Each school lost the state title in a different way.

Liberty High was down by a point at the half in 2001, and couldn't quite catch up. Kearney High fell to a sharp-shooting guard in 2004.

And Kickapoo's stars almost won the game two years ago, barely missing three shots in the final seconds.

A ruling Wednesday erased the losses, and turned losers into winners.

The Missouri State High School Activities Association stripped St. Louis basketball powerhouse Vashon High of three state championships. Vashon, the board ruled, had used ineligible players over five seasons, and must surrender all five district crowns, a 2005 second-place state finish and Missouri titles won in 2001, 2004 and 2006.

The decision finalizes a 19-month investigation of Vashon and its iconic coach, Floyd Irons, and gives credence to years of speculation that Irons was improperly recruiting players.

It also creates three new champions: Liberty High, northeast of Kansas City; Kearney High, just north of Liberty; and Kickapoo High, in Springfield.

Players, coaches and school leaders were happy — if a bit unnerved — to hear the news.

"You don't win a state championship every day," said Kickapoo coach Roy Green.

Green figured he may have to call his boys and size them up for title rings, backdated to 2006. Liberty started looking for old team photos, preparing to blow them up and mount them next to the school's other champs, on the gymnasium wall.

Even Kearney's retired coach, Chuck Minor, figured they'd do something to celebrate.

Still, it was all unsettling for some.

"You've got to feel like that moment of spontaneity, that moment of jubilation, was taken from these kids by a team that didn't play by the rules," Minor said.

Normally, he said, you win the game. You feel good. You get your picture in the paper and an assembly at school. This title comes four years late, he said.

"We're happy as heck to get the championship," he said. "But we don't know what to do with it. These kids have moved on."

Coaches have been suspicious of Vashon recruiting for years, some even filing complaints with the state association.

But little came of the rumors, even when Irons was removed as coach of Vashon in 2006 after an audit found mismanagement of money in the basketball program.

Then, this past September, Irons pleaded guilty to federal charges of mail and wire fraud for his part in a real estate scheme meant to kick back tens of thousands of dollars to him and basketball booster Mike Noll, according to federal prosecutors.

And as part of his plea agreement, prosecutors required him to tell the state activities association everything he knew about eligibility and recruiting violations at Vashon, on Cass Avenue in St. Louis.

He met with association officials in November and admitted renting an apartment for two Illinois students from 2002 through 2006. He brought them beds and a TV, food and clothing, and even asked a booster to clean and cook for the boys, according to a transcript of the meeting.

Irons was sentenced in March to a year in prison.

Prison officials in Terre Haute, Ind., did not return calls seeking to reach him.

This spring, St. Louis Public Schools representatives reported to the association that Vashon had used at least five ineligible players on championship basketball teams over the five years.

The names of the players have not been released, and Wednesday's meeting was closed to the public, with the state association citing privacy laws. But the Post-Dispatch has identified two as Johnny and Bobby Hill, who were on championship squads in 2004 and 2006.

State association leaders praised Vashon officials for cooperating with the investigation.

"I think everyone involved in the process is glad to put this behind them and move forward," association Executive Director Kerwin Urhahn said in a statement.

Vashon players could not be reached for comment. But one alum called the decision a slap in the face to Vashon.

"It's just unfortunate that the kids who gave it their all are going to suffer and the school is going to suffer because of the transgressions of the leader," said Cozy W. Marks Jr., president of the Vashon Unified Alumni Association.

The new champions say this isn't necessarily easy for them, either.

"It's as a good a feeling as you can have when it happens this way," said Chad Fleming, a member of the 2001 Liberty High team, and now an assistant coach at Kearney. "I wish we could go back and play that game without their illegal players."

And that's just the thing. The boys and their coaches remember those games.

They wanted to have won by skill and smarts, not by forfeit.

Several could still describe the final minutes.

For Kickapoo, it came down to 5.9 seconds.

The Chiefs were down by three. They had just missed two shots but had the ball.

Kyle Kirk drove the court, and, at the last second, flipped the ball to a wide-open Tyler Richardson, who stood just a few feet inside the half-court line.

As the buzzer sounded, Richardson let the ball go.

The shot, Coach Green remembers, was dead on.

But it was long.

It banged off the back of the rim, and bounced to the floor.

Richardson said Wednesday he was happy Kickapoo is now a champion.

But he still missed that shot from the corner, and the one at the buzzer, too. A trophy now won't change that.

"I don't want to say we won," he said. "We didn't win.

"But that championship's now ours."

Elizabethe Holland of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

dhunn@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8411