The Apollo Conference is a high school

athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams, playing competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels. Confe ...

represented by 6 schools in the central portion of Illinois. It is a member of 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 Fed ...

. The conference offers championships for girls in basketball, cross country, golf, softball, tennis, track & field, and volleyball. In boys' sports, the Apollo offers championships in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, tennis, track & field, and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

History

The conference was formed in 1970 by charter members Charleston, Newton, Paris and Robinson who left from the Eastern Illinois Conference. In 1972 Decatur Lakeview and Mt. Zion joined the conference after departing the Cenois Conference. Effingham and Taylorville joined in 1981, leaving the Mid-State Conference. Lakeview closed in 1982, bringing the conference back to seven members. In 1993 Taylorville left to join the newly formed Central State Eight Conference. Olney and Salem joined from the North Egypt Conference, which was dissolved in 2003. Significant changes have occurred for the Apollo Conference. Founding members Newton and Robinson, as well as Olney, left for the Little Illini Conference in the 2012–13 school year. Mattoon joined the league in that same school year, departing from the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. Teutopolis was invited to join the conference, but declined the invitation. The Taylorville Tornadoes rejoined the conference in 2014, while another Apollo founding school, Paris, left for the Little Illini Conference. In 2015,

Corn Belt Conference The Corn Belt Conference was a high school athletic conference in the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), based in Central Illinois. The conference consisted of medium-sized and small high schools. History The Corn Belt Conference was original ...

member Mahomet-Seymour was accepted into the conference starting with the 2017–2018 school year. Later in the same year, Central State Eight conference member Lincoln was accepted to join in 2017–2018. Shortly after, Salem elected to join the

Cahokia Conference The Cahokia Conference is a high school athletic and competitive activity organization which currently consists of 12 schools in southwestern Illinois, near St. Louis. All of the schools are located in St. Clair, Randolph, Monroe, Clinton, and M ...

in 2017–18. In 2023, Lincoln will leave the conference and head back to their previous league, The Central State Eight. Geographical concerns and school enrollment has played a part in the switching between Apollo and Little Illini Conferences. Charleston is the only founding member of the conference to stay in the Apollo, while Newton, Paris and Robinson have moved into the LIC

Current members

Former members

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1150 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 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 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 consolidated id:OtherC3 value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m bar:1 color:Full from:1970 till:end text:Charleston (1970-Present) bar:2 color:Full from:1970 till:2012 text:Olney (1970-2012) bar:2 color:OtherC3 from:2012 till:end text: (2012-Present) Little Illini Conference bar:3 color:Full from:1970 till:2014 text:Paris (1970-2014) bar:3 color:OtherC3 from:2014 till:end text: (2014-Present) Little Illini Conference bar:4 color:Full from:1970 till:2012 text:Robinson (1970-2012) bar:4 color:OtherC3 from:2012 till:end text: (2012-Present) Little Illini Conference bar:5 color:Full from:1970 till:2017 text:Salem Community (1970-2017) bar:5 color:OtherC3 from:2017 till:end text: (2017-Present) Little Illini Conference bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:1970 till:1981 text:Effingham (1970-1981) Mid-State Conference bar:6 color:Full from:1981 till:end text: (1981-Present) bar:7 color:OtherC3 from:1970 till:1993 text:Lincoln (1970-1993) Other Conference bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1993 till:2017 text:(1993-2017) Central State Eight bar:7 color:Full from:2017 till:2023 text: (2017-2023) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2023 till:end text:(2023-Present) bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:1970 till:2017 text:Mahomet-Seymour (1970-2017) Corn Belt Conference bar:8 color:Full from:2017 till:end text: (2017-Present) bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:1970 till:2012 text:Mattoon (1970-2012) Big Twelve Conference bar:9 color:Full from:2012 till:end text: (2012-Present) bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:1970 till:1972 text:Mt. Zion (1970-1972) Cenois Conference bar:10 color:Full from:1972 till:end text: (1972-Present) bar:11 color:OtherC3 from:1970 till:1981 text:Taylorville (1970-1981) other conference bar:11 color:Full from:1981 till:1993 text: (1981-1993) bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1993 till:2014 text:(1993-2014) Central State Eight bar:11 color:Full from:2014 till:end text: (2014-Present) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1970 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Apollo Conference 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. <#

History

Current members

Former members

Membership timeline

See also

References

External links