The Second World War made several impacts on the NCO. The most obvious was the absence of 18 and 19 year-olds, who were called into the armed services. In 1944 the all-league team was made up of five 17-year old seniors. Even the All-Ohio team had four 17 year-olds on it.

Also, in times past the sports writers pointed out which college the grads attended and how they were succeeding in their college careers. Now the columns reported those who gave the greatest sacrifice for the nation, (a gold star) their lives. One sensed a sadness in their writings like when Bill McKee wrote that Marion's 1940 All-NCO guard Wayne Short, who lost his life at Iwo Jima. Bucyrus' Harry Linn Martin earned the Congressional Medal of Honor at Iwo Jima. He gave his life there, also.

A second result from the war was some schools dropped their spring sports schedules. The final NCO track meet was held in 1941. When rations were placed on gasoline and tires, the amount of war-time travel became limited. While most of the teams traveled by school buses, they did not have rationed tires. However, their fans traveling by car eliminated the longer trips. Bill McKee accused Marion Harding of using up everyone's tires. Finally, many schools either canceled their spring sports or they dropped one of the two sports: baseball or track.