Miked,
I always confuse people when i write about lightweight vs. heavyweight basketball.Actually there was lightweight track as all.
This phenomenon may have been unique to Illinois. Not all schools participated in the organization that ran this.There were member school who paid yearly dues to participate.
The member schools ran from below Interstate 80 and as far south as East St. Louis.
Lightweight basketball and track existed from the end of World War II(as far as I know) until 1984. The last lightweight basketball championship was won by Farmington Illinois in February of 1984.
Lightweight basketball was designed to allow players of smaller stare to continue to play basketball in junior high. It was also designed for smaller schools to be able to compete.
Your stays was determined by age, height and weight. The best teams had talented eighth graders as key players.
Just like you, we wore jockstraps for P.E., practice, and games.We also showered after P.E., practice and games.So nudity really didn't bother us after a while.
Taller seventh graders were measured every night after practice and shower to see how close they were to the limit. They were always nude for these private weigh-ins.
When it came time for games to start, the light weight boys were all brought to a central location in the county. We were taken to a locker room and we stripped and put on our jocks.We then went to an area where a scale and a flat measuring board was set up. There were always an abundance of male coaches and male administrators on hand.
Our birth certificates were handed over, we then stood on the scale in only a jock strap and then we were placed on the measuring board. If you had too many points, you became a heavyweight.
These weigh-ins were done also at the county tournament, the district, the sectional and at state. At any point you could be bumped out.
By the time I started coaching basketball in the mid-1970's, the boys still wore jockstraps and showered, but the weigh-ins were done once with the player fully clothed and only his age and height were taken.
The group who governed this process still runs state tournament series in multiple sports in Illinois. They are the Illinois Elementary School Association.