Black Diamond Conference

Black Diamond Conference (BDC)
Established	1949
Association	IHSA
Members	13
Sports fielded	12 (boys: 6; girls: 6)
Region	Southern Illinois
Website	Black Diamond Conference
Locations

The Black Diamond Athletic Conference (BDC) is a high school athletic conference represented by 13 schools in the southern portion of Illinois. The conference currently offers championships for girls in basketball, cross country, golf, softball, track and field, and volleyball. In boys' sports, the BDC offers championships in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, and track and field.

History

1949-1968

The Black Diamond Conference was created first as a football-only conference in 1949. The original schools were members of the Coal Belt Conference for other sports. The original conference schools were Carterville, Christopher, Elkville, Sesser, and Zeigler.

In 1956, the Black Diamond added Boys' Basketball and the conference became full-time.

Carbondale University High, a charter member of the Coal Belt Conference, joined the conference in 1963 and remained a member until its closure in 1968.

In 1962, Elkville High School Consolidated with Vergennes HS to become Elverado High School and Zeigler High School consolidated with Royalton High School to become Zeigler-Royalton High School.

In 1963, Sesser High School Consolidated with Valier High School to become Sesser-Valier High School.

1968-2003

Trico (Campbell Hill) joined the Black Diamond in 1968 -69 season and won three consecutive BDC Basketball Titles. They left the BDC after the 1970-71 season after failing to start a football program.

Carterville and Christopher left the BDC to join the Southern Illini Conference after the 1973 season for and returned in 1975. There was no football race in 1974 and no basketball races in 1974-75 and 1975-76.

Johnston City joined the conference in 1975.

McLeansboro (now Hamilton County) joined for football only in 1990 when Christopher and Zeigler-Royalton combined their football programs.

Cairo and Eldorado joined in 1992 for football only.

Eldorado would later join for girls' basketball and both boys' and girls' track and field in 1992 and girls' volleyball in 1995

McLeansboro joined the BDC for baseball and both boys' and girls' track and field in 1992 and girls' volleyball in 1995.

2003 expansion

The 2003-2004 school year saw the largest single expansion in conference history. Carmi-White County and Fairfield joined from the defunct North Egypt Conference and former member Trico rejoined the conference. Cairo, Eldorado, and Hamilton County became full-time members by joining the conference for all sports.

The conference was divided into two divisions, East and West. The West Division consisted of the original five members Carterville, Christopher, Elverado, Sesser-Valier, and Zeigler-Royalton and new member Trico. The East consisted of five new members Cairo, Carmi-White County, Eldorado, Fairfield, and Hamilton County and current member Johnston City.

The conference also began to crown a champion from each division in Basketball and Volleyball. All other sports have one champion. The Diamond Duels in Basketball puts the 6 teams in each division against each other for Bragging Rights. The Duels have no outcome on Conference Champions.

Recent Years 2004-Present

Cairo High School left the conference at the end of the 2007-2008 school year and Vienna High School joined the conference in the 2008-2009 school year.^[1]

Carterville left the BDC at the conclusion of the 2009-2010 school year to the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference. Chester High School took their place in the BDC.^[2]

With Carterville leaving the conference, the Black Diamond has dropped Wrestling as a Conference sport as only 3 schools now have wrestling programs.^[3]

Goreville High School joined the BDC for the 2011-2012 school year as a member of the BDC West Division.^[4]

Members

Current members

School[1][5][6]	Location (Population)	Nickname(s)	Colors	Years Member	Enrollment (2013/14)[7]	Additional Information
Eastern Division
Carmi-White County High School	Carmi, Illinois (5,240)	Bulldogs Lady Bulldogs	Maroon      White	2003–Present	375
Eldorado High School	Eldorado, Illinois (4,122)	Eagles	Purple      Gold	1992-2003 (affiliate) 2003–Present	355
Fairfield Community High School	Fairfield, Illinois (5,154)	Mules Lady Mules	Red      Black	2003–Present	402
Hamilton County Senior High School	McLeansboro, Illinois (2,883)	Foxes Lady Foxes	Kelly Green      White	1990-2003 (affiliate) 2003–Present	333	Named McLeansboro High School prior to opening of current campus in 2001.[8]
Johnston City High School	Johnston City, Illinois (3,543)	Indians Lady Indians	Red      Black	1975–Present	328
Vienna High School	Vienna, Illinois (1,434)	Eagles Lady Eagles	Royal Blue      Orange	2008–Present	324
Western Division
Chester High School	Chester, Illinois (8,400)	Yellow Jackets Lady Yellow Jackets	Orange      Black	2010–Present	336
Christopher High School	Christopher, Illinois (2,382)	Bearcats Lady Cats	Blue      Orange	1949-1973 1975–Present	252
Elverado High School	Elkville, Illinois (1,001)	Falcons Lady Falcons	Blue      Gold	1962–Present	152	Name stands for Elkville, Vergennes, and Dowell.
Goreville High School[4]	Goreville, Illinois (938)	Blackcats	Gold      Black	2011–Present	179
Sesser-Valier High School	Sesser, Illinois (2,128)	Red Devils	Maroon      White	1963–Present	216	Co-ops with Waltonville in Baseball and Golf, but competes outside of conference play.
Trico High School	Campbell Hill, Illinois (333)	Pioneers Lady Pioneers	Blue      Gold	1968-1971 2003–Present	284	Trico Community Unit District 176 covers an area of 250 square miles. The district lies in portions of the Illinois counties of Jackson, Perry, and Randolph and serves the communities of Ava, Campbell Hill, Cutler, Gorham, Jacob, Percy, Rockwood, and Willisville.[9]
Zeigler-Royalton High School	Zeigler, Illinois (1,801)	Tornadoes Lady Tornadoes	Navy Blue      White	1962–Present	160

Cooperative Programs

Team Name	Schools	Sports	Host	Nickname(s)	Colors	Enrollment (2013/14)[7]
Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton	Christopher Zeigler-Royalton	Football, Track and Field	Christopher	Bearcats Lady Cats	Blue      Orange	412
Eldorado-Galatia	Eldorado Galatia	Cross Country, Golf, Track and Field	Eldorado	Eagles	Purple      Gold	461
Elverado-Trico	Elverado Trico	Football	Elverado	Falcons	Blue      Gold	436
Fairfield-Cisne	Cisne Fairfield	Wrestling	Fairfield	Mules Lady Mules	Red      Black	549
Sesser-Valier-Waltonville	Sesser-Valier Waltonville	Girls' Basketball, Track and Field, Volleyball	Sesser-Valier	Red Devils	Maroon      White	309
Sesser-Valier-Waltonville-Woodlawn	Sesser-Valier Waltonville Woodlawn	Football	Sesser-Valier	Red Devils	Maroon      White	494
Vienna-Goreville	Goreville Vienna	Football	Vienna	Eagles	Royal Blue      Orange	503
Zeigler-Royalton-Christopher	Christopher Zeigler-Royalton	Baseball, Girls' Basketball, Golf, Softball	Zeigler-Royalton	Tornadoes	Navy Blue      White	412

Former Members

School	Location	Nickname(s)	Colors	Years Member	Additional Information
Cairo High School	Cairo, Illinois	Pilots Co-Pilots	Blue      White	1992-2003 (affiliate) 2003-2008
Carbondale University High School [10]	Carbondale, Illinois	Lynxes	Maroon      Gray	1963–1968	Closed in 1968.
Carterville High School	Carterville, Illinois	Lions Lady Lions	Navy Blue      Orange	1949-1973 1975-2010	Current member of the Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference.
Elkville High School	Elkville, Illinois	Bluebirds	Blue      White	1949-1962	Consolidated with Vergennes and Dowell to form Elverado.
Sesser High School	Sesser, Illinois	Red Devils	Maroon      White	1949-1963	Consolidated with Valier to form Sesser-Valier.
Zeigler High School	Zeigler, Illinois	Purple Tornadoes	Purple      White	1949-1962	Consolidated with Royalton to form Zeigler-Royalton.

Membership Timeline

Sports

Fall

Cross Country

Cross Country has been a BDC sport since the 2003 expansion. The conference champion is determined by the winner of the conference tournament.

Football

The BDC was founded as a football-only conference and a title has been awarded in all but two years, 1974 and 75, since. Currently there are 10 BDC football programs. 7 schools compete individually and 3 pairs, Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton, Elverado-Trico, and Vienna-Goreville, compete as co-op programs. The BDC currently has a 9-game biennial rotating schedule with all programs playing each other once. Week 5, known as rivals week, however, does not rotate and has the same match-ups each year. These match-ups are as follows.

Rivals Week
Carmi-White County	Fairfield
Chester	Johnston City
Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton	Sesser-Valier
Eldorado	Hamilton County
Elverado-Trico	Vienna-Goreville

BDC schools have also had moderate success at the state level winning two state titles, Zeigler-Royalton in 1982 and Carterville in 1996.

Golf

Golf was added after the 2003 expansion. The title is awarded to the winner of the conference tournament at season's end.

Volleyball

The BDC began awarding a volleyball championship during the 1994 season. Since 2003 each division has had separate champion determined by regular season conference records. Between 2003 and 2005, the BDC held a conference tournament. In 2006 the tournament was replaced with the Diamond Duels format used in basketball. The Diamond Duels pitted the East Division vs the West Division. Teams would play the team in the same conference standing from the other division. The BDC Tournament and Diamond Duels had no effect on the conference championship.

Winter

Basketball

The Black Diamond basketball conference was formed in the early 1800s with four total teams: The Fairfield Log Cabins, the Hamilton County Smokestacks, the Carmi Lincolns, and the Johnston City Farmers. The teams would get together and play card games with each other, due to the fact that basketball was not invented yet. On the day of November 29 of the year 1891, a meteorite crashed into southern Illinois during a conference card game. The teams went to check it out and found that in the center of the meteorite was an orange ball with black stripes, a DVD Player, and a DVD entitled "Michael Jordan's Rules to Basketball." That very night the teams all gathered together to watch the DVD. Michael Jordan explained how he was the greatest basketball player in the universe and how he wanted to introduce the game of basketball to planet Earth. The teams were all filled with new knowledge and excited to put their knowledge to the test. The next day, all of the Black Diamond Conference basketball teams went to the landing spot of the meteorite and found that a brand new gymnasium had spawned there overnight. Inside the gym was a pair of Jordans for every member of the teams. The very first BDC basketball game took place on December 2, 1891 with Dr. James Naismith in attendance. He would soon steal the idea of basketball and take credit for the creation of the game. The first game was between the Carmi Lincolns and the Johnston City Farmers with the Lincolns winning 12-9. The next game was between the Fairfield Log Cabins and the Hamilton County Smokestacks. The Log Cabins just came out on top with a score of 7-6. That game was forever known in history as "The Day the Dunk was Invented." The play came late in the fourth quarter with the Log Cabins trailing 6-5. The Log Cabins point guard Abraham Simpson missed a shot and their center, Vincent Russell jumped into the air, grabbed the ball, and dunked it. This day spawned the popular phrase "Shut it down!" as they literally stopped the game at that moment and declared the Log Cabins the winners. Over the years the BDC conference would expand, gaining new teams from around the area as the game of basketball was popularized around the Americas.

Boys

Girls

Wrestling

Wrestling became a conference sport after the 2003 expansion and remained until after the 2009/10 season. Only four BDC schools — Carmi-White County, Carterville, Fairfield, and Johnston City — competed for the title, and Carmi-White County won all seven. All but one of the titles were awarded to the winner of the conference tournament held on the final weekend of the regular season. the 2010 title was awarded based on conference head-to-head records due to the tournament being canceled due to weather. Wrestling was removed as a conference sport after Carterville left the conference in 2010.

Spring

Baseball

Softball

Track and Field

Champions

Season	Sport		2012/13 Champion(s)	2013/14 Champion(s)	Most Championships
Boys' Sports
Fall	Cross Country		Fairfield (1)	Chester (3)	Eldorado (4)
	Football		Chester (1)	Chester (2) Fairfield (1)	Carterville (19)
	Golf		Hamilton County (4)	Carmi-White Co. (3)	Hamilton County (4)
Winter	Basketball	East	Fairfield (4) Johnston City (9)		Sesser-Valier (16)
		West	Goreville (2)
Spring	Baseball		Chester (2) Goreville (1)		Carterville (12)
	Track and Field		Chester (2)		Carterville (27)
Girls' Sports
Fall	Cross Country		Chester (3)	Chester (4)	Hamilton County (5)
	Golf		Eldorado (3)	Eldorado (4)	Eldorado (4)
	Volleyball	East	Fairfield (8) Hamilton County (7)	Hamilton County (8)	Fairfield (8) Hamilton County (8)
		West	Christopher (2)	Christopher (3) Trico (5)
Winter	Basketball	East	Eldorado (6) Hamilton County (5)		Sesser-Valier (13)
		West	Goreville (2)
Spring	Softball		Carmi-White County (5)		Johnston City (22)
	Track and Field		Chester (3)		Carterville (25)

Former championships

Season	Sport	Years Held	Most Recent Champion	Most Championships
Winter	Wrestling	2003/04-2009/10	Carmi-White County	Carmi-White County (7)

Championships by school

School	Baseball	Basketball		Cross Country		Football	Golf		Softball	Track and Field		Volleyball	Wrestling	Totals
		Boys	Girls	Boys	Girls		Boys	Girls		Boys	Girls			Boys	Girls	Overall
Carmi-White County	3	2	3	0	2	3	3	2	5	2	3	0	7*	20	15	35
Chester	2	0	0	3	4	2	0	†	0	2	3	0	†	9	7	16
Christopher	0‡	5	1‡	†	†	13‡	†‡	†‡	1‡	20‡	0‡	3	†	38	5	43
Eldorado	1	4	6	4	0	0	0	4	0	1	0	1	†	10	11	21
Elverado	3	5	4	†	†	6‡	†	†	5	0*	0*	0	†	14	9	23
Fairfield	0	4	1	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	1	8	0*	8	10	18
Goreville	1	2	2	0	0	†‡	0	0	1	0	0	0	†	3	3	6
Hamilton County	1	1	5	3	5	0	4	0	0	0	2	8	†	9	20	29
Johnston City	3	9	2	†	†	10	0	0	22	0	0	0	0*	22	24	46
Sesser-Valier	0*	16	13	†	†	8	†	†	0*	1	0	6	†	25	19	44
Trico	2	7	1	†	†	†‡	0	2	0	1	†	5	†	10	8	18
Vienna	0	0	3	0	0	†‡	0	0	1	0	0	0	†	0	4	4
Zeigler-Royalton	0‡	11	3‡	†	†	7‡	0‡	0‡	7‡	1‡	2‡	0	†	19	12	31
Intraconference Cooperative Programs
Christopher-Z-R	4		3			2	0	0	0	3	1			9	4	13
Elverado-Trico						0								0		0
Vienna-Goreville						0								0		0
Former Members
Cairo	0	1	0	†	†	0	†	†	0	0	0	†	†	1	0	1
Carbondale University	†	2	†	†	†	2	†	†	†	0	†	†	†	4	0	4
Carterville	12	11	8	0	0	19	3	3	4	27	25	4	0	72	44	116

• Championships won by Elkville, Sesser, and Zeigler are combined with Elverado, Sesser-Valier, and Zeigler-Royalton, respectively.
• ^*Does not currently compete in conference sanctioned play.
• ^†Has never competed in conference sanctioned play.
• ^‡Currently co-ops with another BDC school in conference sanctioned play.

State Titles

School	Sport	Titles	Years	Total
Carmi-White County	Boys' Golf	5	1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979	5
Eldorado	Boys' Track and Field	1	1925	1
Goreville	Softball	1	2012	1
Hamilton County	Boys' Basketball	1	1984	1
Johnston City	Boys' Basketball	1	1929	1
Zeigler-Royalton	Football	1	1982	1
Former Members
Cairo	Boys' Track and Field	5	1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1992	5
Carterville	Football	1	1996	2
	Softball	1	2008

References

External links

• Black Diamond Conference Official Website

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