Private School League

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.

Private School League
Established	1930
Dissolved	2009
Association	IHSA
Members	27
Region	Northeast Illinois (Bureau, DuPage, Kane, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry, Will and Winnebago counties)
Locations
The Private School League within Illinois

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, Chicago Harvard School 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. 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 Rockford Christian High School, Rockford Christian Life High School, 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 whom joined the Suburban Christian Conference, Metro Suburban Conference, Northeastern Athletic Conference, or Independent School League.[1]

All-Time Membership

The Private School League had 28 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 Harvard School	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 Christian Life High School	Rockford, IL	Eagles	Blue, Gray	2001	2009	A	2A
Rockford Christian High School	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

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.
2. IHSA.org Enrollments
3. "Records & History". www.ihsa.org.
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.
6. "Cooperative Teams | School Directory | Schools | IHSA". www.ihsa.org.
7. "School Directory | IHSA". www.ihsa.org.

External links