South Suburban Conference (Illinois)

South Suburban Conference
Data
Established 2006
Members 55
Sports fielded 12 boys, 12 girls
Region Chicagoland
Divisions Red & Blue

The South Suburban Conference (SSC) is a high school athletic and activity conference which comprises fourteen schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

The conference was one of three (the Southwest Suburban Conference (SWSC) and Southland Athletic Conference) to be carved from the long extant South Inter-Conference Association (SICA); a large athletic conference which broke apart in 2005 after 33 years of existence.

History

For 33 years prior to 2006, most of the public high schools in the south and southwest suburban Chicago area were a part of the South Inter-Conference Association (SICA) which by 2005 had reached a membership of 33 schools split into five divisions.[1] The conference covered a large geographic area and sociological spectrum "from the Indiana border to Joliet, from impoverished Ford Heights to affluent Frankfort, from virtually all-black Hillcrest to almost all-white Lincoln-Way Central and from Joliet, enrollment 4,993, to 1,066- student Rich South"[1] In 2004, the athletic directors voted 30–3, the principals' board of control voted 6–2, and the district superintendents voted 16–3 to approve a new conference realignment which was to take effect in 2006.[1] The realignment had been pushed because of long travel times and a reduction of sports offerings at some schools. The realignment split the association into three roughly equal and geographically contiguous conferences, one of which, the southeast, contained most of the predominantly African–American schools (compared to one school in the remaining two conferences).[1] It was from these schools that a majority of the votes against the realignment had come.[1] Leaders from these schools demanded an investigation from the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, and petitioned the Illinois State Board of Education to investigate as to whether this action violated rules on equity.[1]

In March 2005, ten schools announced that they were unilaterally leaving SICA to form a new conference, the Southwest Suburban Conference.[2] These ten schools collectively were among the largest in student population.[2] Shortly after the announcement, a board member from Lincoln-Way Community High School District, a district representing two of the schools leaving to form a new conference, was forced to resign after racially insensitive statements were left on a reporter's voice mail.[3]

Shortly after this, eleven more schools split off to form the South Suburban Conference.[4]

In April 2006, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the schools which had left claiming that "(an) apartheid-like realignment used public funds to regress to separate but equal".[1] The suit was settled out of court with the three schools of Thornton Township High Schools District 205 joining the South Suburban Conference, and the two schools of Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215 joining the South Suburban Conference.[5] The remaining six teams would remain known as SICA.[5]

Members

There are 55 members of the conference.[6]

South Suburbs High Schools Division Town Team Name Colors County
Alan B. Shepard High School Palos Heights Astros           Cook
Amos Alonzo Stagg High School Palos Hills Chargers           Cook
Beecher High School Beecher Bobcats           Will
Bloom High School Chicago Heights Trojans           Cook
Bloom Trail High School Steger Trail Blazers           Cook
Bolingbrook High School Bolingbrook Raiders                Will
Bremen High School Markham Braves           Cook
Carl Sandburg High School Orland Park Eagles           Cook
Chicago Christian High School Palos Hills Knights           Cook
Crete-Monee High School Crete Warriors           Will
Dwight D. Eisenhower High School Blue Island Cardinals           Cook
Evergreen Park Community High School Evergreen Park Mustangs           Cook
Harold L. Richards High School Oak Lawn Bulldogs                Cook
Hillcrest High School Country Club Hills Hawks                Cook
Homewood-Flossmoor High School Flossmoor Vikings           Cook
Illiana Christian High School Lansing Vikings           Cook
Illinois Lutheran High School Crete Chargers           Will
Joliet Central High School Joliet Steelman           Will
Joliet West High School Joliet Tigers           Will
Lemont Township High School Lemont Indians           Cook
Lincoln-Way Central High School New Lenox Knights                Will
Lincoln-Way East High School Frankfort Griffins           Will
Lincoln-Way West High School New Lenox Warriors           Will
Lockport Township High School Lockport Porters           Will
Marian Catholic High School Chicago Heights Spartans           Cook
Oak Lawn Community High School Oak Lawn Spartans           Cook
Oak Forest High School Oak Forest Bengals           Cook
Peotone High School Peotone Blue Devils           Will
Plainfield Central High School Plainfield Wildcats           Will
Plainfield East High School Plainfield Bengals           Will
Plainfield North High School Plainfield Tigers           Will
Plainfield South High School Plainfield Cougars           Kendall
Providence Catholic High School New Lenox Celtics           Will
Queen of Peace High School Burbank Pride                Cook
Reavis High School Burbank Rams           Cook
Reed-Custer High School Braidwood Comets           Will
Rich Central High School Olympia Fields Olympians           Cook
Rich East High School Park Forest Rockets           Cook
Rich South High School Richton Park Stars                Cook
Romeoville High School Romeoville Spartans                Will
Saint Laurence High School Burbank Vikings           Cook
Seton Academy High School South Holland Stings                Cook
Southland College Preparatory Charter High School Richton Park Eagles           Cook
Thornton Fractional North High School Calumet City Meteors           Cook
Thornton Fractional South High School Lansing Rebels           Cook
Thornton Township High School Harvey Wildcats           Cook
Thornridge High School Dolton Falcons                Cook
Thornwood High School South Holland Thunderbirds           Cook
Tinley Park High School Tinley Park Titans           Cook
Victor J. Andrew High School Tinley Park Thunderbolts           Cook
Wilmington High School Wilmington Wildcats           Will

Sports and activities

The conference sponsors competition in the following sports:[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Temkin, Barry (6 February 2005). "SICA struggling for perfect balance". Chicago Tribune. p. 17.
  2. 1 2 Sakomato, Bob (1 March 2005). "10 bail on SICA, form new league". Chicago Tribune. p. 6.
  3. ↑ Ziemba, Stanley; Greco Jr, Carmen (4 March 2005). "School board member resigns ; Derogatory remarks attributed to official". Chicago Tribune. p. 1.
  4. ↑ Ziemba, Stanley (16 November 2006). "Districts likely to settle SICA divisions ; New athletic groupings address diversity issue". Chicago Tribune. p. 1.
  5. 1 2 Napolitano, Jo (30 December 2006). "Dispute ends over athletic league split". Chicago Tribune. p. 24.
  6. ↑ "School Info". South Suburban Conference. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
  7. ↑ "Sports Terms and Conditions". directory. South Suburban Conference. Retrieved 10 November 2009.
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