Big Twelve Conference
ConferenceIHSA
No. of teams11
RegionCentral Illinois


🌍
Locations of Current Big Twelve Schools


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.

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

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]

Member schools

School Town Team Name Colors IHSA Reference
Bloomington High School Bloomington Purple Raiders     AA, 2A, 3A [5]
Centennial High School Champaign Chargers       AA, 2A, 3A [6]
Champaign Central High School Champaign Maroons     AA, 2A, 3A [7]
Danville High School Danville Vikings     AA, 2A, 3A [8]
Manual High School Peoria Rams     AA, 2A, 3A [9]
Normal Community High School Normal Ironmen     AA, 2A, 3A [10]
Normal Community West High School Normal Wildcats     AA, 2A, 3A [11]
Peoria High School Peoria Lions       AA, 2A, 3A [12]
Peoria Notre Dame High School Peoria Irish       AA, 2A, 3A [13]
Richwoods High School Peoria Knights     AA, 2A, 3A [14]
Urbana High School Urbana Tigers     AA, 2A, 3A [15]

Membership timeline

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

  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%5B%5D
  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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