Private School League

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Private School League
Established1930
Dissolved2009
AssociationIHSA
Members27
RegionNortheast Illinois (Bureau, DuPage, Kane, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry, Will and Winnebago counties)
Locations
Private School League locations
The Private School League within Illinois

The Private School League was a high school conference in northeastern Illinois. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference comprised 28 small private schools, with enrollments between 50 and 400 students, in Bureau, DuPage, Kane, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry, Will, and Winnebago counties.

History[]

In December 1930, five private religious and secular schools in the Chicago area came together to create an athletic conference for non-public schools. The five schools weren Chicago Christian of Palos Heights, Chicago Luther Institute, Wheaton Academy, Chicago Central YMCA, and the Pullman Free School of Manual Training in Chicago. Initially the conference was organized for basketball only; however, as time progressed, the conference added other sports.

The league soon expanded with other secular and private academies. In 1931, Pullman School withdrew from the league. In 1935, and Chicago North Park Academy joined, as did Francis W. Parker School and Woodstock Todd Seminary in 1936. Another addition to the league occurred in 1938, with Chicago Latin School, Chicago University High School, and the high school program of Concordia Teachers College joining. Chicago Central YMCA withdrew in 1939, leaving the league with a total of 10 teams as the 1940 school year commenced.

Luther Institute split into Luther North and Luther South in 1953, and in 1954, Elgin Academy, Glenwood School, and North Shore Country Day School joined the conference. In 1955, Walther Lutheran High School (Melrose Park) joined the league. With these additions, the league divided into two divisions with a championship game between the division winners. The championship game was dropped after 1957 but the division set up remained until 1966 when 6 schools left to form the Independent School League. Those schools were Chicago Latin, Elgin Academy, Francis W. Parker School, Glenwood School for boys, Morgan Park Academy, and North Shore Country Day. Morgan Park Academy had joined in 1960, however, it was included with the six teams that exited the conference and with Chicago Harvard leaving the conference in 1962, it left the league with a total of seven teams at the beginning of the 1967 school year.

North Park Academy departed the conference in 1969, Wheaton Academy left in 1971. To replace them, Little Flower Academy and Providence Catholic High School were added in 1971. Aurora Central Catholic High School was added in 1973 when Little Flower Academy closed, keeping the league at seven members as the 1970s came to a close.

Nazareth Academy joined in 1980, and Wheaton Academy returned to the league in 1984 for just the one season. In 1987, Providence Catholic High School left while in 1995, St. Gregory and Peru St. Bede joined. Aurora Central Catholic High School left the conference in 1997 and in 1998, St. Gregory and Peru St. Bede left the league and Aurora Christian High School joined. In 2001, Nazareth Academy left but , , and Rockford Lutheran High School became members of the league. In 2003, Rockford Christian and Lutheran left and Lake Forest Academy joined. In 2005, Seton Academy became the final addition to the league, although Wheaton Academy, a team that had been part of the league two times before, returned in 2007. As the conference came to a conclusion in 2009, it had ten teams, most of which joined the Suburban Christian Conference, Metro Suburban Conference, Northeastern Athletic Conference, or Independent School League.[1]

All-Time Membership[]

The Private School League had 29 teams throughout its history, the list of schools encompasses all of the schools which were once a part of the conference.

School Location Mascot Colors Year Joined Year Left IHSA Classes A/AA[2] IHSA Football Class[3]
Chicago Christian
High School 		Palos Heights, IL Knights    
Purple, Gold 		1930 2003 2A 4A
Chicago Luther
Institute 		Chicago, IL Wildcats    
Blue, Gold 		1930 1953 - -
Wheaton Academy West Chicago, IL Warrior    
Maroon, White 		1930
1984
2007 		1971
1985
2009 		3A 4A
Chicago, IL Hurricanes    
Black, Gold 		1935 1962 - -
Chicago North
Park Academy 		Chicago, IL Vikings    
Royal Blue, Gold 		1935 1969 - -
Francis W. Parker
High School 		Chicago, IL Colonels    
Blue, White 		1936 1966 - -
Woodstock Todd
Seminary[4] 		Woodstock, IL Red Raiders    
Red, White 		1936 1954 - -
Chicago Latin
School 		Chicago, IL Romans    
Blue, Orange 		1938 1966 - -
Chicago University
High School 		Chicago, IL Maroons    
Maroon, White 		1938 2009 2A -
Concordia
High School 		River Forest, IL Cougars    
Maroon, Gold 		1938 2009 - -
Luther North
High School 		Chicago, IL Wildcats    
Blue, Gold 		1953 2009 1A 2A
Luther South
High School 		Chicago, IL Braves    
Blue, Gold 		1953 2009 1A 2A
Elgin
Academy 		Elgin, IL Hilltoppers    
Orange, Black 		1954 1966 - -
Glennwood
School for boys 		Glenwood, IL Wildcats    
Blue, Gold 		1954 1966 - -
North Shore
Country Day School 		Winnetka, IL Raiders    
Purple, White 		1954 1966 - -
Morgan Park
Academy 		Chicago, IL Warriors    
Maroon, Ivory 		1960 1966 - -
Little Flower
Academy 		Chicago, IL Lancers    
Black, White 		1971 1973 - -
Providence
High School 		New Lenox, IL Celtics    
Kelly Green, White 		1971 1995 A 3A
Aurora Central Catholic
High School 		Aurora, IL Chargers    
Blue, Gold 		1973 1997 A 3A
Nazareth
Academy 		La Grange Park, IL Roadrunners      
Columbia Blue, White & Navy Blue 		1980 2001 A 3A
Peru St. Bede
High School 		Peru, IL Bruins    
Green, White 		1995 1998 A 2A
St. Gregory
High School 		Chicago, IL Greyhounds        
Red, White, Royal Blue, Gray 		1995 2009 A 2A
Aurora Christian
High School 		Aurora, IL Eagles      
Red, White, Gray 		1998 2009 A 2A
Rockford, IL Eagles    
Blue, Gray 		2001 2009 A 2A
Rockford, IL Royal Lions      
Royal Blue, Metallic Gold, Black 		2001 2003 A 2A
Rockford Lutheran
High School 		Rockford, IL Crusaders    
Purple, White 		2001 2003 A 2A
Lake Forest
Academy 		Lake Forest, IL Caxys    
Orange, Black 		2003 2009 A 2A
Seton
Academy 		South Holland, IL Sting      
Black, White, Gold 		2005 2009 A 2A
Walther Lutheran
High School 		Melrose Park, IL Broncos Green, White 1955 2009 A 2A

Sources:IHSA Conferences,[5] IHSA Coop Teams,[6] and IHSA Member Schools Directory[7]

Membership timeline[]

Full members

References[]

  1. ^ "The Great Conferences". www.illinoishsglorydays.com. Retrieved March 17, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ IHSA.org Enrollments
  3. ^ "Records & History". www.ihsa.org.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ "Todd Seminary for Boys 1848-1954" (PDF). Woodstock Public Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 5, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  5. ^ "Conferences & Affiliated Schools | Schools | IHSA". www.ihsa.org.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Cooperative Teams | School Directory | Schools | IHSA". www.ihsa.org.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "School Directory | IHSA". www.ihsa.org.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links[]

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