Northwest Suburban Conference (Illinois) Explained

Northwest Suburban Conference
Founded:1925
Dissolved:1997
Conference:IHSA
Teams:25
Region:Chicagoland (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, and McHenry counties)

The Northwest Suburban Conference (NWSC) was a high school athletic conference in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago, primarily centered around western Lake County and northwestern Cook County. All of the schools were members of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA).

The conference housed 25 different schools in its 72-year history, with a high turnover rate of schools joining and leaving the conference. Wauconda was the only consistent member of the NWSC for its entire existence.

History

The conference was formed in the spring of 1925 with seven original members: Antioch, Arlington, Barrington, Libertyville, Palatine, Warren, and Wauconda. By 1937, the conference had grown to 13 members with the additions of Leyden in 1926, Bensenville (renamed Fenton in 1955) in 1927, Ela-Vernon (renamed Lake Zurich in 1965) in 1928, Grant and Lake Forest in 1935, and Niles in 1937. Two years later, membership reduced down to 8 when Arlington, Lake Forest, Leyden, Libertyville, Niles, and Warren left and Northbrook joined, and the conference had a stable lineup for 13 years until 1952. Grayslake joined in 1952 when Barrington left for the North Suburban Conference and Northbrook closed, but one year later Northbrook's new school Glenbrook opened and joined the conference. In 1957, Fenton, Glenbrook, and Palatine left to create the Tri County Conference, while Lake Forest and Warren returned and Round Lake joined.[1]

The conference had a stable lineup for 16 years until 1973, when Lake Forest left for the North Suburban and the NWSC added three new members: Cary-Grove, Stevenson, and Woodstock. With two more additions in 1976, Dundee and Jacobs, the NWSC had 12 members, and the conference was split into North and South divisions for football. The division format lasted only two seasons, however, as membership reduced down to 8 after Cary-Grove, Dundee, Jacobs, and Woodstock all left in 1978 to create the Fox Valley Conference.

Stevenson left in 1982 to join the North Suburban and was replaced with Johnsburg. One year later, Antioch and Warren also left to join the North Suburban (Antioch's departure left Wauconda as the sole charter member remaining in the NWSC), and they were replaced with Marengo and Marian Central, the latter being the only private school to ever be a member of the NWSC. In 1991, Lake Zurich left for the Fox Valley Conference and Marengo left for the Big Northern Conference, leaving the NWSC with only 6 teams for the remainder of its existence.

After Grayslake and Marian Central left in 1997 to join the Fox Valley and Suburban Catholic Conferences, respectively, the NWSC officially folded. The four remaining members, Grant, Johnsburg, Round Lake, and Wauconda, played the 1997 football season as independents, although unofficially they played a conference schedule where they each played each other twice for a total of 6 conference games.[2] Johnsburg had joined the Big Northern for all other sports that year and later joined the BNC for football in 1998, while Grant, Round Lake, and Wauconda played all sports as independents until 2000 when they were all accepted into the North Suburban.

From the end of the NWSC until 2006, five schools (Grant, Johnsburg, Marengo, Round Lake, and Wauconda) continued to play tennis together in the "Spirit of the Northwest Suburban Conference" due to the Big Northern Conference (Johnsburg and Marengo's conference at the time) not having tennis as a conference sport. This conference was not recognized by the IHSA.[3]

All-Time Membership

SchoolLocationCountyMascotColorsYear JoinedYear LeftTotal YearsStill openCurrent Conference
Antioch Community High SchoolAntiochLakeSequoits1925198358YesNorthern Lake County Conference
Arlington High SchoolArlington HeightsCookCardinals1925193914No[4]
Barrington High SchoolBarringtonLakeBroncos/Fillies1925195227YesMid-Suburban League
Cary-Grove High SchoolCaryMcHenryTrojans197319785YesFox Valley Conference
Dundee Community High SchoolCarpentersvilleKaneCardunals[5] 197619782No[6]
Fenton High SchoolBensenvilleDuPageBison1927195730YesUpstate Eight Conference
Glenbrook High School[7] NorthbrookCookSpartans195319574YesCentral Suburban League
Grant Community High SchoolFox LakeLakeBulldogs1935199762YesNorthern Lake County Conference
Grayslake Community High School[8] GrayslakeLakeRams1952199745YesNorthern Lake County Conference
Jacobs High SchoolAlgonquinMcHenryGolden Eagles197619782YesFox Valley Conference
Johnsburg High SchoolJohnsburgMcHenrySkyhawks1982199715YesKishwaukee River Conference
Lake Forest High SchoolLake ForestLakeScouts1935193920YesNorth Suburban Conference
19571973
Lake Zurich High SchoolLake ZurichLakeBears1928199163YesNorth Suburban Conference
Leyden High School[9] Franklin ParkCookEagles1926193913YesWest Suburban Conference
Libertyville High SchoolLibertyvilleLakeWildcats1925193914YesNorth Suburban Conference
Marengo Community High SchoolMarengoMcHenryIndians198319918YesKishwaukee River Conference
Marian Central Catholic High SchoolWoodstockMcHenryHurricanes1983199714YesChicagoland Christian Conference
Niles Township High School[10] Niles CenterCookTrojans193719392No[11]
Northbrook High SchoolNorthbrookCookVikings1939195213No[12]
Palatine High SchoolPalatineCookPirates1925195732YesMid-Suburban League
Round Lake High SchoolRound LakeLakePanthers1957199740YesNorthern Lake County Conference
Adlai E. Stevenson High SchoolLincolnshireLakePatriots197319829YesNorth Suburban Conference
Warren Township High SchoolGurneeLakeBlue Devils1925193940YesNorth Suburban Conference
19571983
Wauconda High SchoolWaucondaLakeBulldogs1925199772YesNorthern Lake County Conference
Woodstock High SchoolWoodstockMcHenryBlue Streaks197319785YesKishwaukee River Conference

Membership Timeline

DateFormat = yyyyImageSize = width:1350 height:auto barincrement:20Period = from:1925 till:1997TimeAxis = 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:1925 till:1983 text:Antioch (1925-1983)

bar:2 color:Full from:1925 till:1939 text:Arlington (1925-1939)

bar:3 color:Full from:1925 till:1952 text:Barrington (1925-1952)

bar:4 color:Full from:1925 till:1939 text:Warren (1925-1939, 1957-1983)

bar:4 color:Full from:1957 till:1983 text:

bar:5 color:Full from:1925 till:1939 text:Libertyville (1925-1939)

bar:6 color:Full from:1925 till:1957 text:Palatine (1925-1957)

bar:7 color:Full from:1925 till:1997 text:Wauconda (1925-1997)

bar:8 color:Full from:1926 till:1939 text:Leyden (1926-1939)

bar:9 color:Full from:1927 till:1955 text:Bensenville (1927-1957)

bar:9 color:Full from:1955 till:1957 text:Fenton (renamed in 1955)

bar:10 color:Full from:1928 till:1965 text:Ela-Vernon (1928-1991)

bar:10 color:Full from:1965 till:1991 text:Lake Zurich (renamed in 1965)

bar:11 color:Full from:1935 till:1997 text:Grant (1935-1997)

bar:12 color:Full from:1935 till:1939 text:Lake Forest (1935-1939, 1957-1973)

bar:12 color:Full from:1957 till:1973 text:

bar:13 color:Full from:1937 till:1939 text:Niles (1937-1939)

bar:14 color:Full from:1939 till:1952 text:Northbrook (1939-1952)

bar:15 color:Full from:1952 till:1997 text:Grayslake (1952-1997)

bar:16 color:Full from:1953 till:1957 text:Glenbrook (1953-1957)

bar:17 color:Full from:1957 till:1997 text:Round Lake (1957-1997)

bar:18 color:Full from:1973 till:1978 text:Cary-Grove (1973-1978)

bar:19 color:Full from:1973 till:1982 text:Stevenson (1973-1982)

bar:20 color:Full from:1973 till:1978 text:Woodstock (1973-1978)

bar:21 color:Full from:1976 till:1978 text:Jacobs (1976-1978)

bar:22 color:Full from:1976 till:1978 text:Dundee (1976-1978)

bar:23 color:Full from:1982 till:1997 text:Johnsburg (1982-1997)

bar:24 color:Full from:1983 till:1991 text:Marengo (1983-1991)

bar:25 color:Full from:1983 till:1997 text:Marian Central (1983-1997)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1925TextData =

fontsize:L

textcolor:black

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

text:^"NWSC Membership History"

  1. > 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. <#

Notes

  1. Web site: June 13, 2022 . Great Conferences . Illinois High School Glory Days.
  2. News: Hanley . Reid . October 17, 1997 . Regardless of IHSA rulings, Johnsburg again standing tall . . June 13, 2022.
  3. News: Waddick . Ian . March 26, 2002 . What is the Spirit of the Northwest Suburban Conference? . 2 . . June 13, 2022.
  4. Closed in 1984.
  5. The nickname "Cardunals" was derived from the names of the four towns whose students went to Dundee: Carpentersville, East and West Dundee, and Algonquin. The school's mascot was a cardinal.
  6. Consolidated with Irving Crown High School in 1983 to become Dundee-Crown High School.
  7. Renamed Glenbrook North High School in 1962.
  8. Renamed Grayslake Central High School in 2004.
  9. Renamed East Leyden High School in 1958; East and West Leyden have a combined athletics program that operates under "Leyden High School".
  10. Renamed Niles East High School in 1959.
  11. Closed in 1980.
  12. Closed in 1952 and replaced with Glenbrook High School in 1953.

References

  1. Web site: June 13, 2022 . Great Conferences . Illinois High School Glory Days.
  2. News: Hanley . Reid . October 17, 1997 . Regardless of IHSA rulings, Johnsburg again standing tall . . June 13, 2022.
  3. News: Waddick . Ian . March 26, 2002 . What is the Spirit of the Northwest Suburban Conference? . 2 . . June 13, 2022.
  4. Closed in 1984.
  5. The nickname "Cardunals" was derived from the names of the four towns whose students went to Dundee: Carpentersville, East and West Dundee, and Algonquin. The school's mascot was a cardinal.
  6. Consolidated with Irving Crown High School in 1983 to become Dundee-Crown High School.
  7. Renamed Glenbrook North High School in 1962.
  8. Renamed Grayslake Central High School in 2004.
  9. Renamed East Leyden High School in 1958; East and West Leyden have a combined athletics program that operates under "Leyden High School".
  10. Renamed Niles East High School in 1959.
  11. Closed in 1980.
  12. Closed in 1952 and replaced with Glenbrook High School in 1953.

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