Wikipedia

Big Twelve Conference (Illinois)

This article is about the Big Twelve Conference in Central Illinois. For the Big Twelve in Northern Illinois, see Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference. For the NCAA athletic conference in the Central United States, see Big 12 Conference. For the Brazilian football group, see Big Twelve (Brazilian football).


The Big Twelve Conference is a high school athletic conference in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), based in Central Illinois. While the name implies that the conference has twelve schools, there are actually only eleven schools currently active, due to other schools either closing, ending offering varsity athletics, or changing conferences.

Big Twelve Conference
ConferenceIHSA
No. of teams11
RegionCentral Illinois


Map
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10km
6miles
Urbana
Richwoods
Notre Dame
Peoria
Normal West
Normal
Manual
Danville
Champaign
Centennial
.
Bloomington
Locations of Current Big Twelve Schools

The conference was indirectly responsible for the demise of the Capitol Conference in 1983 after voting to remove Springfield High School and add four schools from that conference.

All of the schools in the conference are located in cities on Interstate 74 which runs through central Illinois.

History

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The conference origins date back to 1925 with charter schools that included; Bloomington, Champaign, Danville, Stephen Decatur, Lincoln, Jacksonville, Mattoon, Pekin, Peoria Central, Peoria Manual, Springfield, and Urbana. Bloomington left the conference for a period between 1927 and 1932 and Jacksonville left permanently in 1932. Streator joined the league in 1932 and remained until 1958, the same year Pekin, Peoria Central and Peoria Manual departed. In 1983, the conference morphed again with the departure of Springfield High School and the addition of Champaign Centennial, Decatur Eisenhower, Decatur MacArthur, Normal Community, and Rantoul, bringing the total number of teams back to 12.

The league transitioned into a two-division, East-West format with Centennial, Central, Danville, Mattoon, Rantoul and Urbana in the East and Bloomington, Decatur, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Lincoln, and Normal in the West. Lincoln left the conference in 1994, however, Normal Community West entered the league in 1995. Stephen Decatur closed in 1999, bringing membership down to eleven. Rantoul departed in 2004, Mattoon left in 2012 and both Decatur schools, Eisenhower and MacArthur followed suit in 2013.[1][2] Mattoon joined the Apollo Conference in order to play schools of similar size and Eisenhower and MacArthur joined the Central State Eight Conference Both schools were the final two schools from Decatur that remained in the conference, and the member schools of the CS8 are mostly from the Springfield area.[3]

Starting with the 2014-2015 school year, four Peoria schools joined the Big Twelve, with the departure of the two Decatur schools. The four schools who joined are Manual High School, Peoria High School, Peoria Notre Dame High School, and Richwoods High School. [4]

As of today. Champaign Central, Danville, and Urbana are the only continuous members to have stayed in the conference since its inception.

Member schools

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Current Members

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School Town Team Name Colors Joined IHSA Reference
Bloomington High School Bloomington Purple Raiders     1925,

1932

AA, 2A, 3A [5]
Centennial High School Champaign Chargers       1983 AA, 2A, 3A [6]
Champaign Central High School Champaign Maroons     1925 AA, 2A, 3A [7]
Danville High School Danville Vikings     1925 AA, 2A, 3A [8]
Manual High School Peoria Rams     1925,

2014

AA, 2A, 3A [9]
Normal Community High School Normal Ironmen     1983 AA, 2A, 3A [10]
Normal Community West High School Normal Wildcats     1995 AA, 2A, 3A [11]
Peoria High School Peoria Lions       1925,

2014

AA, 2A, 3A [12]
Peoria Notre Dame High School Peoria Irish       2014 AA, 2A, 3A [13]
Richwoods High School Peoria Knights     2014 AA, 2A, 3A [14]
Urbana High School Urbana Tigers     1925 AA, 2A, 3A [15]

Former Members

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School Town Team Name Colors Year Joined Year Left Current Conference
Eisenhower High School Decatur Panthers     1983 2013 Central State Eight
Jacksonville High School Jacksonville Crimsons     1925 1932 Central State Eight
Lincoln High School Lincoln Railsplitters     1925 1994 Central State Eight
MacArthur High School Decatur Generals     1983 2013 Central State Eight
Mattoon High School Mattoon Green Wave     1925 2012 Apollo
Pekin High School Pekin Dragons     1925 1958 Mid-Illini
Rantoul High School Rantoul Eagles     1983 2012 Illini Prairie
Springfield High School Springfield Senators     1925 1983 Central State Eight
Stephen Decatur High School Decatur Reds     1925 2000 Closed in 2000
Streator Township High School Streator Bulldogs     1932 1958 Illinois Central Eight

Membership timeline

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Beginning in 1925, the Big Twelve Conference competes in 11 boys, 13 girls and 13 coed sports and activities within the IHSA.

Corn Belt ConferenceCentral State Eight ConferenceCentral State Eight ConferenceNorth Central Illinois ConferenceMid-State 6 ConferenceMid-State 6 ConferenceMid-State 6 ConferenceMid-State 6 ConferenceApollo ConferenceCentral State Eight Conference

Big Twelve Conference full members Big Twelve members (non-football)

Left the conference for financial reasons

References

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  1. ^ "Mattoon leaving Big 12 after 2011-12". news-gazette.com. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  2. ^ reports, H&R staff. "Apollo conference back from brink". herald-review.com. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  3. ^ http://www.wjbc.com/common/page.php?feed=31&pt=Decatur+schools+leaving+Big+12+Conference&id=38523&is_corp=0[permanent dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Schools covered by The Pantagraph". pantagraph.com. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  5. ^ "Bloomington (H.S.)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Archived from the original on 4 June 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  6. ^ "Champaign (Centennial)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  7. ^ "Champaign (Central)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  8. ^ "Danville (H.S.)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  9. ^ "Peoria (Manual)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 August 2014.
  10. ^ "Normal (Community)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  11. ^ "Normal (Community West)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
  12. ^ "Peoria (H.S.)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 August 2014.
  13. ^ "Peoria (Notre Dame)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 August 2014.
  14. ^ "Peoria (Richwoods)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 August 2014.
  15. ^ "Urbana (H.S.)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). 1 April 2010. Retrieved 16 April 2010.
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