The Northwestern Illinois Conference , known locally as the ''NWIC'', was a

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

in northwest and north central

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National F ...

. The conference included small public high schools, and one small private school, with enrollments between 75-400 students in Carroll, Jo Daviess, Stephenson and

Winnebago Winnebago can refer to: * The exonym of the Ho-Chunk tribe of Native North Americans with reservations in Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin ** Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, a federally recognized tribe group in the state ** The Winnebago language of the ...

counties.

History

Originally known as the Stephenson County Conference, the first year of competition was 1958 with four charter schools: Dakota, Durand, Lena-Winslow and Orangeville. In 1959 Freeport Aquin, Galena, Stockton and Warren joined from the disbanded US Grant Conference. Pearl City joined the conference in 1960 increasing the total number of teams to nine. The last year of competition under the Stephenson County name was 1962. Based on the fact that the conference contained schools from Jo Daviess, Stephenson and Winnebago Counties, in 1963 it became known as the Northwest Conference. Additionally, in 1966, Lanark, from Carroll County, joined the conference, bringing the total number of schools to 10. In 1974 after Durand, Orangeville and Pearl City left for the Upstate Illini Conference, the remaining schools changed the name to the Northwestern Illinois Conference, also known as the NWIC. Officially formed in 1974, the 7 members were Dakota, Freeport Aquin, Galena, Lanark, Lena-Winslow, Stockton and Warren. In 1977, Orangeville returned to the fold increasing the total teams to eight. As the 1986 school year began, Lanark High School consolidated with Shannon High School, becoming Eastland High School. After 30 years of membership, in 1988 Warren dropped out of the conference. However, East Dubuque quickly replaced them in 1989, keeping the total number of teams an even eight. Unfortunately, in 1995 they decided to leave the conference. This left the conference in a situation they had not had not been in since 1976, an odd number of teams for which to schedule. The final season for the NWIC occurred in 1995. Beginning in 1996, this conference merged with the Upstate Illini.

Member schools

''Sources:IHSA Conferences, and IHSA Member Schools Directory''

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1958 till:1996 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: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 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 member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.78,0.391,0.654) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) 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 where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:AssocOS from:1958 till:1959 text:Freeport Aquin bar:1 color:Full from:1959 till:1996 text: (1959–1996) bar:2 color:Full from:1958 till:1996 text:Dakota (1958–1996) bar:3 color:Full from:1958 till:1974 text:Durand (1958–1974) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977 text: Upstate Illini bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:1977 till:1989 text: Northwest 8 bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1989 till:1996 text:Upstate Illini bar:4 color:FullxF from:1958 till:1989 text:East Dubuque (Various Conferences/Independent) bar:4 color:Full from:1989 till:1995 text:(1989–1995) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:1996 bar:5 color:AssocOS from:1958 till:1959 text:Galena bar:5 color:Full from:1959 till:1996 text: (1959–1996) bar:6 color:Full from:1958 till:1996 text:Lena-Winslow (1958–1996) bar:7 color:Full from:1958 till:1974 text:Orangeville (1958-1974) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977 text:Upstate Illini bar:7 color:Full from:1977 till:1996 text:(1977-1996) bar:8 color:FullxF from:1958 till:1960 text:Pearl City bar:8 color:Full from:1960 till:1974 text:(1960-1974) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1977 text:Upstate Illini bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:1977 till:1989 text:Northwest 8 bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1989 till:1996 text:Upstate Illini bar:9 color:AssocOS from:1958 till:1959 text:Stockton bar:9 color:Full from:1959 till:1996 text: (1959–1996) bar:10 color:AssocOS from:1958 till:1959 text:Warren bar:10 color:Full from:1959 till:1989 text: (1959–1988) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1989 till:1996 text:Upstate Illini bar:11 color:AssocF from:1958 till:1966 text:Lanark (Blackhawk) bar:11 color:Full from:1966 till:1986 text: (1966-1986) bar:11 color:white from:1986 till:end text:(consolidated to form Eastland High School) bar:12 color:FullxF from:1958 till:1977 text:Shannon (Various Conferences/Independent) bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:1977 till:1984 text:Northwest 8 bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:1984 till:1986 text: bar:12 color:white from:1986 till:end text:(consolidated to form Eastland High School) bar:13 color:Full from:1986 till:1996 text:Eastland (1986–1996) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1958 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:^"NWIC membership history" #> 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. <#

Competitive Success

The Northwestern Illinois Conference won 5 team state championships in IHSA sponsored athletics and activities. The conference also produced 15 individual championships, including

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, and

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History

Member schools

Membership timeline

Competitive Success

State Champions

Team

Individual

References

External links