The Vermilion Valley Conference is 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 east-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 ...
, in the United States. The conference participates 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 comprises 13 small public high schools and one small private school, with enrollments between 100 and 400 students in
Edgar
Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear").
Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...
,
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
and
Vermilion
Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since ancient history, antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its correspondi ...
counties.
History
The original Vermilion Valley Conference was founded in 1933 with schools from
Ford,
Grundy, Iroquois,
Livingston
Livingston may refer to:
Businesses
* Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010)
* Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline
* Livingston International, a North American custom ...
, and
Kankakee counties in east-central Illinois. The five charter members included:
Chatsworth,
Cullom,
Forrest Township,
Herscher, and
Saunemin.
This version of the Vermilion Valley disbanded in 1989.
The Vermilion Valley Conference was resurrected in 2003 with a new group of high schools. The charter members of the ''"new"'' Vermilion Valley included:
Armstrong Armstrong may refer to:
Places
* Armstrong Creek (disambiguation), various places
Antarctica
* Armstrong Reef, Biscoe Islands
Argentina
* Armstrong, Santa Fe
Australia
* Armstrong, Victoria
Canada
* Armstrong, British Columbia
* Armstrong ...
,
Bismarck Henning,
Chrisman,
Georgetown-Ridge Farm,
Hoopeston Area,
Oakwood, Rossville-Alvin,
Salt Fork,
Schlarman and
Westville High Schools. In 2005, Rossville-Alvin High School closed and with the students attending Bismarck Henning, however,
Milford Milford may refer to:
Place names Canada
* Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia
* Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia
* Milford, Ontario
England
* Milford, Derbyshire
* Milford, Devon, a place in Devon
* Milford on Sea, Hampshire
* Milford, Shro ...
joined the league the following year.
In 2020, the conference expanded its football presence by adding several schools from other conferences into a ''"football only"'', two division league. Schools from the
Tri-County Conference; including
Dwight Dwight may refer to:
People
* Dwight (given name)
* Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), 34th president of the United States and former military officer
*New England Dwight family of American educators, military and political leaders, and authors
* ...
and
Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
, as well as
Clifton Central,
Iroquois West and
Watseka
Watseka or Watchekee (c. 1810–1878) was a Potawatomi Native American woman, born in Illinois, and named for the heroine of a Potawatomi legend. Her uncle was Tamin, the chief of the Kankakee Potawatomi Indians.
She was also known by the ...
from the
Sangamon Valley Conference
The Sangamon Valley Conference was an IHSA-sanctioned conference in northeastern Illinois established in 1948. The conference hosts primarily 1A-2A schools. It was the first Illinois conference to host an Indiana high school, as South Newton of ...
united under the Vermilion Valley moniker. The two divisions included a North Division of Seneca, Momence, Dwight, Clifton Central, Watseka and Iroquois West and a South Division of Hoopeston Area, Georgetown-Ridge Farm, Westville, Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin, Salt Fork and Oakwood. This unusual mix of three conferences only lasted two years with the development of the
Chicago Prairie Football League
The Chicago Prairie Football League is a high school football only conference in northern Illinois. The conference participates in the Illinois High School Association. The conference includes five small public and three small private high schoo ...
.
In 2021, the
Sangamon Valley Conference
The Sangamon Valley Conference was an IHSA-sanctioned conference in northeastern Illinois established in 1948. The conference hosts primarily 1A-2A schools. It was the first Illinois conference to host an Indiana high school, as South Newton of ...
disbanded, therefore,
Cissna Park,
Iroquois West, and
Watseka Community High School
Watseka or Watchekee (c. 1810–1878) was a Potawatomi Native American woman, born in Illinois, and named for the heroine of a Potawatomi legend. Her uncle was Tamin, the chief of the Kankakee Potawatomi Indians.
She was also known by the ...
s joined as full members of the Vermilion Valley, taking the total number of teams up to 13.
Currently, the league consists of the following teams: Armstrong, Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin, Catlin-Salt Fork, Chrisman, Cissna Park, Danville-Schlarman, Fithian-Oakwood, Georgetown-Ridge Farm, Gilman-Iroquois West, Hoopeston Area, Milford, Watseka and Westville
Member schools
Previous Members
''Sources:IHSA Conferences, and IHSA Member Schools Directory
''
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1250 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1933 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: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:s
bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:1933 till:1949 text:Forrest Township (1933-1949)
bar:1 color:White from:1949 till:end text:Consolidated with Strawn and Wing to form Forrest-Strawn-Wing High School
bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:1933 till:1956 text:Herscher (1933-1956)
bar:2 color:White from:1956 till:end text:Left for the Kankakee Valley Conference
bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:1933 till:1968 text:Cullom Community (1933-1968)
bar:3 color:White from:1968 till:end text:Consolidated with Kempton-Cabery to form Tri-Point High School
bar:4 color:OtherC2 from:1933 till:1985 text:Chatsworth (1933-1985)
bar:4 color:White from:1985 till:end text:Consolidated with Forrest-Strawn-Wing to become Prairie Central High School
bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:1933 till:1987 text:Saunemin (1933-1987)
bar:5 color:White from:1987 till:end text:School Closed - Students now attend Pontiac Township High School
bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:1939 till:1983 text:Ford Central (1939-1983)
bar:6 color:White from:1983 till:end text:Annexed into Tri-Point High School
bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:1939 till:1944 text:Reddick (1939–1944)
bar:7 color:White from:1947 till:end text:Left for the Northeast Conference
bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:1962 till:1988 text:Reddick R.U.S.E. (1962–1988)
bar:7 color:White from:1988 till:end text:Annexed into Herscher High School
bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:1939 till:1946 text:Kempton (1939–1946)
bar:8 color:White from:1947 till:end text:Consolidated with Cabery to form Kempton-Cabery High School
bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:1939 till:1974 text:Piper City (1939–1974)
bar:9 color:White from:1974 till:end text:Annexed into Ford Central High School
bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:1941 till:1983 text:Onarga (1941–1983)
bar:10 color:White from:1983 till:end text:Consolidated with Gilman to become Iroquois West High School
bar:11 color:OtherC2 from:1946 till:1968 text:Kempton-Cabery (1946–1968)
bar:11 color:White from:1968 till:end text:Consolidated with Cullom Community to form Tri-Point High School
bar:12 color:OtherC2 from:1949 till:1985 text:Forrest-Strawn-Wing (1949–1985)
bar:12 color:White from:1985 till:end text:Consolidated with Chatsworth to become Prairie Central High School
bar:13 color:OtherC2 from:1953 till:1974 text:Roberts-Thawville (1953–1974)
bar:13 color:White from:1974 till:end text:Annexed into Tri-Point High School
bar:14 color:OtherC2 from:1956 till:1988 text:Melvin-Sibley (1956–1988)
bar:14 color:White from:1988 till:end text:Consolidated with Gibson City to become Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley
bar:15 color:OtherC2 from:1956 till:1970 text:Onarga Military (1956–1970)
bar:15 color:White from:1970 till:end text:School Closed
bar:16 color:OtherC2 from:1962 till:1983 text:Gilman (1962–1983)
bar:16 color:White from:1983 till:end text:Consolidated with Onarga to become Iroquois West High School
bar:17 color:OtherC2 from:1968 till:1988 text:Tri-Point (1968-1988)
bar:17 color:White from:1988 till:end text:Conference Disbanded
bar:18 color:OtherC2 from:1972 till:1987 text:Cornell (1972–1987)
bar:18 color:White from:1987 till:end text:Consolidated with Flanagan to become Flanagan-Cornell High School
bar:19 color:OtherC2 from:1972 till:1982 text:Milford (1972-1982)
bar:19 color:White from:1982 till:end text:Left for the East Central Conference
bar:19 color:Full from:2006 till:end text:(2006-Present)
bar:20 color:OtherC2 from:1986 till:1988 text:Gardner-South Wilmington (1986–1988)
bar:20 color:White from:2000 till:end text:Conference Disbanded
bar:21 color:OtherC2 from:1986 till:1988 text:Mazon-Verona-Kinsman (1986–1988)
bar:21 color:White from:2000 till:end text:Annexed into Seneca High School
bar:22 color:Full from:2003 till:end text:Armstrong Township (2003-Present)
bar:23 color:Full from:2003 till:end text:Bismarck Henning Rossville-Alvin (2003-Present)
bar:24 color:Full from:2003 till:end text:Salt Fork (2003-Present)
bar:25 color:Full from:2003 till:end text:Chrisman (2003-Present)
bar:26 color:Full from:2003 till:end text:Schlarman (2003-Present)
bar:27 color:Full from:2003 till:end text:Oakwood (2003-Present)
bar:28 color:Full from:2003 till:end text:Georgetown-Ridge Farm (2003-Present)
bar:29 color:Full from:2003 till:end text:Hoopeston Area (2003-Present)
bar:30 color:Full from:2003 till:end text:Westville (2003-Present)
bar:31 color:Full from:2021 till:end text:Cissna Park (2021-Present)
bar:32 color:Full from:2021 till:end text:Iroquois West (2021-Present)
bar:33 color:Full from:2021 till:end text:Watseka (2021-Present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1933
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center)
text:^"Vermilion Valley 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
{{Illinois High School Association
High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States
Illinois high school sports conferences
High school sports in Illinois
1933 establishments in Illinois
2003 establishments in Illinois