The Baltimore Catholic League (BCL), locally known as the Catholic League is a competitive basketball association composed of private Catholic high schools in the Baltimore, Maryland geographic area.
The BCL was founded in 1972, after the Baltimore high school basketball season culminated in the MSA Championship game, Mt. St. Joseph High School defeated Dunbar High School. This game went on to be known as one of the most remarkable and controversial games in Baltimore high school basketball history. The impetus for the creation of the BCL arrived in the off-season. The goal was to make a separate division from the Maryland Scholastic Association (MSA), which served as the league for all high school athletics in the Baltimore area, public or private. The BCL created a division that was strictly for Baltimore area Catholic High Schools.
It is alleged that the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) was the model for the BCL. The BCL was originally composed of most of the schools in the list below, with the most recent additions being The John Carroll School in the 2010–11 season, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the 2011–12 season. Archbishop Curley High School, a founding member of the league, left the BCL in 1997.
The Cardinal Gibbons School (which closed in 2010) has the most BCL championships to date. The late O. Ray Mullis, former head coach at Cardinal Gibbons, has the most all-time wins of any coach in Baltimore City history (621 wins), while simultaneously claiming the most BCL championships (6). Other notable coaches in the league included Mark Amatucci, formerly of Calvert Hall College, who won a national championship in the early 80s, Cokey Robertson, formerly of St. Maria Goretti High School, Pat Clatchey of Mount Saint Joseph, William Wells formerly of St. Frances Academy, Jerry Savage formerly of Loyola Blakefield, and Dan Popera formerly of Archbishop Curley High School.
The league works in cooperation with the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA). Seven of the 8 teams participate in the MIAA A Conference, which results in each team playing each other twice, once home and once away. St. Maria Goretti is the only member of the BCL that does not participate in the MIAA.
After the conclusion of the season, the BCL sponsors a league tournament held at Loyola College's Reitz Arena. The event usually occurs after the MIAA Conference Championship with all 8 teams of the league participating. It is a single-elimination tournament with 4 quarterfinal matchups, 2 semi-final games, and a championship game. The Junior Varsity (JV) teams also play in the tournament, but held at the home of the higher seed for each game.
Beginning with the 2006–2007 season, RC Sports Productions broadcasts a Baltimore Catholic League Game of the Week on Fox 1370 Sports Radio (formerly V1370) WVIE in Pikesville, Baltimore.
Many former BCL players later played collegiate basketball at NCAA Division I schools, with some advancing to the NBA:
Towson Catholic Owls
Calvert Hall Cardinals
Spalding Cavaliers
Cardinal Gibbons Crusaders
Archbishop Curley Friars
Goretti Gaels
Mount Saint Joseph Gaels
St. Frances Panthers
