University Interscholastic League

The league's organizer was E. D. Shurter, commissioned by University of Texas president Sidney E. Mezes as part of the new Extension Bureau. Its first name was the Debating League of Texas High Schools, and in 1911 it became the Debating and Declamation League. Its monthly, now The Leaguer, began in 1917, and in 1965 membership opened to all public schools. Roy Bedichek led it from 1922 to 1948. More than two million students took part in 1992-1993, and its former contestants include Lyndon B. Johnson, Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards and Earl Campbell.

What the plaque says

University Interscholastic League In 1910, the President of the University of Texas at Austin instructed the Extension Department to organize an academic league for secondary schools to promote educational outreach in the state. At the December 1910 Texas State Teachers Association meeting in Abilene, interested teachers assembled and organized the debating league of Texas high schools. The first state meet was held in Austin on May 5—6, 1911, drawing 60 delegates from 10 schools. The same weekend, the University of Texas hosted a state track meet through the Interscholastic Athletic Association, with 90 athletes representing 11 high schools and four academies. Both organizations grew quickly, voting to merge at the annual meeting of both groups on May 3, 1913, through the creation of the University Interscholastic League (UIL). The league focused on fair competition, establishing student eligibility rules and competition levels by attendance. The UIL provided a framework for scholastic and extracurricular events from county meets up to state contests. By 1917, the UIL was the largest interscholastic league in the nation and a model for other states. Through the years, the organization has transformed, with the implementation of fine arts contests and by promoting competition as an integral part of the total educational experience. The UIL continued to add academic, music and athletic events over the years, while responding to changing social issues such as integration, amateur status and gender equity. The UIL also created the Texas Interscholastic League Foundation, which has provided millions of dollars in college scholarships since 1954. From its origins in the parallel growth of academic and athletic competitions among Texas schools, the UIL has become a significant partner in the education of Texas schoolchildren. (2009)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• LBJ Presidential Library — 0.4 mi
  A ten-story travertine archive on the University of Texas campus holding 45 million pages from a presidency of civil rights laws, the War on Poverty and Vietnam.
• George Washington Carver Museum — 0.9 mi
  East Austin's museum of Black history and culture, grown from a segregated branch library moved across town in 1933, with a permanent exhibit on Juneteenth at its core.
• Bullock Texas State History Museum — 0.9 mi
  The state's history museum at the head of Congress Avenue, built around the hull of La Salle's ship La Belle, raised from Matagorda Bay with 1.8 million artifacts.
• Harry Ransom Center — 1.0 mi
  The University of Texas archive where a Gutenberg Bible and the earliest surviving camera photograph are always on view, free, beside the papers of Watergate and the movies.

More markers nearby

• The Gant Family — 0.3 mi
• Col. Lewis Miles Hobbs Washington — 0.5 mi
• Abner Hugh Cook — 0.5 mi
• Gen. George W. Terrell — 0.5 mi