Harding's long and winding journey to find home
Since the 1980s, Harding has sought stability in terms of conferences and districts.
Rob McCurdy
MARION - Once upon a time, Marion Harding was a charter member of the Northwest District.
In the 1980s, things began to change. The Buckeye Conference, which the Presidents were a member of since 1954, was breaking up, and Harding administrators thought their future lied in the Central District where the Ohio Capital Conference was expanding and the suburban communities around Columbus were growing.
Still an outlier about an hour north of the I-270 outerbelt, Harding thought joining the Central District would make it more attractive for OCC membership. In 1984, the Prexies made the switch to the Central, but the invitation to the OCC never materialized.
Instead, three years later Harding found a home in the Northwest District-dominated Ohio Heartland Conference with Mansfield Senior, Madison, Lexington and Ashland.
In the early 2000s, the OHC essentially kicked Harding and Vermilion out as they no longer fit the profile. Harding was just too far west and Vermilion too north for the eastward expanding Ohio Cardinal Conference that picked up Clear Fork, West Holmes and Wooster.
That left Harding hunting for a home again.
The new OCC didn't want it and neither did the original OCC. With the Columbus suburbs exploding population growth and seemingly adding new members every year with districts expanding with new high schools, the OCC didn't need to drive an hour into the country to find games.
So in 2003-04, Harding joined the Greater Buckeye Conference with former Buckeye Conference rivals Fremont Ross, Findlay, Sandusky as well as Lima Senior and Napoleon. A year later, the Prexies went back to their roots and rejoined the Northwest District.
The problem was the GBC's uneasy alliance. Schools were looking to find other partners that were more ideal in terms of travel and competition, so from 2011 to 2014, Harding was without a league home and competed as a dreaded independent.
In 2014-15, the Presidents joined the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference, slotting into the Red Division. To be like every other member of the league, the Prexies came back to the Central District that season.
Almost immediately, the MOAC began to fracture as everyone explored their options. The Morrow and Knox county schools announced their intentions of forming a new league. Elgin said it was joining the Northwest Central Conference. Jonathan Alder and Fairbanks went elsewhere. The remaining schools were left in limbo, looking at joining other Columbus-area leagues.
Eventually Buckeye Valley, River Valley, Pleasant, North Union and Galion elected to stay together with Harding and invited Ontario and Clear Fork to come along.
We've seen school districts are fickle and have been for decades. No one likes being the little guy. Everyone want to feel competitive. Travel is always an issue. Coming to grips with changing demographics is hard.
The MOAC could be Harding's forever home. The Central District? Hard to say.
Rob McCurdy is the sports writer at The Marion Star and can be reached at rmccurdy@gannett.com, work 740-375-5158, cell 419-610-0998, Twitter @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.
