All-Time Membership
Membership Timeline
| Conference | IHSA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1925 |
| Ceased | 1997 |
| No. of 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.
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. [1]
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. [1]
After Grayslake and Marian Central left in 1997 to join the Fox Valley and Suburban Catholic Conferences, respectively, the NWSC officially folded. [1] 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]
Lake County is situated in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Illinois, along the shores of Lake Michigan. As of the 2020 census, it has a population of 714,342, making it the third-most populous county in Illinois. Its county seat is Waukegan, the tenth-largest city in Illinois. The county is primarily suburban, with some urban areas and some rural areas. Due to its location, immediately north of Cook County, Lake County is one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. Its northern boundary is the Wisconsin state line.
Northbrook is a suburb of Chicago, located at the northern edge of Cook County, Illinois, United States, on the border of Lake County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,222.
Grayslake is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Chicago's downtown, 14 miles (23 km) west of Lake Michigan, and 15 miles (24 km) south of the Wisconsin border. The village's population at the 2020 census was 21,248.
Northeast Illinois Council is a Boy Scouts of America local council that is headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois, United States.
Glenbrook North High School is a public high school in Northbrook, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago, United States. It was established in 1953 and is part of the Northfield Township High School District 225.
The North Shore consists of many affluent suburbs north of Chicago, Illinois, bordering the shore of Lake Michigan. These communities form part of Cook and Lake Counties. Exactly which communities comprise the "North Shore" is often a topic of debate, and a proper definition only includes suburbs that border Lake Michigan. Thus, only Evanston, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Highland Park, Highwood, Lake Forest, and Lake Bluff are recognized as part of the North Shore.
Area codes 847 and 224 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of Illinois. The numbering plan area (NPA) comprises the northeastern part of Illinois and many northern suburbs of Chicago. This includes most of Lake County, the northern part of Cook County, the northern part of Kane County, and a small part of McHenry County.
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Libertyville High School, or LHS, is a public four-year high school located in Libertyville, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. Located at the intersection of Park Avenue and Dawes Street, on the shore of Butler Lake, it is part of Community High School District 128, which also includes Vernon Hills High School.
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The Central Suburban League is an IHSA-recognized high school extracurricular conference comprising 12 public schools located in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago. Comprising 12 relatively large high schools, it is among the larger high school conferences in Illinois.
The North Suburban Conference (NSC) is an extra-curricular conference of eight high schools located in Lake County, Illinois, in the northern suburbs of Chicago. All of the schools are members of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA).
{{Infobox sports league | name = West Suburban Conference | color = black | font_color = white | logo = SWSC 08.png | founded = 1924 | conference = IHSA | teams = 14 | sports = 26 | region = Chicagoland, Illinois | formerly = West Suburban League | headquarters = [[, Illinois]] }} The West Suburban Conference is an athletic conference in DuPage County and Cook County in the state of Illinois. The conference was founded in 1924.
Fremont Township is a township in Lake County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2010 census, its population was 32,337.
The Mid-Suburban League (MSL) is an Illinois High School Association recognized high school extra-curricular league which includes 12 schools located in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The conference is split up into two divisions for all interscholastic activities. The primary criteria for the separate divisions is geography, with the schools in the West Division being located west of IL Route 53 and the schools of the East Division being east of it. However, the schools of the western division are also larger than the schools of the eastern division.
The Big Northern Conference (BNC) is an organization of ten high schools in northern Illinois. These high schools are members of the Illinois High School Association.
The Kishwaukee River Conference (KRC) is an organization of six high schools in northern Illinois. These high schools are members of the Illinois High School Association.
The SHARK Conference was a high school conference in north central Illinois and south central Wisconsin. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) and the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA). The conference included private and public high schools with enrollments between 75-2,000 students in Boone, DeKalb, Lee, McHenry, Stephenson and Winnebago counties in Illinois and Rock in Wisconsin.
The Northern Lake County Conference (NLCC) is an organization of eight high schools in northern Illinois. These high schools are members of the Illinois High School Association.