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. 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.

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.

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

Member schools

Current members School Town Team name ColorsJoined IHSA Reference Bloomington High School Bloomington Purple Raiders 1925, 1932 AA, 2A, 3A Champaign Centennial High School Champaign Chargers 1983 AA, 2A, 3A Champaign Central High School Champaign Maroons 1925 AA, 2A, 3A Danville High School Danville Vikings 1925 AA, 2A, 3A Manual High School Peoria Rams 1925, 2014 AA, 1A, 2A Normal Community High School Normal Ironmen 1983 AA, 3A, 4A Normal Community West High School Normal Wildcats 1995 AA, 3A, 4A Peoria High School Peoria Lions 1925, 2014 AA, 2A, 3A Peoria Notre Dame High School Peoria Irish 2014 AA, 2A, 2A Richwoods High School Peoria Knights 2014 AA, 2A, 3A Urbana High School Urbana Tigers 1925 AA, 2A, 3A

Former Members School Town Team name ColorsYear Joined Year LeftCurrent Conference Eisenhower High School Decatur Panthers 19832013Central State EightJacksonville High SchoolJacksonvilleCrimsons 19251932Central State EightLincoln High SchoolLincolnRailsplitters 19251994Central State EightMacArthur High SchoolDecaturGenerals 19832013Central State EightMattoon High SchoolMattoonGreen Wave 19252012ApolloPekin High SchoolPekinDragons 19251958Mid-IlliniRantoul Township High SchoolRantoulEagles 19832012Illini PrairieSpringfield High SchoolSpringfieldSenators 19251983Central State EightStephen Decatur High SchoolDecaturReds 19252000Closed in 2000Streator Township High SchoolStreatorBulldogs 19321958Illinois Central Eight

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

References

External links Illinois High School Association (IHSA) official website