, and it happened almost overnight. I worked in the Mercer County Education Office and was the secretary of the Mercer County League for basketball when Ansonia reached out to me and asked if I would be the secretary/treasurer of the new league. I jumped at the chance. There were so many great individuals involved from the beginning - Art Brophy from St. Henry, Burt Fiser and Jerry Brown from New Bremen and Al Pax from Coldwater just to name a few. Everyone on board worked very well together and envisioned having a competitive local league where we didn't have to travel as far for games and could also develop outstanding rivalries."

Fueled by an undeniable interest and vision by local administrators, the new conference was born with New Bremen, Minster, St. Henry, Marion Local, Parkway, Coldwater, Ansonia and Bradford beginning competition on the football field on September 7, 1973. Within two years, the all-boys conference invited the girls to join the ranks.

"We decided on the name 'Midwest Athletic Conference' and I suppose the initials of MAC were sort of copied from the Mid-American Conference in college sports, but it was a perfect name for our group," Sidenbender commented. "We offered only boys sports for the first couple of years, but by 1975, with a great push from Katie Horstman from Minster, girls' athletics were added and they began to compete at the state level almost immediately."

A characteristic which Sidenbender felt was vital in the formative years was how well all of the administrators got along and had one another's back.     "They were a very tight-knit group that always looked out for the conference as a whole as opposed to only being concerned about themselves," he pointed out. "There was one instance where a new school, who was very good at football, wanted to join the league. New Bremen was struggling with football at the time and explained that if we allowed this team in, they were going to have to leave. It was a unanimous decision to not allow this team to join, which is a great example of how much those in charge didn't want to leave one of their own out. Sure there were disagreements, but in 24 years, I never once left a meeting where there were hard feelings left on the table. Everyone did a remarkable job of addressing the issues and working them out."

In the winter of 1975, Marion Local head basketball coach Irv Besecker picked up the conference's first state championship when he guided the Flyers to the Class A title, and from that point on, the shower of state titles began to rain down. Since 1975 and except for just one school year, the MAC has heaped up 107 team championships and countless individual crowns. Unfortunately, not everything was roses and bubbles though, as Bradford and Ansonia decided to opt out following the 1977-78 school year.

"With so many teams from Auglaize and Mercer counties, I think they sort of felt left out, so they decided to move on," Sidenbender said. "This made it very difficult for football scheduling, but within a few years, Fran Voll and George Adams from Delphos St. John's approached us about joining and they became a wonderful addition in 1982."

Bradford's and Ansonia's departures forced the wheels of change to rotate on the basketball front, where at that time the local teams not only competed in the MAC but also in the Mercer and Auglaize County Leagues as well.

"We dropped the MCL and ACL when they left and all teams played only in the MAC, which really opened up the door for non-football schools like Mendon-Union, Fort Recovery and New Knoxville to join the conference," Sidenbender explained. "We prided ourselves in the early-going on being very competitive, and by allowing more teams in, we really helped to keep our competitiveness heading in the right direction."

While the recipe for the conference's accomplishments has a variety of ingredients, Sidenbender singles out a few aspects that have remained intact from the start.

"The biggest reason I feel there is continued success is that there are solid communities combined with wonderful coaches, athletic directors and principals," he acknowledged. "Schools may not always be competitive in a certain sport, but then they could be hell on wheels in other sports. That balance is what makes this all so special and competitive across the board. Look at what Fort Recovery is doing in football this year. Just because you aren't competitive year after year doesn't mean you can't turn things around under the right conditions. I thought it was pretty neat in the newspaper the other day when Tim Goodwin remarked about having more state football titles than MAC crowns and what winning the MAC this year meant to them. That comment goes to show just how special a conference title is. That is one aspect that hasn't changed in more than 40 years."