“Champions all!”

Those two words, written by New Haven Register scholastic sports editor Bill Lush, marked Connecticut’s introduction to the first Register All-State high school football team on Dec. 4, 1932. Eighty years later, the release of the annual team remains the most anticipated feature in the pages of this newspaper.

The first all-state team consisted of only 11 players, of whom Lush wrote “undoubtedly would show an edge over most of the high school combinations in the country (and) discloses no weakness.” The 11 were listed by their offensive positions, leaving a question of how they would perform when on defense. But most, if not all teams of the era had two-way players, so chances are they’d be just fine.

Read Chip Malafronte's complete story.