The Southwest Suburban Conference is an athletic and competitive activity conference consisting of
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
secondary schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
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 was formed in 2005 when most of these schools split off from the
South Inter-Conference Association (SICA). The division resulted in a lawsuit claiming that schools that were majority white in population were abandoning the schools which were majority black. The lawsuit was eventually settled and paved the way for the conference to expand.
History
For 33 years prior to 2006, most of the public high schools in the south and southwest suburban Chicago area were a part of the ''South Inter-Conference Association'' (SICA) which by 2005 had reached a membership of 33 schools split into five divisions.
The conference covered a large geographic area and sociological spectrum "from the Indiana border to Joliet, from impoverished Ford Heights to affluent Frankfort, from virtually all-black Hillcrest to almost all-white Lincoln-Way Central and from Joliet, enrollment 4,993, to 1,066- student Rich South"
In 2004, the athletic directors voted 30–3, the principals' board of control voted 6–2, and the district superintendents voted 16–3 to approve a new conference realignment which was to take effect in 2006.
The realignment had been pushed because of long travel times and a reduction of sports offerings at some schools. The realignment split the association into three roughly equal and geographically contiguous conferences, one of which, the southeast, contained most of the predominantly African–American schools (compared to one school in the remaining two conferences).
It was from these schools that a majority of the votes against the realignment had come.
Leaders from these schools demanded an investigation from the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, and petitioned the Illinois State Board of Education to investigate as to whether this action violated rules on equity.
In March 2005, ten schools announced that they were unilaterally leaving SICA to form a new conference, the Southwest Suburban Conference.
Those schools included; Andrew, Bolingbrook, Bradley, Homewood-Flossmoor, Joliet Township, Lincoln-Way Central, Lincoln-Way East, Lockport, Sandburg and Stagg. These ten schools collectively were among the largest in student population.
Shortly after the announcement,
Lincoln-Way Community High School District board member Maureen Jagmin, whose district represented two of the schools leaving to form a new conference, was forced to resign after she left racist statements on a reporter's voice mail.
Shortly after this, twelve more schools split off to form the
South Suburban Conference. Those schools included; Argo, Bremen, Eisenhower, Evergreen Park, Hillcrest, Lemont, Oak Forest, Oak Lawn, Reavis, Richards, Shepard, and Tinley Park,.
In April 2006, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the schools which had left claiming that "(an) apartheid-like realignment used public funds to regress to separate but equal". The suit was settled out of court with the three schools of
Thornton Township High Schools District 205 joining the Southwest Suburban Conference, and the two schools of
Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215 joining the South Suburban Conference.
The remaining six teams would be known as
Southland Athletic Conference.
Those schools included; Bloom, Crete-Monee, Kankakee, Rich Central, Rich East and Rich South.
Starting in 2019–20,
Thornridge High School,
Thornton Township High School, and
Thornwood High School left the conference to join the
Southland Athletic Conference.
Starting in 2024–25, Bolingbrook High School will leave the conference to join the
Southwest Prairie Conference.
Member schools
Membership timeline
This timeline represents the current schools within the Southwest Suburban Conference that were a part of the SICA..
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1250 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1970 till:2024
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 was a member of the original conference
id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member with 8-man football
id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.78,0.391,0.654) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in a football coop
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
id:OtherC3 value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC4 value:rgb(0.6,0.791,0.625) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC5 value:rgb(0.8,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Bradley (1972-2005)
bar:2 color:AssocF from:2005 till:end text:Southwest Suburban (2005-Present)
bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Homewood-Flossmoor (1972-2005)
bar:8 color:AssocF from:2005 till:end text:Southwest Suburban (2005-Present)
bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Lincoln-Way (1972-2005)
bar:12 color:AssocF from:2005 till:end text:Southwest Suburban (2005-Present)
bar:21 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Sandburg (1972-2005)
bar:21 color:AssocF from:2005 till:end text:Southwest Suburban (2005-Present)
bar:22 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Stagg (1972-2005)
bar:22 color:AssocF from:2005 till:end text:Southwest Suburban (2005-Present)
bar:23 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Thornridge (1972-2005)
bar:23 color:AssocF from:2005 till:2019 text:Southwest Suburban (2005-2019)
bar:23 color:OtherC2 from:2019 till:end text:Southland Athletic (2019-Present)
bar:24 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Thornton (1972-2005)
bar:24 color:AssocF from:2005 till:2019 text:Southwest Suburban (2005-2019)
bar:24 color:OtherC2 from:2019 till:end text:Southland Athletic (2019-Present)
bar:27 color:OtherC1 from:1972 till:2005 text:Thornwood (1972-2005)
bar:27 color:AssocF from:2005 till:2019 text:Southwest Suburban (2005-2019)
bar:27 color:OtherC2 from:2019 till:end text:Southland Athletic (2019-Present)
bar:32 color:OtherC1 from:1977 till:2005 text:Andrew (1977-2005)
bar:32 color:AssocF from:2005 till:end text:Southwest Suburban (2005-Present)
bar:33 color:OtherC1 from:1982 till:2005 text:Bolingbrook (1982-2005)
bar:33 color:AssocF from:2005 till:2024 text:Southwest Suburban (2005-2024)
bar:34 color:OtherC1 from:1982 till:2005 text:Lockport (1982-2005)
bar:34 color:AssocF from:2005 till:end text:Southwest Suburban (2005-Present)
bar:36 color:OtherC1 from:1983 till:1993 text:Joliet Central (1983-1993)
bar:36 color:white from:1993 till:2008 text:Consolidated with Joliet West to become Joliet Township High School
bar:36 color:AssocF from:2008 till:2016 text:Southwest Suburban (2008-2016)
bar:36 color:OtherC4 from:2016 till:end text:Southwest Prairie (2016-Present)
bar:37 color:OtherC1 from:1983 till:1993 text:Joliet West (1983-1993)
bar:37 color:white from:1993 till:2008 text:Consolidated with Joliet Central to become Joliet Township High School
bar:37 color:AssocF from:2008 till:2016 text:Southwest Suburban (2008-2016)
bar:37 color:OtherC4 from:2016 till:end text:Southwest Prairie (2016-Present)
bar:38 color:OtherC1 from:1993 till:2005 text:Joliet Township (1993-2005)
bar:38 color:AssocF from:2005 till:2008 text:Southwest Suburban (2005-2008)
bar:38 color:white from:2012 till:end text:Schools reverted back to Central and West
bar:39 color:OtherC1 from:2001 till:2005 text:Lincoln-Way East (2001-2005)
bar:39 color:AssocF from:2005 till:end text:
bar:39 color:AssocF from:2007 till:end text:Southwest Suburban (2005-Present)
bar:40 color:AssocF from:2009 till:end text:Lincoln-Way West (2009-Present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1970
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center)
text:^"Southwest Suburban Conference 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. <#
Sports
The conference sponsors competition for young men and young women in
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
,
bowling
Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...
,
cross country,
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
,
gymnastics
Gymnastics is a group of sport that includes physical exercises requiring Balance (ability), balance, Strength training, strength, Flexibility (anatomy), flexibility, agility, Motor coordination, coordination, artistry and endurance. The movem ...
,
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
,
swimming
Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...
&
diving
Diving most often refers to:
* Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water
* Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes
Diving or Dive may also refer to:
Sports
* Dive (American football), ...
,
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
,
track & field
Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and ...
,
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...
,
water polo
Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...
.
The conference also sponsors competition for young men in
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
,
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
, and
wrestling
Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...
; and for young women
badminton
Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...
,
cheerleading
Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...
, and
softball
Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...
.
Activities
The conference sponsors competition in
Individual Events,
Chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
, Drama and Group Interpretation.
State placers
Since 2005, the following teams and activities have finished in the top four of their respective IHSA sponsored state tournaments:
* Badminton: ''4th place'' (Andrew: 2007–08, 08–09); ''3rd place'' (Andrew: 2005–06); ''2nd place'' (Andrew: 2006–07; Lincoln-Way Central: 2007–08, 08–09)
* Basketball (boys): ''4th place'' (Thornwood: 2005–06); ''3rd place'' (Thornton: 2008–09)
* Basketball (girls): ''2nd place'' (Bolingbrook: 2006–07, 07–08); ''State Champions'' (Bolingbrook: 2005–06, 08–09)
* Bowling (boys): ''3rd place'' (Lincoln-Way East: 2006–07; Lincoln-Way Central: 2007–08, 2017–2018); ''State Champions'' (Andrew: 2005–06)
* Cross Country (boys): ''4th place'' (Sandburg: 2006–07)
* Cheerleading: ''3rd place'' (Bradley-Bourbonnais: 2006–07; Sandburg: 07–08); ''2nd place'' (Bradley-Bourbonnais: 2007–08, 08–09); ''State Champions'' (Sandburg: 2005–06, 08–09)
*Drama: ''State Champions'' (Thornridge: 2005) ''2nd Place'' (Thornridge: 2006); (Homewood-Flossmoor:2012) ''Fourth Place'' (Homewood-Flossmoor: 2007,2010)
* Football: ''State Champions'' (Lincoln-Way East: 2005, 2017, 2019); (Bolingbrook 2011)
*Group Interpretation: ''State Champions'' (Homewood-Flossmoor:2007); (Thornwood: 2006, 2009) ''2nd Place'' (Homewood-Flossmoor: 2008,2010,2011); (Thornwood: 2007) ''3rd Place'' (Thornwood: 2005); (Thornton:2013); (Homewood-Flossmoor: 2012) ''4th Place'' (Thornwood:2010); (Homewood-Flossmoor: 2006); (Thornton:2011)
* Golf (girls): ''2nd place'' (Homewood-Flossmoor: 2008–09)
* Gymnastics (boys): "State Champions" (Lincoln-Way Co-Op: 2011); ''4th place'' (Lincoln-Way Co-Op: 2006–07); ''2nd place'' (Lincoln-Way Co-Op: 2007–08)
* Gymnastics (girls): ''2nd place'' (Sandburg: 2008–09)
* Scholastic Bowl: ''4th place'' (Sandburg: 2017-18)
* Soccer (girls): ''4th place'' (Lincoln-Way Central: 2006–07); ''3rd place'' (Sandburg: 2008–09)
* Softball: ''State Champions''(Lincoln-Way Central: 2008)
* Track & Field (girls): "State Champions" (Lincoln-Way East: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021); ''3rd place'' (Thornton: 2006–07)
* Volleyball (boys): ''2nd Place'' (Lincoln-Way North: 2013); ''4th place, 1st place'' (Lincoln-Way East: 2006–07, 2014)
* Water Polo (boys): ''4th place'' (Sandburg: 2007–08); ''2nd place'' (Sandburg: 2008–09)
* Wrestling: ''4th place'' (Lincoln-Way Central: 2012–2013);''3rd place'' (Lincoln-Way Central: 2007–08); ''State Champions'' (Sandburg 2005–06, 06–07)
Notes
References
External links
Southwest Suburban Conference - Official site
{{Illinois High School Association
Illinois high school sports conferences
High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States