Big Eight Conference (IHSAA)

Last updated
Big Eight Conference
Founded1980
Ceased2020
No. of teams6 when dissolved
8 at its height
Region7 Counties: Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Posey, and Warrick Counties, Indiana plus Wabash County, Illinois
Locations
IN-IL (B8).png Big Eight at its height with Mount Carmel included.

The Big Eight Conference was an athletic conference of IHSAA Class AAA high schools located in Southwestern Indiana. The conference members were small city-based schools located in Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Posey, and Warrick counties in Indiana and once included Wabash County in Illinois. The conference ceased operations with the 2019-20 Winter Season as the final spring season was canceled because of the 2020 Coronavirus Outbreak.

Contents

History

The Big Eight Conference was created in 1980 when seven members of the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference (Boonville, Jasper, Mount Vernon, Princeton, Tell City, Vincennes Lincoln, and Washington) left to form a new conference with a member of the Pocket Athletic Conference (Gibson Southern). Gibson Southern left in 1994 to rejoin the PAC. Tell City followed suit to rejoin the PAC in 2001 as well (they had both been in that conference before Tell City joining the SIAC in 1953 when it was a super conference), reducing membership to six schools. Mount Carmel joined in 2003 to increase the membership to seven. Mount Carmel, located in Illinois, was the only school from outside Indiana to compete in an Indiana athletic conference.

There have been two different members of the conference that captured the 3A boys' basketball title in four successive years. Very rarely has this occurred in the history of the state finals. Washington captured the 2007–08, 2009–10, and 2010–11 titles, and Princeton captured the 2008-09 State Title. [1]

The conference's demise was set in motion by the Illinois High School Association member schools initially voting in December 2018 to establish a district football format (but repealing it one year later), meaning Mount Carmel would not be able to schedule all of the other conference members in that sport. The conference responded by voting to remove the school in 2020, while the school voted to leave before the 2019–20 school year. This set off a chain reaction, as Jasper and Vincennes Lincoln were accepted to return to the SIAC for 2020, and a week later, the PAC voted to accept the remaining four schools, including two former members, Boonville and Mount Vernon, effectively ending the conference. [2]

Member schools

Former members

SchoolLocationMascotColorsCountyYear joinedPrevious conferenceYear leftConference joined
Boonville Boonville Pioneers   87
Warrick
1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Pocket
Gibson
Southern
Fort Branch Titans  
  
26
Gibson
1980 Pocket 1994 Pocket
Jasper Jasper Wildcats   19
Dubois
1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Southern Indiana
Mount
Carmel
Mount
Carmel
Golden
Aces
   (IL)
Wabash
2003 N. Egypt
(Illinois)
2019 Little Illini
(Illinois)
Mount
Vernon
Mount
Vernon
Wildcats   65
Posey
1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Pocket
Princeton
Community
Princeton Tigers    26
Gibson
1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Pocket
Tell
City
Tell City Marksmen   62
Perry
1980 Southern Indiana 2001 Pocket
Vincennes
Lincoln
Vincennes Alices    42
Knox
1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Southern Indiana
Washington Washington Hatchets   14
Daviess
1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Pocket

State championships

Boonville Pioneers (1)

Jasper Wildcats (8)

Mount Carmel Golden Aces (3)

Mount Vernon Wildcats (0)

Princeton Community Tigers (2)

Vincennes Lincoln Alices (3)

Washington Hatchets (9)

Conference championships

Sources: [3] [4] [5]

Football

SchoolChampionshipsYears
Jasper231981, 1982, 1984*, 1985, 1986*, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996*, 1998, 1999*, 2000, 2001, 2004*,
2005, 2006*, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014*, 2015
Vincennes Lincoln101983*, 1984*, 1996*, 1997, 1999*, 2002, 2003, 2004*, 2014*, 2017
Tell City61980, 1984*, 1988, 1989, 1991*, 1992
Mount Carmel52006*, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014*, 2016
Boonville41984*, 1986*, 1991*, 2018
Gibson Southern11983*
Princeton Community11993
Mount Vernon0
Washington0

Boys basketball

SchoolChampionshipsYears
Vincennes Lincoln211981, 1982*, 1984*, 1987, 1988, 1989*, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999*, 2002, 2003*,
2004, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016*
Jasper101982*, 1989*, 1993, 1996, 1999*, 2000*, 2014*, 2016*, 2018, 2019*
Washington101983, 1995, 2003*, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2016*, 2017, 2019*
Princeton Community61984*, 1985, 2009, 2010, 2014*, 2019*
Boonville41986, 1999*, 2000*, 2001
Mount Carmel0
Mount Vernon0
Tell City0
Gibson Southern0

Girls basketball

SchoolChampionshipsYears
Washington101992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998*, 1999, 2001, 2003
Jasper91982, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1998*, 2005, 2010*, 2012, 2019
Boonville71981, 1984*, 1985, 1986, 1987, 2000, 2017*
Vincennes Lincoln62002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2017*, 2018
Mount Carmel42007, 2008, 2011, 2013
Princeton Community32014, 2015, 2016
Mount Vernon21984, 2010*
Tell City21989, 1990
Gibson Southern0

Note: Big Eight Conference championships were determined by a single round-robin among the active members. The Big Eight Conference did not break ties in the standings for championship purposes, instead co-championships were awarded.

Neighboring Conferences

Related Research Articles

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Mount Carmel High School is a public high school in Mt. Carmel, Illinois. It is a part of Wabash Community Unit School District 348. It is the only high school in Wabash County, Illinois, which is in southern Illinois, just across the Wabash River from Gibson and Knox Counties of Indiana.

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References

  1. "IHSAA - Play on". Archived from the original on March 18, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
  2. Hickey, Pat (2019-06-05). "Four Schools to Join Pocket Athletic Conference in 2020-21; Big Eight Will Fold". Washington (IN) Herald Times. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  3. "Past Champions".
  4. "Big 8 Conference Constitution" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-22. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  5. "Past Champions". April 2013.