[citation needed] The oldest of the rating systems, the National Sports News Service, was begun by Arthur H. "Art" Johlfs—who originally started naming champions informally in 1927 as a 21 year old high school coach and official,[2] but did so more formally starting in 1959[3] after enlarging his network of supporting hobbyists[2] to receive reports from six separate areas of the country.
[5] Sollenberger was the facilitator of a similar poll for Joe Namath's National Prep Sports magazine in 1976 and 1977, before that publication was discontinued[6] (its Hertz Trophy was awarded each year to Moeller of Cincinnati,[7] which also happened to be both of the top picks of the NSNS).
[11]: 44–45 It is not immediately clear if these discrepancies are due to poor record-keeping, or if Sollenberger or Huff adjusted the list of champions over the years as new information came to light—or if they simply just disagreed with Johlfs' picks.
Johlfs, for his part, described how he arrived at choosing a champion: he accepted input from Minnesota college and professional coaches, reviewed game statistics, films,[12] and press clippings,[13] and considered the school's enrollment size.
[13] Sollenberger, on the other hand, primarily determined champions by attending prominent games in person, while also consulting college football coaching staffs.
[17] On December 31, 1938, duPont Manual of Louisville, Kentucky, and New Britain of Connecticut played in an actual national championship game at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana with a formal, third-party sponsor, the Louisiana Sports Association–and, by extension, the Sugar Bowl Committee, which held a series of sporting events leading up to the Sugar Bowl game itself.
[21] After World War II the National Federation of State High School Associations also began discouraging intersectional postseason games.
2023–present Bold type indicates current selectorsNotes: *—it is not immediately clear if these games were only scheduled between the two competing teams and base their authority on general acclamation, or if any or all of these games had an independent third party formally sponsor it to increase legitimacy; **—National Sports News Service rankings were merged into the Fox FAB 50 rankings, beginning in 2000; †—USA High School Football rankings were split into public and private school divisions, beginning in 2013; ‡—American Football Monthly rankings were split into public and private school divisions, beginning in 2005 Note: all information between 1904 and 2000 is derived from the National High School Football Record Book (2001),[11] unless otherwise specified; *—listings from an earlier source[10] do not necessarily match listings from a more recent source[11]—it is not immediately clear if this was due to poor record-keeping or if past champions were later reevaluated by the National Sports News Service and revised accordingly.