Northern Illinois Conference (athletic conference)

Last updated
Northern Illinois Conference
Conference IHSA
No. of teams10
Region Illinois (Boone, Stephenson, and Winnebago counties)
Locations
Map of the counties in the Northern Illinois Conference.png The Northern Illinois Conference within Illinois
Locations of NIC 10 Schools

The Northern Illinois Conference (NIC-10) is a high school athletic conference consisting of nine high public schools and one Catholic school in Illinois' Boone, Stephenson, and Winnebago Counties. Member schools are also full members of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), and are among the larger schools in that area, all competing in Class AA (in the two class system) of IHSA competitions.

Contents

Current members

SchoolLocationMascotColorsYear Joined IHSA Classes A/AA [1] WebsiteReference
Auburn High School Rockford Knights   
Red, Black
1960AA/3A/4A [2] http://www2.rps205.com/Schools/HS/Auburn/Pages/Home.aspx [3]
Belvidere High School Belvidere Bucs   
Gold, Purple
1963A/AA/2A/3A [4] http://www.district100.com/Schools/Belvidere/Pages/Home.aspx [5]
Belvidere North High School Belvidere Blue Thunder    
Navy Blue, Scarlet Red, Vegas Gold
2006AA/2A/3A/4A [6] http://www.district100.com/Schools/BelvidereNorth/Pages/Home.aspx [7]
Boylan Catholic High School Rockford Titans   
Green, White
1964AA/2A/3A/4A [8] http://www.boylan.org/ [9]
East High School Rockford E-Rabs   
Red, Black
1940AA/2A/3A/4A [10] http://www2.rps205.com/Schools/HS/East/Pages/default.aspx [11]
Freeport High School Freeport Pretzels   
Orange, Black
1916AA/2A/3A [12] http://fsd145hs.sharpschool.net/ [13]
Guilford High School Rockford Vikings   
Columbia Blue, White
1963AA/3A/4A [14] http://www2.rps205.com/Schools/HS/Guilford/Pages/Home.aspx [15]
Harlem High School Machesney Park Huskies   
Black, Orange
1963AA/3A/4A [16] https://web.archive.org/web/20120316213606/http://www.harlem122.org/education/school/school.php?sectionid=6 [17]
Hononegah High School Rockton Indians   
Purple, Gold
1982AA/3A/4A [18] https://archive.today/20130414231214/http://www.hononegah.org/education/district/district.php?sectionid=1 [19]
Jefferson High School Rockford J-Hawks     [20]
Red, White, Gold
19712A/3A/4A [21] http://www2.rps205.com/Schools/HS/Jefferson/Pages/default.aspx [22]

* Depending on the sport/activity, schools compete in a variety of class systems. The classes are listed in that order in this table.

Previous members

SchoolLocationMascotColorsYear JoinedYear LeftTotal YearsCurrent ConferenceWebsiteReference
DeKalb High School DeKalb, IL Barbs  
Orange, Black
1916
1919
1917
1929
13 DuPage Valley Conference https://sites.google.com/a/d428.org/dhs/home [23]
Rockford Central High School Rockford, IL Rabs  
Red, Black
1916194024School Closed http://www3.rps205.com/district/Pages/default.aspx [24]
Aurora East High School Aurora, IL Tomcats  
Red, Black
1916196347 Upstate Eight Conference https://easthigh.d131.org/ [25]
Aurora West High School Aurora, IL Blackhawks  
Red, Blue
1916196347 Southwest Prairie Conference https://www.sd129.org/Domain/22 [26]
Elgin High School Elgin, IL Maroons  
Maroon, Cream
1916196347 Upstate Eight Conference https://www.u-46.org/EHS [27]
Joliet Township High School Joliet, IL Steelmen  
Royal Blue, Gold
1916196044 Southwest Prairie Conference http://www.jths.org/ [28]
LaSalle-Peru High School LaSalle, IL Cavaliers  
Red, Green
1936196428 Interstate Eight Conference https://www.lphs.net/ [29]
Rockford West High School Rockford, IL Warriors  
Red, Black
1940198949Converted to a middle school http://www3.rps205.com/district/Pages/default.aspx [30]

History

The Northern Illinois High School Conference (NIHSC) was founded in 1916 as a high school football conference. Boys track and basketball soon followed, and other sports were added over time. Original members included Freeport High School, Rockford High School, Joliet High School, Elgin High School, DeKalb High School, Aurora East High School, and Aurora West High School. DeKalb withdrew after one season, and for two years the league operated with six schools. The flu pandemic of 1918, which hit the Rockford area particularly hard, caused the cancellation of that year’s football season, and when league play returned in 1919, DeKalb rejoined. At this time, newspapers began referring to the league as the Big 7 for brevity. [31]

In 1929, DeKalb again left the conference with six teams, and the league was known as the Big 6 until LaSalle-Peru High School joined in 1936. In the spring of 1940, Rockford High School was replaced by Rockford West and Rockford East, and the conference naturally became the Big 8. [32]

1940 to 1960 was a period of stability, as the league operated with the same eight members spread over five far-flung counties. However, the high school building boom that began throughout northern Illinois in the late 1950s led to a series of conference realignments that brought rapid changes and a geographic shift to the Big 8. The first in this series of moves was Joliet’s departure for the South Suburban Conference in 1960. The Steelmen were replaced by the newly opened Rockford Auburn High School that same year. In 1963, NIHSC charter members East Aurora, West Aurora, and Elgin departed to help form the new Upstate 8 Conference, and Harlem High School, Belvidere High School, and the newly opened Rockford Guilford High School immediately stepped in to take their place. With the other seven league members now concentrated in the farthest reaches of northern Illinois, LaSalle-Peru withdrew in 1964 to join the North Central Illinois Conference, which was closer to home. Boylan Central Catholic High School, the league’s only private school, replaced the Cavaliers that same year. [33]

The Big 8 became the Big 9 with the addition of Rockford Jefferson High School in 1971.

In 1982, Hononegah High School joined the league, and to avoid the obvious confusion with the collegiate Big 10, the league returned to its roots by becoming the Northern Illinois Conference (NIC-10).

The league became the NIC-9 when Rockford West was closed after the 1988–89 school year, and reverted to NIC-10 when Belvidere North High School opened in 2007. Freeport High School remains the only original member of the conference.

[34]

Expansion

In April 2018, requests from both Kaneland High School and DeKalb High School for consideration to be admitted to the conference starting in the 2019-20 school year were sent to the NIC-10 president, Freeport principal Dr. Beth Summers. [35] On May 14, 2018, Kaneland was rejected by the NIC-10 and joined the Interstate Eight Conference. [36] Based on a May 24, 2018 announcement, the NIC-10 unanimously voted to table discussions toward expansion, denying DeKalb the opportunity to return to the conference after a 90 year absence. [37]

Membership timeline

Northern Illinois Conference (athletic conference)

Full members

State championships

69 IHSA State Championships have been earned by the conference membership:

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