South Suburban Conference (Illinois) Explained

South Suburban Conference
Color:
  1. 000000
Font Color:white
Founded:2006
Conference:IHSA
Teams:14
Sports:12 boys, 12 girls
Region:Chicagoland

The South Suburban Conference (SSC) is a high school athletic and activity conference which comprises fourteen schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

The conference was one of three (the Southwest Suburban Conference (SWSC) and Southland Athletic Conference) to be carved from the long extant South Inter-Conference Association (SICA); a large athletic conference which broke apart in 2005 after 33 years of existence.

History

The "original" incarnation of the South Suburban Conference dates back to 1927 when a group of six schools maintained ties from the original Suburban Conference which had folded that same year. Those original members included Bloom, Blue Island, Chicago University, Kankakee, Thornton Fractional and Thornton. The league continued to add schools as time moved forward with Argo joining in 1938 and Lockport in 1939. University High School left in 1939, leaving a league that maintained seven schools for 14 years.

The south suburbs continued to grow in popularity with school districts becoming larger and populations increasing. So, in 1952, Leyden High School joined the conference making the total number of schools eight. However, in 1957, Thornton Fractional would split into North and South and Leyden would also be split into East and West and all four schools would leave the conference. This exodus would drop the conference total to six schools. In 1960, Joliet joined from the Big 8 and newly opened Thornridge High School was added to the league as well. 1962 witnessed the name change of Blue Island High School to Dwight D. Eisenhower High School. In 1964, Joliet split into three separate schools; Central, East and West making this version of the conference the biggest it would ever become, 10 schools.[1] [2]

Another mass exodus would occur in 1966 as Argo, Kankakee, Lockport and all three Joliet schools left in order to join the newly chartered Illini 8 Conference. The reduction of schools forced the league to reach out for additional members, however, Richards, a brand new high school, was the only team to join. The last team to join this original version of the South Suburban was Thornwood in 1972, the same year the school opened. Unfortunately, this would be the final year for this version of the South Suburban with several teams joining the newly formed South Inter-Conference Association (SICA). Those schools included Argo, Bloom, Eisenhower, Joliet Central, Joliet West, Kankakee, Lockport, Richards, Thornridge, Thornton, Thornton Fractional North and South and Thornwood.[3]

For 33 years prior to 2006, most of the public high schools in the south and southwest suburban Chicago area were a part of the South Inter-Conference Association (SICA) which by 2005 had reached a membership of 33 schools split into five divisions.[4] The conference covered a large geographic area and sociological spectrum "from the Indiana border to Joliet, from impoverished Ford Heights to affluent Frankfort, from virtually all-black Hillcrest to almost all-white Lincoln-Way Central and from Joliet, enrollment 4,993, to 1,066- student Rich South"[4] In 2004, the athletic directors voted 30–3, the principals' board of control voted 6–2, and the district superintendents voted 16–3 to approve a new conference realignment which was to take effect in 2006.[4] The realignment had been pushed because of long travel times and a reduction of sports offerings at some schools. The realignment split the association into three roughly equal and geographically contiguous conferences, one of which, the southeast, contained most of the predominantly African–American schools (compared to one school in the remaining two conferences).[4] It was from these schools that a majority of the votes against the realignment had come.[4] Leaders from these schools demanded an investigation from the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, and petitioned the Illinois State Board of Education to investigate as to whether this action violated rules on equity.[4]

In March 2005, ten schools announced that they were unilaterally leaving SICA to form a new conference, the Southwest Suburban Conference.[5] Those schools included; Andrew, Bolingbrook, Bradley, Homewood-Flossmoor, Joliet Township, Lincoln-Way Central, Lincoln-Way East, Lockport, Sandburg and Stagg. These ten schools collectively were among the largest in student population.[5] Shortly after the announcement, a board member from Lincoln-Way Community High School District, a district representing two of the schools leaving to form a new conference, was forced to resign after racially insensitive statements were left on a reporter's voice mail.[6]

Shortly after this, twelve more schools split off to form the South Suburban Conference.[7] Those schools included; Argo, Bremen, Eisenhower, Evergreen Park, Hillcrest, Lemont, Oak Forest, Oak Lawn, Reavis, Richards, Shepard, and Tinley Park,.

In April 2006, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the schools which had left claiming that "(an) apartheid-like realignment used public funds to regress to separate but equal".[8] The suit was settled out of court with the three schools of Thornton Township High Schools District 205 joining the Southwest Suburban Conference, and the two schools of Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215 joining the South Suburban Conference.[9] The remaining six teams would be known as Southland Athletic Conference.[9] Those schools included; Bloom, Crete-Monee, Kankakee, Rich Central, Rich East and Rich South.

Members

There are 14 members of the conference.[10]

High Schools DivisionTownAreaTeam NameColorsCounty
Alan B. Shepard High SchoolPalos HeightsSouth SuburbsAstrosCook
Argo Community High SchoolSummitSouth SuburbsArgonautsCook
Bremen High SchoolMidlothianSouth SuburbsBravesCook
Dwight D. Eisenhower High SchoolBlue IslandSouth SuburbsCardinalsCook
Evergreen Park Community High SchoolEvergreen ParkSouth SuburbsMustangsCook
Richards High SchoolOak LawnSouth SuburbsBulldogsCook
Hillcrest High SchoolCountry Club HillsSouth SuburbsHawksCook
Lemont High SchoolLemontSouth SuburbsNoneCook
Oak Lawn Community High SchoolOak LawnSouth SuburbsSpartansCook
Oak Forest High SchoolOak ForestSouth SuburbsBengalsCook
Reavis High SchoolBurbankSouth SuburbsRamsCook
Thornton Fractional North High SchoolCalumet CitySouth SuburbsMeteorsCook
Thornton Fractional South High SchoolLansingSouth SuburbsRedwolvesCook
Tinley Park High SchoolTinley ParkSouth SuburbsTitansCook

Sports and activities

The conference sponsors competition in the following sports:[11]

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyyImageSize = width:1250 height:auto barincrement:20Period = from:1925 till:2023TimeAxis = 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 was a member of the original conference id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member with 8-man football id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.78,0.391,0.654) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in a football coop 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 id:OtherC3 value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC4 value:rgb(0.777,0.291,0.298) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC5 value:rgb(0.8,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC6 value:rgb(0.7,0.5,0.3) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:FullxF from:1927 till:1972 text:Bloom (1927-1972) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1972-2005) bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:end text:(Southland Athletic) (2005-Present)

bar:2 color:FullxF from:1927 till:1962 text:Blue Island (1927-1972) bar:2 color:FullxF from:1945 till:1972 text:(Name changed to Dwight D. Eisenhower High School 1962) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1972-2005) bar:2 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:3 color:FullxF from:1927 till:1966 text:Kankakee (1927-1966) bar:3 color:OtherC3 from:1966 till:1972 text:(Illini 8) (66-72) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1972-2005) bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:end text:(Southland Athletic) (2005-Present)

bar:4 color:FullxF from:1927 till:1957 text:Thornton Fractional (1927-1957) bar:4 color:white from:1957 till:end text:(School Split into North and South)

bar:5 color:FullxF from:1927 till:1972 text:Thornton (1927-1972) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1972-2005) bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:end text:(Southland Athletic) (2005-Present)

bar:6 color:FullxF from:1927 till:1939 text:University (1927-1939)

bar:7 color:FullxF from:1938 till:1966 text:Argo (1938-1966) bar:7 color:OtherC3 from:1966 till:1977 text:(Illini 8) (66-77) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1977 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1977-2005) bar:7 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:8 color:FullxF from:1939 till:1966 text:Lockport (1939-1966) bar:8 color:OtherC3 from:1966 till:1982 text:(Illini 8) (66-82) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1982 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1982-2005) bar:8 color:AssocF from:2005 till:end text:(Southwest Suburban) (2005-Present)

bar:9 color:FullxF from:1952 till:1957 text:Leyden (1952-1957) bar:9 color:white from:1960 till:end text:(School Split into East and West)

bar:10 color:AssocOS from:1957 till:1972 text:Fractional North (1957-1972) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1972-2005) bar:10 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:11 color:AssocOS from:1957 till:1972 text:Fractional South (1957-1972) bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1972-2005) bar:11 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:12 color:FullxF from:1960 till:1964 text:Joliet (1960-1964) bar:12 color:white from:1967 till:end text:(School Split into Central, East and West)

bar:13 color:FullxF from:1960 till:1972 text:Thornridge (1960-1972) bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1972-2005) bar:13 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:end text:(Southland Athletic) (2005-Present)

bar:14 color:FullxF from:1966 till:1972 text:Richards (1966-1972) bar:14 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text: bar:14 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1972-2005) bar:14 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:15 color:OtherC4 from:1966 till:1991 text:Lemont (Northeast) (1983-1991) bar:15 color:OtherC6 from:1991 till:1995 text:(1991-1995) bar:15 color:OtherC5 from:1995 till:2005 text: bar:15 color:OtherC5 from:1996 till:2005 text:(1995-2005) bar:15 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:16 color:FullxF from:1971 till:1972 text:Thornwood (1971-1972) bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text: bar:16 color:OtherC1 from:1980 till:2005 text:(SICA) (1972-2005) bar:16 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:end text:Southland Athletic (2005-Present)

bar:17 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Bremen (SICA) (1972-2005) bar:17 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:18 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:1983 text:Evergreen Park (1972-1983) bar:18 color:OtherC4 from:1983 till:1991 text:(Northeast)(1983-91) bar:18 color:OtherC6 from:1991 till:1995 text:(1991-1995) bar:18 color:OtherC5 from:1995 till:2005 text: bar:18 color:OtherC5 from:1996 till:2005 text:(1995-2005) bar:18 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:19 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Hillcrest (SICA) (1972-2005) bar:19 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:20 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Oak Lawn (SICA) (1972-2005) bar:20 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:21 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Oak Forest (SICA) (1972-2005) bar:21 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:22 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Reavis (SICA) (1972-2005) bar:22 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:23 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Tinley Park (SICA) (1972-2005) bar:23 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

bar:24 color:OtherC1 from:1976 till:2005 text:Shepard (SICA) (1976-2005) bar:24 color:Full from:2005 till:end text:(2005-Present)

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

fontsize:L

textcolor:black

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

text:^"South Suburban 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. <#

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://leopardfan.tripod.com/id430.html Joliet Township East High School "Kingsmen"
  2. https://leopardfan.tripod.com/id524.html Joliet West High School "Tigers"
  3. https://leopardfan.tripod.com/id349.html The Great Conferences/Illinois High School Glory Days
  4. News: Temkin. Barry. SICA struggling for perfect balance. Chicago Tribune. 17. 6 February 2005.
  5. News: Sakomato. Bob. 10 bail on SICA, form new league. Chicago Tribune. 6. 1 March 2005.
  6. News: Ziemba. Stanley. Greco Jr, Carmen. School board member resigns ; Derogatory remarks attributed to official. Chicago Tribune. 1. 4 March 2005.
  7. News: Ziemba. Stanley. Districts likely to settle SICA divisions ; New athletic groupings address diversity issue. Chicago Tribune. 1. 16 November 2006.
  8. News: Napolitano. Jo. Schools allege discrimination ; Suit sees race as key to prep conference split. Chicago Tribune. 1. 11 April 2006.
  9. News: Napolitano. Jo. Dispute ends over athletic league split. Chicago Tribune. 24. 30 December 2006.
  10. Web site: School Info. South Suburban Conference. 10 November 2009.
  11. Web site: Sports Terms and Conditions. directory. South Suburban Conference. 10 November 2009.

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