George Ferguson Column: Change is good, but we'll all miss the Central A

When the last tennis matches and softball games were played at Central A tournaments last month in Lewistown, it didn’t just mark the final two divisionals of another year for the likes of Havre High, Lewistown, Belgrade and Livingston, it literally signaled the end of an era.

That’s because those two tournaments were literally the last two that will ever be held with the title “Central A.” Yes, for at least the foreseeable future, the Central A is gone.

Of course, three of the four teams that were part of the final years of the Central A will go on, as Havre and Lewistown move to the new Northeast A, while Livingston heads to the new Southeast A. Belgrade however, is starting a new era of its own as the school will begin its first year in Class AA next fall.

So, once again, Class A is going through some major change. It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last, but, the 2019-2020 school year will be the first time in nearly three decades that, the Central A is not part of those changes.

In just my time at Havre High, at the Havre Daily News, and, as a tennis coach, there have been plenty of changes to the Central A.

When Havre first moved down to Class A in 1987, Blue Pony sports were part of the Eastern A, but by 1989, Class A did some realigning, and the Central A was born.

On those days, which included my own years as a student-athlete at Havre High, the Central A was composed of Havre, Lewistown, Browning, Dillon, Anaconda, Butte Central and Livingston and when Belgrade moved up to Class A, the Panthers would come aboard by 1992. Those were some days in the Central A, let me tell you. In those days, it seemed like, whether it was football, basketball, volleyball or wrestling, everybody was really good. Divisional basketball tournaments were just as big as the state tournament, and conference football games were intense every Friday night.

Of course, nothing stays the same, and eventually, the Central A wouldn’t either. And when the new Southwest A was formed in the early 2000’s, Dillon and Anaconda moved out of the Central A. Still, the league itself was solid, but eventually, another rival was lost to the Southwest A when Butte Central also was re-aligned, and more changes came to Class A when Anaconda went down to Class B five years ago.

So, by 2015, the Central A was down to Havre, Lewistown, Belgrade, Browning and Livingston, but again, nothing stays the same, and when Class A again re-aligned three years ago, Browning moved to the Northwest A, a much more geographically desired conference for the school and, all of a sudden, the Central A was down to four.

At the same time, more changes were happening, that being the formation of the Eastern A Division for football, basketball, wrestling, volleyball and track and field. And while the Central A was still a conference, the postseason for those sports would now include teams from both the Central and East.

Again, nothing lasts forever, and at that point, the writing was on the wall, as it was known for the last two years that Belgrade was making the move up to AA, and that would have left the Central A with just three teams.

So, sadly, change was inevitable, but this time, change included doing away with the Central A altogether.

And now, we’re just a summer away from an entirely new era for Havre High athletics.

Yes, welcome Blue Pony fans to the Northeast A. The new conference will be composed of Havre, Lewistown, Glendive, Sidney and Miles City. In basketball and volleyball, those are the teams the Blue Ponies will play for conference games, as will the HHS softball team. So, those sports’ schedules are going to look a lot different come this fall. Yes, those are now the Blue Ponies’ biggest rivals in many sports, and what’s interesting, and maybe even ironic is, in those early years of Havre High in Class A, those were the Ponies’ rivals, too.

Anyone remember Glendive’s Roger Fastings slamming down about four dunks inside the HHS gymnasium in 1987? I do.

So, in a way, I guess Havre is returning to its Class A roots.

Now, not everything will be different next year.

The football schedule, minus Belgrade, will be the same, and schedules for sports like wrestling, swimming, golf, cross country and tennis won’t change much either. The combined Eastern A volleyball, wrestling, basketball and track and field tournaments will be the same as they have been the last couple years as well, so, some things will be very familiar when the new school year begins.

One thing that will indeed take some getting used to, however, is that the Central A is gone. For almost 30 years, the Central A was a pillar of Class A athletics. It was a term we all knew, it was a division or conference we all participated in at one time or another, in one sport or another, and it was something anyone who was a Blue Pony, was proud to be a part of.

Yes, the Central A was iconic, for a long, long time. And I, among many others, am going to miss it. I’m going to miss the conference, the rivalries and all that it entailed. It’s indeed the end of an era.

And, knowing that the end was near, I got a little extra emotional at this year’s divisional tennis tournament. I knew, at that awards ceremony in Lewistown, things were never going to be the same again.

So, this is my public goodbye to the Central A. To the thousands of student-athletes, coaches and administrators who helped make the Central A the great conference it was all those years, thank you, and job well done.

While change is inevitable, and I for one welcome the changes coming this fall, I won’t ever forget all of the great times, the great games, the great players and coaches or, most of all, the great memories made in the Central A.

The Central A was truly one of a kind, and 2019 was truly, the end of an era.