Athletics and records · For athletic directors, coaches and school archivists
Historical team rosters for every sport, every season, in one place
When a family asks whether their grandfather played football here, the answer should take a minute, not an afternoon in the library. Put every roster you can find on one touchscreen.
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What are historical team rosters?
Historical team rosters are the lists of every athlete, coach and manager on each of a school’s teams by sport and season, usually kept in old programs, scorebooks and yearbooks in the library or athletic office. HistoryShowcase gathers them into one searchable collection, with one story per team and season, a note on each source and the team photo attached.
Updated
- Made for
- Athletic directors, coaches and school archivists
- Where schools put it
- Athletic office, Field house hallway, The school website
- Layouts
- Honors ledger, Portrait gallery
- Visitors can filter by
- Sport, Level, Year
- Cost
- Free to use. No payment details required.
The names are in the binders. Nobody can find them.
Old rosters live in game programs, scorebooks, yearbooks and newspaper clippings. Some are in the library, some in the athletic office, some in a retired coach’s garage. Names are misspelled from one source to the next, and each sport kept records its own way. Answering a simple question about who played in a given year can mean hours of digging.
Historical team rosters are the record of everyone who played, not just the stars. The backup lineman and the senior who never started are on them too. Once every season sits in one place, by sport and year, the rest of your athletics history has something to stand on: hall of fame inductees, record holders and championship teams all trace back to a roster.
How do historical team rosters on a touchscreen compare with old programs and scorebooks?
| What matters | Programs and scorebooks | HistoryShowcase |
|---|---|---|
| Where rosters are kept | Library, athletic office and coaches’ homes | One collection, grouped by sport |
| Answering who played when | Search through boxes by hand | Search by name or filter by year |
| Spelling differences | Each source spells names its own way | One agreed spelling, with the source noted |
| Coaches and student staff | Sometimes listed, sometimes not | Named in every team’s story |
| Original documents | The physical record of the season | Scanned pages attached to the team story |
What to include on each roster
Every player, every season
List the full roster for each team and season, by sport and level, not only the starters or award winners.
Numbers and positions
Add jersey numbers, positions or weight classes where your sources have them, the way the program listed them.
Coaches and student staff
Name head coaches, assistants, managers, statisticians and trainers. Their years of service belong in the record too.
Captains
Mark each season’s captains, and give them a portrait gallery of their own if you like.
Where the names came from
Note the source for each roster, such as the 1962 homecoming program or the 1977 yearbook, so later editors can check spellings.
The team photo
Attach the team photo and any scanned program pages to the same story, up to 100 files per team.
How to structure your rosters
Make one story per team and season, grouped by sport. The Honors ledger layout keeps long lists of seasons clean and scannable.
Your siteTeam Rosters
- Boys’ sportsHonors ledger
One sub-collection per sport, one row per season.
- Girls’ sportsHonors ledger
Same structure, so every program is just as easy to find.
- Coaching staffsHonors ledger
Head coaches by sport with their years and records, if you keep them.
- CaptainsPortrait gallery
Captains by season, each opening a full profile.
Visitors can narrow it by
- Sport
- Level
- Year
How do you build historical team rosters?
Collect your sources
Gather programs, scorebooks, yearbooks and any roster lists coaches have kept. Decide which source wins when spellings disagree.
Let Smart Add read the programs
Upload a scanned program or roster list. Smart Add suggests stories with their sources, and you accept each one before it’s added.
Fill gaps over time
Publish the seasons you have and mark the missing years. Alumni and retired coaches can often fill them in.
Where should historical team rosters be displayed?
- Athletic officeAnswer roster questions from families and alumni in a minute.
- Field house hallwayCurrent players find the teams that wore the same jersey before them.
- The school websiteShare the published site’s web address so former players can look up their seasons.
Historical team roster questions
Should a story be one player or one team?
For rosters, one story per team and season usually works best: the full roster goes in the biography, with the team photo attached. Players with bigger stories can also get their own profiles in your hall of fame.
We have rosters in a spreadsheet already. Can we use it?
Yes. Import a spreadsheet with one row per story and named detail columns, such as sport, level and coach. Check the result in the private draft before you publish.
What about seasons we have no roster for?
Leave them out until you find one, or add the season with a note asking alumni for help. Nothing is public until someone with publishing access publishes it.
How do visitors find the right season?
They can search, or filter the collection by sport, level and year to reach the right team in a few taps.
Related ideas
Put every player back on the roster
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