Metro Catholic Conference

The Metro Catholic Conference (MCC) is a high school athletic conference in St. Louis, Missouri. It includes the Vianney Golden Griffins, the DeSmet Spartans, the Chaminade Red Devils, the CBC Cadets, and the SLUH Junior Billikens.^{[citation needed]}

History

Until the founding of the MCC in 1991, the "Big Five" all-male high schools in the St. Louis area had never been in one conference at the same time, despite all having enjoyed long athletic traditions. While the schools had competed in several previous leagues—namely the Prep League, Bi-State Athletic Conference, and Catholic Athletic Conference—those conferences had all dissolved, due to declining numbers of member schools, logistical hurdles in having conferences with both Missouri and Illinois schools, and differences of opinion between Archdiocese-run schools and those run by religious orders. Since the MCC's formation, levels of competition have increased, schools have expanded their facilities, and in general the league has positioned itself as one of the state's most competitive high school competitions.

Soccer has long been the dominant sport among MCC schools; while several schools have had competitive football teams (including DeSmet's state title team in 2006, the only championship won during the MCC's lifespan), it has been "the beautiful game" where the MCC has excelled. It is not uncommon for even the league's two smallest schools, Chaminade and Vianney, to field four teams, such is the popularity of soccer among their students. In fact, there has been only one season—2000—where the Missouri "Show-Me Cup" final did not feature at least one MCC team. In addition, ice hockey has become another popular sport among the schools, spearheaded by CBC's record winning streak from 2002 to 2006, where they won more than 130 consecutive games.

Sports offered by all MCC schools include: (fall) football, soccer, cross-country; (winter) hockey, basketball, wrestling, racquetball, swimming; (spring) golf, tennis, track and field, lacrosse, rugby union, and baseball.

Rivalries

Traditionally, the "marquee" rivalry in the MCC was between SLUH and CBC, which until CBC's move in 2003 saw the schools located three and a half miles apart from each other (SLUH on Oakland Avenue in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood of St. Louis City, CBC on Clayton Road in the neighboring suburb of University City). Until the stadium's remodeling into a baseball-only park, the schools would play their annual football contest at Busch Memorial Stadium, joined in latter years by another rivalry: Chaminade-Vianney, the two Marianist schools in the league.

Similar to the CCP-Vianney rivalry, SLUH maintained a grudge with its fellow Jesuit institution, DeSmet. Contests between these schools featured large amounts of "sledging" between the two supporters: DeSmet fans mocking SLUH's sense of arrogance, while Bills fans responded by calling the Spartans "SLUH West". Both schools also are not on good terms with CCP, stemming mainly from the perception of Red Devils students as upper-class.

Alumni

Among the many players who began their competitive careers in the MCC include: football players Trent Green (Vianney), Henry Jones (SLUH), Wes Kemp (DeSmet) and Ronnie Wingo (SLUH), basketball players Larry Hughes (CBC), Brad Beal (CCP), and David Lee (CCP), hockey players Paul Stastny (CCP), Yan Stastny (CCP), Sam Warning (CBC), Jack Berger (SLUH), Mike Parks (CBC), Joe Vitale (CBC), Philip McRae (CBC), Charlie Effinger (SLUH), Chris Wideman (CCP), Ben Bishop (CCP), Chris Butler (CCP) and Cal Heeter (CBC), soccer players Taylor Twellman (SLUH) and Brad Davis (CCP), and baseball players David Schmidt (CBC), Mike Shannon (CBC), Sasha Kuebel (SLUH), Bob Keppel (DeSmet) and Cliff Politte (Vianney).