The Upstate Illini Conference (UIC) was a
high school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
conference
A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic.
Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...
in northwest and north central
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
. 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 Fed ...
. The conference included small public and private high schools with enrollments between 75-1,000 students in
Bureau
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*Government agency
*Public administration
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,
Boone,
Carroll,
DeKalb DeKalb or De Kalb may refer to:
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* Baron Johann de Kalb (1721–1780), major general in the American Revolutionary War
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* DeKalb, Illinois, the largest city in the United States named DeKalb
** DeK ...
,
Jo Daviess,
Kane,
Lee
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* Lee (given name), a given name in English
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* Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee:
** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname
** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...
,
McHenry,
Ogle
Ogle may refer to:
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* Ogle County, Illinois, United States
* Original name of Ashton, Illinois, a village
* Ogle, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community
* Ogle Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States
* Ogle, Nor ...
,
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
The name Upstate Illini was originally given to a collection of 15 schools primarily coming from five conferences, the
Blackhawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to:
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* Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856
* Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus''
* Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii''
* Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus urub ...
,
Route 72,
Northwestern Illinois
Northwestern Illinois is a geographic region of the state of Illinois within the USA.
Northwestern Illinois is generally considered to consist of the following area: Jo Daviess County, Carroll County, Whiteside County, Stephenson County, Win ...
,
SHARK
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and
US Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
. The 15 original teams included: Ashton, Chadwick, Durand, Elizabeth, Franklin Center, Hanover, Leaf River, Milledgeville, Mt. Carroll, Orangeville, Pearl City, Rockford Lutheran, Scales Mound, Shannon and Thomson. This league began play in 1974, however within two years the league would lose over half of the teams based primarily on football. The teams which left either returned to their original conference or began play under a new moniker, the
Northwest 8 Conference. The remaining teams, all without football, maintained the name Upstate Illini. The teams that stayed within the conference, were Chadwick, Elizabeth, Hanover, Scales Mound, Shannon and Thomson.
Eventually talks for a re-branding of the Northwest 8 took place in 1987, due to the fact that it had grown to 12 teams and was looking to expand beyond that number. In 1988, the Upstate Illini Conference was reconstructed and schools from the Northwest 8 joined, competition for all sports, with the exception of football, was established. In 1991, football schedules were set with 6 teams in the North Division: Durand, North Boone, Pearl City, Rockford (Lutheran), Elizabeth (River Ridge)-Warren (coop) and South Beloit and the South Division: Ashton-Franklin Center, Kirkland-Hiawatha, Milledgeville, Mt. Carroll, Mt. Morris and Polo.
In 1994, Mt. Morris was merged into the
Oregon School District
Oregon School District is located south of Madison, in the village of Oregon, Wisconsin
Oregon is a village in Dane County, Wisconsin, Dane County, Wisconsin. As of the census of 2020, the population was 11,179. Oregon is part of the Madison, W ...
and dropped out of the conference. In that same year, Huntley joined and the divisions were realigned into East - Durand, Huntley, Kirkland-Hiawatha, North Boone, Rockford Lutheran and South Beloit and West - Ashton-Franklin Center, Milledgeville, Mt Carroll, Pearl City, Polo, River Ridge and Warren. In 1991, Pecatonica joined the league for all sports except football, due to existing schedules in the Mid-Northern, however, in 1992 joined the East Division. In 1995 Huntley dropped out and East Dubuque, Forreston and La Moille were added to the West Division while Ashton-Franklin Center moved from the West division to the East. In 1996 the
Northwestern Illinois Conference (NWIC) and Upstate Illini merged under the Upstate Illini banner. Based on these new additions, three divisions were formed West - Dakota, East Dubuque, Galena, Lena-Winslow, Orangeville, River Ridge, Stockton and Warren. East - Ashton-Franklin Center, Durand, Kirkland-Hiawatha, North Boone, Pecatonica, Rockford Lutheran and South Beloit. South - Forreston, Freeport Aquin, Lanark (Eastland), Milledgeville, Mt. Carroll, Pearl City and Polo. In 1999 Savanna was added to the South Division and Rockford Christian Life to the East Division making the total number of teams 24 for football, 26 overall, the largest conference in Illinois outside of the
Chicago Public League
The Chicago Public High School Athletic Association, commonly known as the Chicago Public League (CPL), is the interscholastic competition arm of the Chicago Public Schools. The governance of the CPL is set through the Department of Sports Admini ...
. The year 2000 was the last year under the Upstate Illini name because six schools (Ashton-Franklin Center, Durand, Kirkland-Hiawatha, North Boone, Pecatonica and South Beloit) left in 2001 to form the
Four Rivers Conference. Rockford Lutheran and Rockford Christian Life also departed the conference in 2001, seeking competition more suited to their locations and size by joining the
Private School League. The remaining schools realigned under the
Northwest Upstate Illini Conference
The Northwest Upstate Illini Conference is a high school conference (sports), conference in northwest and north central Illinois. The conference participates in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference co ...
banner.
All-Time Membership
The Upstate Illini Conference had various divisions throughout its history, the list of schools encompasses all of the schools which were once a part of the conference.
♦ Elizabeth and Hanover consolidated creating the River Ridge CUSD in 1985.
♥ Shannon and Lanark consolidated creating the Eastland CUSD in 1986.
♣ Chadwick and Milledgeville consolidated creating the Chadwick-Milledgeville CUSD in 1989.
° Leaf River ceased operations and was merged into Forreston High School in 1990
³ Mt. Morris ceased operations and was merged into
Oregon High School in 1995
♠ Ashton and Franklin Center consolidated creating Ashton-Franklin Center High School in 2004
• Mount Carroll, Savanna and Thomson consolidated, creating the
West Carroll School District in 2006.
* River Ridge High School relocated to
Hanover, IL
Hanover is a village in Jo Daviess County, Illinois, United States, along the Apple River. The town was previously named Wapello, in honor of Chief Wapello of the Meskwaki tribe. The population was 844 at the 2010 census, up from 836 in 2000.
...
in 2004.
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1150 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1974 till:2000
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 Northwest 8 Conference
id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the NWIC
id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the Mid Northern Conference
id:OtherC3 value:rgb(0.253,0.63,0.146) # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the SHARK Conference
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1974 till:1990 text:Chadwick (1974-89)
bar:1 color:white from:1990 till:2000 text:(1990) Consolidated with Milledgeville
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1974 till:1985 text:Elizabeth (1974-84)
bar:2 color:white from:1985 till:2000 text:(1985) Consolidated with Hanover to become River Ridge
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1974 till:1985 text:Hanover (1974-84)
bar:3 color:white from:1985 till:2000 text:(1985) Consolidated with Elizabeth to become River Ridge
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1974 till:2000 text:Scales Mound (1974-2000)
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1974 till:1987 text:Shannon (1974-86)
bar:5 color:white from:1987 till:2000 text:(1987) Consolidated with Lanark to become Eastland
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1974 till:2000 text:Thomson (1974-2000)
bar:7 color:Full from:1974 till:1977 text:Ashton (1974-76)
bar:7 color:AssocOS from:1977 till:1985 text:Northwest 8 (1977-90)
bar:7 color:AssocOS from:1985 till:1991 text:(1985) (All sport CoOp with Franklin Center begins)
bar:7 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text: (1991-2000)
bar:8 color:Full from:1974 till:1977 text:Durand (1974-76)
bar:8 color:AssocOS from:1977 till:1991 text:Northwest 8 (1977-90)
bar:8 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text: (1991-2000)
bar:9 color:Full from:1974 till:1977 text:Franklin Center (1974-76)
bar:9 color:AssocOS from:1977 till:1985 text:Northwest 8 (1977-90)
bar:9 color:AssocOS from:1985 till:1991 text:(1985) (All sport CoOp with Ashton begins)
bar:9 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text: (1991-2000)
bar:10 color:Full from:1974 till:1977 text:Leaf River (1974-76)
bar:10 color:AssocOS from:1977 till:1990 text:Northwest 8 (1977-89)
bar:10 color:white from:1990 till:2000 text:(1990) Merged into Forreston High School
bar:11 color:Full from:1974 till:1977 text:Milledgeville (1974-76)
bar:11 color:AssocOS from:1977 till:1990 text:Northwest 8 (1977-90)
bar:11 color:AssocOS from:1990 till:1991 text:(1990) Consolidated with Chadwick
bar:11 color:Full from:1991 till:1994
bar:11 color:Full from:1994 till:2000 text:(1991-2000)
bar:12 color:Full from:1974 till:1977 text:Mt. Carroll (1974-76)
bar:12 color:AssocOS from:1977 till:1991 text:Northwest 8 (1977-90)
bar:12 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text: (1991-2000)
bar:13 color:Full from:1974 till:1977 text:Orangeville (1974-76)
bar:13 color:OtherC1 from:1977 till:1996 text:NWIC (1977-95)
bar:13 color:Full from:1996 till:2000 text:(1996-2000)
bar:14 color:Full from:1974 till:1977 text:Pearl City (1974-76)
bar:14 color:AssocOS from:1977 till:1991 text:Northwest 8 (1977-90)
bar:14 color:Full from:1991 till:1995 text:(1991-95)
bar:14 color:Full from:1995 till:2000 text:(1995–2000) (Football CoOp with Eastland)
bar:15 color:Full from:1974 till:1977 text:Rockford Lutheran (1974-76)
bar:15 color:AssocOS from:1977 till:1982 text: Northwest 8 (1977-81)
bar:15 color:AssocF from:1982 till:1987 text:Prairie (1982-87)
bar:15 color:AssocOS from:1987 till:1991 text:Northwest 8 (1988-90)
bar:15 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text:(1991–2000)
bar:16 color:white from:1974 till:1985 text:River Ridge
bar:16 color:FullxF from:1985 till:1988 text:(1985-87)
bar:16 color:AssocOS from:1988 till:1991 text:Northwest 8 (1988-1990)
bar:16 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text:(1991-2000) (Football CoOp with Warren)
bar:17 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1985 text:Kirkland-Hiawatha - Trailblazer (1974-1984)
bar:17 color:AssocOS from:1985 till:1991 text:Northwest 8 (1985-90)
bar:17 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text:(1991-2000)
bar:18 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1988 text:Warren - NWIC (1974-87)
bar:18 color:AssocOS from:1988 till:1991 text:Northwest 8 (1988-1990)
bar:18 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text:(1991-2000) (Football CoOp with River Ridge)
bar:19 color:OtherC3 from:1974 till:1981 text:South Beloit - SHARK (1974-81)
bar:19 color:OtherC2 from:1981 till:1989 text:Trailblazer (1981-88)
bar:19 color:AssocOS from:1989 till:1991 text:NW 8 (1989-90)
bar:19 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text:(1991-2000)
bar:20 color:OtherC3 from:1974 till:1981 text:North Boone - SHARK (1974-81)
bar:20 color:OtherC2 from:1981 till:1989 text:Big 8 / Big Northern (1981-89)
bar:20 color:AssocOS from:1989 till:1991 text:NW 8 (1989-90)
bar:20 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text:(1991-2000)
bar:21 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1991 text:Polo - Mid-Northern (1974-90)
bar:21 color:AssocOS from:1990 till:1991 text:NW 8
bar:21 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text:(1991-2000)
bar:22 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1990 text:Mt. Morris - Mid-Northern (1974-90)
bar:22 color:AssocOS from:1990 till:1991 text:NW 8
bar:22 color:Full from:1991 till:1995 text:(1991-94)
bar:22 color:white from:1995 till:2000 text:(1995) Merged into Oregon High School
bar:23 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1991 text:Pecatonica - Mid-Northern (1974-90)
bar:23 color:Full from:1991 till:2000 text:(1991-2000)
bar:24 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1980 text: Huntley
bar:24 color:AssocF from:1980 till:1993 text:Big 8 Conference (1980-92)
bar:24 color:Full from:1993 till:1996 text:(1993-95)
bar:24 color:OtherC2 from:1996 till:2000 text:Big Northern (1996-2000)
bar:25 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1995 text:La Moille - Bureau Valley (1974-94)
bar:25 color:Full from:1995 till:1996 text:(1995-96)
bar:25 color:AssocF from:1996 till:2000 text:Little Ten (1996-Present)
bar:26 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1988 text:East Dubuque - Independent (1974-87)
bar:26 color:OtherC1 from:1988 till:1996 text:NWIC (1988-95)
bar:26 color:Full from:1996 till:2000 text:(1996–2000)
bar:27 color:OtherC2 from:1974 till:1990 text:Forreston - Mid-Northern/Big Northern (1974-95)
bar:27 color:OtherC2 from:1990 till:1996 text:(1990) Leaf River merged into Forreston
bar:27 color:Full from:1996 till:2000 text:(1996–2000)
bar:28 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1996 text:Freeport Aquin - NWIC (1974-95)
bar:28 color:Full from:1996 till:2000 text:(1996-2000)
bar:29 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1996 text:Dakota - NWIC (1974-95)
bar:29 color:Full from:1996 till:2000 text:(1996-2000)
bar:30 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1987 text:Lanark - NWIC (1974-86)
bar:30 color:white from:1987 till:2000 text:(1987) Consolidated with Shannon to become Eastland
bar:31 color:white from:1974 till:1987 text:Eastland
bar:31 color:OtherC1 from:1987 till:1995 text:NWIC (1987-95)
bar:31 color:OtherC1 from:1995 till:1996 text:(1995) (Football CoOp with Pearl City)
bar:31 color:Full from:1996 till: 2000
bar:32 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1996 text:Galena - NWIC (1974-95)
bar:32 color:Full from:1996 till:2000 text:(1996–2000)
bar:33 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1996 text:Lena-Winslow - NWIC (1974-95)
bar:33 color:Full from:1996 till:2000 text:(1996-2000)
bar:34 color:OtherC1 from:1974 till:1996 text:Stockton - NWIC (1974-95)
bar:34 color:Full from:1996 till:2000 text:(1996-2000)
bar:35 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1999 text:Rockford Christian Life (1974-98)
bar:35 color:Full from:1999 till:2000 text:(1999-2000)
bar:36 color:AssocF from:1974 till:1999 text:Savanna - Three Rivers (1974-98)
bar:36 color:Full from:1999 till:2000 text:(1999-2000)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1974
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center)
text:^"Upstate Illini 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. <#
References
External links
{{Illinois High School Association
High school sports in Illinois
Illinois high school sports conferences