Mid State Conference Explained

Mid State Conference
Dissolved:	2006
Founded:	1949
Conference:	IHSA
Teams:	15 (total)
Region:	Central Illinois (Iroquois, LaSalle, Livingston, McLean, Tazewell, and Woodford counties)

The Mid State Conference was a high school conference in central Illinois. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference comprised 15 small public high schools, with enrollments between 60-340 students in Iroquois, LaSalle, Livingston, McLean, Tazewell, and Woodford counties.

History

The first year of competition for the Mid State was 1949 with eight charter schools: Chenoa, Cornell, El Paso, Fairbury, Flanagan, Gridley, Lexington and Minonk-Dana. In 1951, Fairbury merged with Cropsey High School and remained in the conference as Fairbury-Cropsey High School. Additionally, in 1955, Minonk-Dana consolidated with Rutland High School, again, maintaining a league with eight school. Unfortunately, in 1957, Fairbury-Cropsey left for the short-lived United Conference. For seven years the conference maintained seven schools, however in 1964, Streator Woodland joined the league. Cornell dropped football in 1971, but Deer Creek-Mackinaw was added in 1972 to round out the league again with eight. Gridley dropped football briefly in 1984, but resumed the program in 1986. Cornell would consolidate their enrollment into Flanagan High School in 1987, reducing the number of schools to seven, again. In 1992, Minonk-Dana-Rutland consolidated with a neighboring districts Toluca, and Wenona to become known as Fieldcrest, but remained in the Mid State.

For over 40 years the Mid State Conference maintained seven or eight schools with very few exceptions, however in 1995, Cullom Tri-Point and Tremont joined the league taking the total to 10. Additionally, Colfax Ridgeview and Heyworth would join in 1997, taking the total number of schools to 12. The league would remain at 12 until 2004 when El Paso and Gridley consolidated and Chenoa High School consolidated with Prairie Central. Prairie Central already included a former league member, Fairbury-Cropsey, who in 1985 consolidated with Forrest-Strawn-Wing High School and Chatsworth High Schools.

In the early 2000s, talks began to join forces with the Sangamon Valley Conference in order to create a league with divisions based on enrollment. This conference would be known as the Heart of Illinois and was formed in 2006, thus ending the 56 year old run for the Mid State.^[1]

All-time membership

School	Location	Mascot	County	Year Joined	Year Left	Still Open	Consolidated / School	Conference Joined
Chenoa High School	Chenoa, Illinois	Redbirds	McLean	1949	2004	Yes	Yes / Prairie Central	Corn Belt
Cornell High School	Cornell, Illinois	Cardinals	Livingston	1949	1987	No	Yes / Flanagan-Cornell	—
Flanagan High School	Flanagan, Illinois	Falcons	Livingston	1949	1987	Yes	Yes / Flanagan-Cornell	—
Flanagan-Cornell High School	Flanagan, Illinois	Falcons	Livingston	1987	2006	Yes	No	Heart of Illinois
El Paso High School	El Paso, Illinois	Red Comets	McLean	1949	2004	Yes	Yes / El Paso-Gridley	Heart of Illinois
Gridley High School	Gridley, Illinois	Redskins	McLean	1949	2004	No	Yes / El Paso-Gridley	Heart of Illinois
Fairbury High School	Fairbury, Illinois	Tartars	Livingston	1949	1951	Yes	Yes / Fairbury-Cropsey	—
Fairbury-Cropsey High School	Fairbury, Illinois	Tartars	Livingston	1951	1957	Yes	Yes / Prairie Central	United
Lexington High School	Lexington, Illinois	Minutemen	McLean	1949	2006	Yes	No	Heart of Illinois
Minonk-Dana High School	Minonk, Illinois	Mohawks	Woodford	1949	1955	Yes	Yes / Minonk-Dana-Rutland	Heart of Illinois
Minonk-Dana-Rutland High School	Minonk, Illinois	Mohawks	Woodford	1955	1992	Yes	Yes / Fieldcrest	Heart of Illinois
Fieldcrest High School	Minonk, Illinois	Knights	Woodford	1992	2006	Yes	No	Heart of Illinois
Woodland High School	Streator, Illinois	Warriors	Livingston	1964	2006	Yes	No	Tri-County
Deer Creek-Mackinaw High School	Mackinaw, Illinois	Chiefs	Tazewell	1972	2006	Yes	No	Heart of Illinois
Tri-Point High School	Cullom, Illinois	Warriors	Livingston	1995	2006	Yes	No	Sangamon Valley
Tremont High School	Tremont, Illinois	Turks	Tazewell	1995	2006	Yes	No	Heart of Illinois
Ridgeview High School	Colfax, Illinois	Mustangs	McLean	1997	2006	Yes	No	Heart of Illinois
Heyworth High School	Heyworth, Illinois	Hornets	McLean	1997	2006	Yes	No	Heart of Illinois

Sources:IHSA Conferences,^[2] and IHSA Member Schools Directory^[3] A History of Minonk Schools^[4]

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyyImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20Period = from:1949 till:2006TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalPlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:pink id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.78,0.391,0.654) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:Full from:1949 till:2004 text:Chenoa (1949–2004) bar:1 color:Full from:1996 till:2004 text:Consolidated into Prairie Central HS

bar:2 color:Full from:1949 till:1987 text:Cornell (1949–1987) bar:2 color:White from:1987 till:end text:Consolidated into Flanagan HS

bar:3 color:Full from:1949 till:1987 text:Flanagan (1949-1987) bar:3 color:White from:1987 till:end text:Consolidated with Cornell HS

bar:4 color:Full from:1987 till:2006 text:Flanagan-Cornell (1987-2006)

bar:5 color:Full from:1949 till:2004 text:El Paso (1949–2004) bar:5 color:Full from:1998 till:2006 text:Consolidated with Gridley

bar:6 color:Full from:1949 till:2004 text:Gridley (1949–2004) bar:6 color:Full from:1998 till:2006 text:Consolidated with El Paso

bar:7 color:White from:1998 till:2004 text:El Paso-Gridley (2004-2006) bar:7 color:Full from:2004 till:2006

bar:8 color:Full from:1949 till:1951 text:Fairbury (1949–1951) bar:8 color:White from:1955 till:end text:Consolidated with Cropsey HS

bar:9 color:Full from:1951 till:1958 text:Fairbury-Cropsey (1951–1957) bar:9 color:white from:1960 till:end text:Left for the United Conference

bar:10 color:Full from:1949 till:2006 text:Lexington (1949-2006)

bar:11 color:Full from:1949 till:1955 text:Minonk-Dana (1949-1955) bar:11 color:white from:1956 till:end text:Consolidated with Rutland HS

bar:12 color:Full from:1955 till:1989 text:Minonk-Dana-Rutland (1955–1992) bar:12 color:Full from:1989 till:1992 text:Consolidated with Toluca, and Wenona to become Fieldcrest bar:12 color:White from:1992 till:end

bar:13 color:Full from:1992 till:2006 text:Fieldcrest (1992-2006)

bar:14 color:Full from:1964 till:2006 text:Woodland (1964-2006)

bar:15 color:Full from:1972 till:2006 text:Deer Creek-Mackinaw (1972-2006)

bar:16 color:Full from:1995 till:2006 text:Tri-Point (1995-2006)

bar:17 color:Full from:1995 till:2006 text:Tremont (1995-2006)

bar:18 color:Full from:1997 till:2006 text:Ridgeview (1997-2006)

bar:19 color:Full from:1997 till:2006 text:Heyworth (1997-2006)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:3 start:1949TextData =

fontsize:L

textcolor:black

pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center)

text:^"Mid State membership history"

> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#

Sources:Illinois High School Glory Days,^[5] ^[6]

External links

Notes and References

News: Randy. Sharer. Schedulers take common sense approach; League tourneys to use 'McLean County' moniker. Pantagraph. Pantagraph Publishing Co.. 20 August 2006. .
Web site: IHSA.org Conferences. www.ihsa.org.
Web site: Schools - IHSA. www.ihsa.org.
Web site: A History of Minonk Schools.
Web site: The Great Conferences of Illinois.
Web site: Illinois High School Glory Days.