Ahh yes a history post!
I'll answer your question firstly Sportsnut. It's a lot of different factors.
1.ADM levels and how the state has considered them have changed a lot over time. In 1985 for instance the Northwest 3A was broken up for good as a 3A conference for which it started in '67. The biggest school was North Surry we had around 846 and was a solid 3A (people I know who went there in the 90’s said we have over 1,000 I haven’t found our official ADM’s from then so I don’t know for sure.) It took the state until 2001 to move us and Wilkes Central to 2A; we had 900’s after that move. We almost went back up in 2005 but that was due to a mistake by the computer.
The population boosts, especially in the power counties really made the system and situation we are in now possible. Without that boost that changed that system who knows where we’d be around here.
2.The area’s changed. The Surry area was a powerhouse area for textile and factories. My mom’s side was heavily into socks for years and years; but all the places went under thanks to NAFTA and all it’s side effects. The many sock factories like the big one near MA’s downtown went under and that hurt the county badly. It’s the same for Yadkin too. UNFI’s still there and Hanes is still in MA but it’s just not the same anymore. It’s hard to believe considering I used to find it all amazing seeing so many different factories as a little kid. Now there are very few indeed. I don’t know Stokes and Wilkes and the mountain counties history in regards to that much but I’m sure it’s the same.
Without the factories here it hurts the area. People leave and move to where factories are at or like my generation did they get brainwashed and move away thinking it’s better but move back or stay in the big cities. Elkin in particular isn’t what it once was anymore. Kids leave like crazy and never come back. That’s a one reason why their program’s in a lot of sports aren’t the same. I remember even seeing one of their government officials mention that in their newspaper when he took the job; he was rather frank about it.
3. I’ll relate a story on what happened to cause the death of the NW as a 3A conference because it’s too interesting not to post.
From what the MA news said in the 1985 season preview the NW could have survived as a 3A if we got a combo of six schools. Us, Forbush, and Madison Mayodan were way big; it said Starmount and North Stokes oddly were too. It said if one of the other Surry schools had went (MA, East, or Central,) the NW 3A could have lived but they didn’t want to due to splitting the county up; so it moved it down and forced us and Forbush into that Iredell based conference.
It’s unfortunate really because it robbed the area of some fun matchups. Starmount vs. North Surry in 1985-87 woulda been an awesome series. But it would have been awful if say Wilkes Central was put in and had to go to Mayodan once a year. I can see why they didn’t include them. MM ultimately caused a hurting to the conference more than they realised. They joined in ‘71; left in ‘75 claiming they were too good for the NW; got destroyed in the piedmont conference they were in; rejoined like a scalded dog in 1979 and stayed until ‘84. They didn’t really add anything to the conference besides 1984 when they split the title (and we upset them to cause a 3 way tie in the finale just for good measure.)
The thing is though this setup couldn’t have lasted. Starmount, North Stokes, and the other Surry schools were getting smaller while us and Wilkes Central stayed the same or got bigger and MM seized to exist by 1988. They merged with Stoneville to create McMichael as an athletic program in 1989 (the school itself opened in 1991.) MM was so awful by the end of their run due to being in a tough as sin conference that it didn’t really matter. From the best I remember they didn’t win in 1988. They were a 3A for a while I believe after merging; now they are a 2AA school in 3A.
The conference woulda died in 1988/89 because those schools were shrinking. Us and WC were screwed regardless.
