Big Nine Conference

Big Nine Conference
Sport Football, Basketball, Soccer, Baseball, Golf, Swimming, Volleyball, Wrestling
Founded 1968
No. of teams 4
Country  United States
Ceased 2012

The Big Nine Conference, formerly the Big Eight Conference, was a high school sports conference in Genesee County, Michigan that ended with four high schools in 2012.

History

Formed in 1960 as the Big Eight Conference, the conference became the Big Nine Conference in 1962 with the addition of Mt. Morris High School. Ainsworth High School left in 1968, and Mt. Morris left in 1972. Powers Catholic High School joined in 1974. In 1976, Carman High School and Swartz Creek High School were added from the Flint Metro League, giving the conference its peak membership of 10.[1] Due to the collegiate Big Ten Conference, the conference's name remained the Big Nine Conference.

Membership in the Big Nine remained stable for the next 21 years, with only the newly merged Carman-Ainsworth taking Carman's place in the conference in 1986. Owosso High School left in 1997 for the Mid-Michigan Athletic Conference - A.[2] Beecher left the league after the 2002 season.[1] In 2003, the Owosso Trojans returned to the league after the Mid-Michigan Athletic Conference - A dispersed.[2]

Clio in 2005 and Swartz Creek in 2006 moved to the Flint Metro League as the Conference was percevied as being overpowering to those schools.[3]

In 2006, the entire Big Nine Conference applied for membership in the Flint Metro League to encourage discussion on a merger. As a results of that and Kearsley's interest back in 2005-2006, a membership invitation was extend to Kearsley.[4] In 2007, Owosso left for the Capital Area Activities Conference - Red.[2]

Grand Blanc Schools moved to the Kensington Lakes Activities Association starting in 2009-2010 season.[5] In August 2011, the remaining Big Nine members and Flint Northwestern High applied together to join the Saginaw Valley League and were accepted to join starting in the 2012-2013 school year forming Saginaw Valley's southern division with the other Flint City District High Schools.[6]

Conference Membership

The conference had 13 different members over the course of its history.[1][7] Of the 11 existing former members, four are in the Flint Metro League, three are in the Saginaw Valley League, two are in the Genesee Area Conference, one is in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association, and one is in the Capital Area Activities Conference.

School Location Conference Tenure Subsequent Conference Membership
Ainsworth High School Mundy Township 1960–1968 Flint Metro League (1968–1986)
closed in 1986 (merged with Carman)
Beecher High School Beecher 1960–2002 Independent (2002–2009)
Genesee Area Conference (2009–present)
Carman High School Flint Township 1976–1986 closed in 1986 (merged with Ainsworth)
Carman-Ainsworth High School Flint Township 1986–2012 Saginaw Valley League (2012–present)
Clio High School Clio 1960–2005 Flint Metro League (2005–present)
Davison High School Davison 1960–2012 Saginaw Valley League (2012–present)
Flushing High School Flushing 1960–2012 Saginaw Valley League (2012–2014)
Flint Metro League (2014-present)
Grand Blanc High School Grand Blanc 1960–2009 Kensington Lakes Activities Association (2009–present)
Kearsley High School Flint 1960–2008 Flint Metro League (2008–present)
Mount Morris High School Mount Morris 1962–1972 Flint Metro League (1972–2002)
Genesee Area Conference (2002–present)
Owosso High School Owosso 1960–1997
2003–2007		 Mid-Michigan Athletic Conference - A (1997–2003)
Capital Area Activities Conference (2007–present)
Powers Catholic High School Flint 1974–2012 Saginaw Valley League (2012–present)
Swartz Creek High School Swartz Creek 1976–2006 Flint Metro League (2006–present)

Timeline

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Greg Tunnicliff. "Big Nine Conference Boys' Basketball All-Time League standings". Greg Tunnicliff's Flint Area Sports Page. Archived from the original on 2009-07-31. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Owosso Trojans". MIchigan High School Football. BusStop Computing. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  3. ↑ Tunnicliff, Greg. "Balance, competitiveness, friendships keep league rolling". Flint Journal (Advance Newspapers). p. 2. Retrieved 2007-09-17.
  4. ↑ Khan, Bill. "Kearsley invited to join Metro League". Flint Journal (Advance Newspapers). p. 2. Retrieved 2007-09-18.
  5. ↑ Grand Blanc to leave Big Nine Conference for Kensington Lakes league next fall
  6. ↑ Bill, Bill (April 13, 2011). "Saginaw Valley Conference adds four remaining Big Nine Conference schools, Flint Northwestern starting with 2012-13 school year". The Flint Journal. Retrieved 17 October 2011.
  7. ↑ "HISTORY OF FLINT METRO LEAGUE MEMBERSHIP" (DOC). Retrieved 2007-09-18.