Inter-Academic League
The Inter-Academic League (officially the Inter-Academic Association of Philadelphia and Vicinity, commonly known as the Inter-Ac) is an inter-scholastic athletic conference. The high school sports league consists of selective private schools in the Philadelphia area and surrounding suburbs. The schools were organized into a conference early in 1887 when they came together as the Interacademic Athletic Association (the name was later shortened to its present configuration). Two initial sports offered by the league were football and track and field.
| Inter-Athletic Conference | |
|---|---|
| Inter-Ac | |
| Established | 1887 |
| Members | 10 |
| Region | Delaware Valley, United States |
| Former names | Interacademic Athletic Association |
It was one of the earliest permanent interscholastic football leagues,[1] and the rivalry between Penn Charter and Germantown Academy is perhaps the oldest football rivalry in the country.[2]
Early members were Germantown Academy, Haverford Grammar, Penn Charter, De Lancey, Friends' Central School, Swarthmore High School, and Episcopal Academy. In the first decade after the turn of the century the league increased the number of sports, adding ice hockey, baseball, tennis, and basketball.[1]
Member schools
Boys' Members:
- Episcopal Academy
- Germantown Academy
- Haverford Schoolb
- Malvern Preparatory Schoolb
- Springside Chestnut Hill Academy#
- William Penn Charter School
Girls' Members:
- Academy of Notre Dame de Namurg
- Agnes Irwin Schoolg
- Baldwin Schoolg
- Episcopal Academy
- Germantown Academy
- Springside Chestnut Hill Academy#
- William Penn Charter School
^b This is an all-boys school, and therefore does not have a field hockey or softball team.
^g This is an all-girls school, and therefore does not have a football, baseball, or wrestling team.
# Springside School and Chestnut Hill Academy officially merged in 2011 to become Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.
References
- Robert Pruter; Project Muse (2013). The Rise of American High School Sports and the Search for Control, 1880-1930. Syracuse University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-8156-5219-9.
- Mike Sielski (1 September 2009). Fading Echoes: A True Story of Rivalry and Brotherhood from the Football Field to the Fields of Honor. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-101-13997-4.