Big Twelve Conference (Illinois)

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.

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).
Big Twelve Conference
AssociationIHSA
Members11
RegionCentral Illinois

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

Since 2000, Stephen Decatur closed, bringing membership down to eleven. Rantoul then left to join the Corn Belt Conference, citing its inability to compete with larger schools.

Mattoon left the Big Twelve after the 2011-2012 season to join the Apollo Conference.[1][2] The Green Wave, as the smallest school in the conference, had trouble competing against the more urban schools and are closer in size and geography to the schools currently in the Apollo.

Eisenhower and MacArthur joined the Central State Eight Conference for the 2014-15 school year. 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]

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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