The Little Ten Conference is the oldest continuous high school athletic conference in the state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. Founded in 1919, it comprised the following small high schools in northern Illinois: Earlville, Hinckley, Leland, Paw Paw, Plano, Rollo,

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

, Shabbona, Somonauk, and Waterman. The conference is still in operation and currently consists of the following members: DePue, Earlville, Hinckley-Big Rock, Indian Creek, Kirkland Hiawatha, LaMoille, Leland, Newark, Serena, Somonauk, and the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA). Over the years, there have been a number of other area schools in the conference, including Malta. Eight of the original ten schools are still members in some form. Charter members consist of Earlville, Leland, Somonauk, Hinckley (now combined into Hinckley Big Rock), and Paw Paw, Shabbona, Waterman, & Rollo (which have respectively merged to form Indian Creek.) In February 2019, the Little Ten Conference held its 100th league boys basketball tournament. Schools in the conference compete in 8-Man Football, Competitive Cheer, Competitive Dance, Music, Boys Soccer, Girls Volleyball, Boys and Girls Basketball, Boys Baseball and Girls Softball.

Current Membership

♠ Earlville and Leland combined athletic programs in 2006 becoming Leland-Earlville but separated in 2018
♥ Shabbona and Waterman consolidated to form Indian Creek in 1993.
♦ Harding and Sheridan Schools consolidated with Serena creating the Serena CUSD in 1938.
♣ Harding and Sheridan merged with Serena, creating CUSD2 in 1938.
''Sources:IHSA Conferences, IHSA Coop Teams, and IHSA Member Schools Directory''

Previous members

Junior High Conference

The Junior High schools of the respective communities have a conference, comprising *Earlville *Leland *Somonauk *Indian Creek *Hinckley Big Rock *Paw Paw *Newark *Lisbon *Serena

High School Conference Members, Past and Present

IMSA The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive dir ...

(2021-) *DePue (2020-) *Earlville (1919–2006, 2018-)* *Leland (1919–2006, 2018-)* *Paw Paw (1919-2018, Co-op in sports with Indian Creek)* *Malta (1967–2000, school was closed, students now attend DeKalb High School) *Kirkland Hiawatha (2006-) *Plano (1919–1967, Joined Northeast Conference, then Interstate Eight Conference in 1979-80 with Sandwich)* *

(1919–1967, Joined Northeast Conference, then Interstate Eight Conference in 1979-80 with Plano)* *Serena (1938-, formed out of merger with Harding and Sheridan schools) *Hinckley (1919–1957)* *Hinckley-Big Rock (1957-2019, school district merged with Big Rock) *Hinckley Big Rock (2019-, school district removed the dash from its name) *Shabbona (1919–1993)* *Waterman (1919–1993)* *Indian Creek (1993-, Shabbona/Waterman school districts merged) *Newark (1967-) *LaMoille-Ohio (1996-) *Somonauk (1919-)* *

Sheridan Sheridan may refer to: People Surname *Sheridan (surname) *Philip Sheridan (1831–1888), U.S. Army general after whom the Sheridan tank is named *Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), Irish playwright (''The Rivals''), poet and politician ...

(1930–1939), school closed and district merged with Serena; Elementary school still open, but part of a different conference.) *Rollo (1919–1954), school closed and district merged with Shabbona, and became part of Indian Creek)* ''* Original conference members''

Mascots and Colors

The schools are represented by the following team nicknames: *Big Rock - Bobcats - blue & gold *DePue - Little Giants - blue & orange *Earlville - Raiders - red, black, & white *Hinckley - Hawks - blue and gold *Hinckley-Big Rock - Royals - blue & white *IMSA - Titans - columbia blue & silver *Indian Creek - Timberwolves - red, black, & white *Kirkland Hiawatha - Hawks - navy & gold *LaMoille - Lions - red and white *Leland - Panthers - kelly green & black *Malta - Mustangs - red and white *Newark - Norsemen - Royal Blue & White *Paw Paw - Bulldogs - purple & yellow *Plano - Reapers - purple & white *Rollo - Eagles - blue and orange *Serena - Huskers - purple and gold *Shabbona - Indians - red & white *Sheridan - Cardinals - red & white *Somonauk - Bobcats - blue & yellow *Waterman - Wolverines - red & black

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:30 Period = from:1919 till:2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = 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:green 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 full member in a football coop id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.78,0.391,0.654) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the another Conference id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of another Conference id:OtherC3 value:rgb(0.253,0.63,0.146) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of another Conference PlotData= width:25 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m bar:1 color:Full from:1919 till:end text: Earlville (1919–present) bar:2 color:Full from:1919 till:1957 text:

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Lough ...

(1919–1957) bar:3 color:Full from:1919 till:end text: Leland (1919–present) bar:4 color:Full from:1919 till:2020 text: Paw Paw (1919–2019) bar:5 color:Full from:1919 till:1967 text:

Plano Plano may refer to: Native Americans * Plano cultures, the Late Paleo-Indian hunter-gatherer societies of the Great Plains of North America ** Plano point, the chipped stone tools of the Plano cultures Places in the United States * Plano, Califo ...

(1919–1967) bar:6 color:Full from:1919 till:1954 text:

Rollo Rollo ( nrf, Rou, ''Rolloun''; non, Hrólfr; french: Rollon; died between 928 and 933) was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, today a region in northern France. He emerged as the outstanding warrior among the Norsemen who had s ...

(1919–1954) bar:7 color:Full from:1919 till:1993 text:

Shabbona Shabbona (or Sha-bon-na), also known as Shabonee Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

(1919–1967) bar:9 color:Full from:1919 till:end text: Somonauk (1919–present) bar:10 color:Full from:1919 till:1993 text:

Waterman Waterman may refer to: * Waterman (occupation), a river worker who transferred passengers across and along the city centre rivers in Britain * The Chesapeake Bay term for commercial fishermen, particularly those who seek oysters and the blue crab ...

(1919–1993) bar:11 color:Full from:1930 till:1939 text:

(1930–1939) bar:12 color:Full from:1939 till:end text:

Serena Serena most commonly refers to: * Serena Williams (born 1981), professional tennis player Serena may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Serena (genre), 13th-century Occitan poetic genre * ''Serena'' (1962 film), a British crime t ...

(1938–present) bar:13 color:Full from:1957 till:end text: Hinckley-Big Rock (1957–present) bar:14 color:Full from:1967 till:2000 text:

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

(1967–2000) bar:15 color:Full from:1967 till:end text: Newark (1967–present) bar:16 color:Full from:1993 till:end text:

Indian Creek Indian Creek may refer to the following: Communities * Indian Creek, Orange Walk District, Belize, a village in Belize * Indian Creek, Toledo, a village in Belize * Indian Creek, Florida, U.S. * Indian Creek, Illinois, U.S. * Indian Creek No. 7 ...

(1993–present) bar:17 color:Full from:1996 till:end text: LaMoille (1996–present) bar:18 color:Full from:2006 till:end text: Kirkland Hiawatha (2006–present) bar:19 color:Full from:2020 till:end text: DePue (2020–present) bar:20 color:Full from:2021 till:end text:

(2021–present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1920 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(370,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"Little Ten Conference Membership History"

Boys Basketball Tournament and Regular Season Championships

Girls Basketball Championships

References

External links

- A History of the Little Ten Conference Basketball Tournament

- Documentation on those member schools that are now defunct

- DePue Joining Little Ten Conference Article {{Illinois High School Association 1919 establishments in Illinois Illinois high school sports conferences