Over six previous years, fans had attended a boys' track meet in which athletes were given handicaps according to age, reputation and overall appearance – as in a horse race – but this format was discontinued in 1910 when new rules and a new trophy were introduced.
The Games Mistresses Association (GMA) of Jamaica has been led by Presidents including Joyce Taylor, Barbara Jones and Joan Lloyd-Hudson.
The girls and boys championships are the biggest track and field event involving high school students anywhere in the world.
Triple Olympic/World gold medalist and world record holder Usain Bolt first came to the fore in 2002, after failing to win any events in the Class 3 age group.
Olympic champions Veronica Campbell-Brown, and Shelly-Ann Fraser suffered defeats in the lower age groups at the meet before finally winning for their school teams.
Three-time 100 m world record-holder and World/Olympic gold medalist (4 × 100 m) Asafa Powell competed, but never became a household name at the high school level because he was disqualified in the Class 1 100m final.
Other top performers at Champs who have gone on to excel on the world stage include Michael Frater, Bert Cameron, Melaine Walker, Winthrop Graham, Beverly McDonald, Maurice Wignall, Juliet Cuthbert, Sandie Richards and Raymond Stewart.
Although the high school competition developed world-class talent such as Olympic stars Arthur Wint and Herb McKenley, Una Morris and Vilma Charlton, then Lennox Miller, Donald Quarrie and Merlene Ottey, Champs was virtually unknown to mainstream international media until the emergence of a disproportionate number of world-class sprinters from Jamaica in the Olympic Games and IAAF World Championships in Athletics.