Mid State Conference
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| Conference | IHSA |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1949 |
| Ceased | 2006 |
| No. of teams | 15 (total) |
| Region | Central Illinois (Iroquois, LaSalle, Livingston, McLean, Tazewell, and Woodford counties) |
The Mid State Conference was a high school conference in central Illinois. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association. The conference comprised 15 small public high schools, with enrollments between 60 and 340 students in Iroquois, LaSalle, Livingston, McLean, Tazewell, and Woodford counties.
History
[edit | edit source]The first year of competition for the Mid State was 1949 with eight charter schools: Chenoa, Cornell, El Paso, Fairbury, Flanagan, Gridley, Lexington and Minonk-Dana. In 1951, Fairbury merged with Cropsey High School and remained in the conference as Fairbury-Cropsey High School. Additionally, in 1955, Minonk-Dana consolidated with Rutland High School, again, maintaining a league with eight school. Unfortunately, in 1957, Fairbury-Cropsey left for the short-lived United Conference. For seven years the conference maintained seven schools, however in 1964, Streator Woodland joined the league. Cornell dropped football in 1971, but Deer Creek-Mackinaw was added in 1972 to round out the league again with eight. Gridley dropped football briefly in 1984, but resumed the program in 1986. Cornell would consolidate their enrollment into Flanagan High School in 1987, reducing the number of schools to seven, again. In 1992, Minonk-Dana-Rutland consolidated with a neighboring districts Toluca, and Wenona to become known as Fieldcrest, but remained in the Mid State.
For over 40 years the Mid State Conference maintained seven or eight schools with very few exceptions, however in 1995, Cullom Tri-Point and Tremont joined the league taking the total to 10. Additionally, Colfax Ridgeview and Heyworth would join in 1997, taking the total number of schools to 12. The league would remain at 12 until 2004 when El Paso and Gridley consolidated and Chenoa High School consolidated with Prairie Central. Prairie Central already included a former league member, Fairbury-Cropsey, who in 1985 consolidated with Forrest-Strawn-Wing High School and Chatsworth High Schools.
In the early 2000s, talks began to join forces with the Sangamon Valley Conference in order to create a league with divisions based on enrollment. This conference would be known as the Heart of Illinois and was formed in 2006, thus ending the 56 year old run for the Mid State.[1]
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All-time membership
[edit | edit source]| School | Location | Mascot | Colors | County | Year Joined | Year Left | Still Open | Consolidated / School | Conference Joined |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chenoa High School | Chenoa, Illinois | Redbirds | McLean | 1949 | 2004 | Yes | Yes / Prairie Central | Corn Belt | |
| Cornell High School | Cornell, Illinois | Cardinals | Livingston | 1949 | 1987 | No | Yes / Flanagan-Cornell | — | |
| Flanagan High School | Flanagan, Illinois | Falcons | Livingston | 1949 | 1987 | Yes | Yes / Flanagan-Cornell | — | |
| Flanagan-Cornell High School | Flanagan, Illinois | Falcons | Livingston | 1987 | 2006 | Yes | No | Heart of Illinois | |
| El Paso High School | El Paso, Illinois | Red Comets | McLean | 1949 | 2004 | Yes | Yes / El Paso-Gridley | Heart of Illinois | |
| Gridley High School | Gridley, Illinois | Redskins | McLean | 1949 | 2004 | No | Yes / El Paso-Gridley | Heart of Illinois | |
| Fairbury High School | Fairbury, Illinois | Tartars | Livingston | 1949 | 1951 | Yes | Yes / Fairbury-Cropsey | — | |
| Fairbury-Cropsey High School | Fairbury, Illinois | Tartars | Livingston | 1951 | 1957 | Yes | Yes / Prairie Central | United | |
| Lexington High School | Lexington, Illinois | Minutemen | McLean | 1949 | 2006 | Yes | No | Heart of Illinois | |
| Minonk-Dana High School | Minonk, Illinois | Mohawks | Woodford | 1949 | 1955 | Yes | Yes / Minonk-Dana-Rutland | Heart of Illinois | |
| Minonk-Dana-Rutland High School | Minonk, Illinois | Mohawks | Woodford | 1955 | 1992 | Yes | Yes / Fieldcrest | Heart of Illinois | |
| Fieldcrest High School | Minonk, Illinois | Knights | Woodford | 1992 | 2006 | Yes | No | Heart of Illinois | |
| Woodland High School | Streator, Illinois | Warriors | Livingston | 1964 | 2006 | Yes | No | Tri-County | |
| Deer Creek-Mackinaw High School | Mackinaw, Illinois | Chiefs | Tazewell | 1972 | 2006 | Yes | No | Heart of Illinois | |
| Tri-Point High School | Cullom, Illinois | Warriors | Livingston | 1995 | 2006 | Yes | No | Sangamon Valley | |
| Tremont High School | Tremont, Illinois | Turks | Tazewell | 1995 | 2006 | Yes | No | Heart of Illinois | |
| Ridgeview High School | Colfax, Illinois | Mustangs | McLean | 1997 | 2006 | Yes | No | Heart of Illinois | |
| Heyworth High School | Heyworth, Illinois | Hornets | McLean | 1997 | 2006 | Yes | No | Heart of Illinois |
Sources:IHSA Conferences,[2] and IHSA Member Schools Directory[3] A History of Minonk Schools[4]
Membership timeline
[edit | edit source]<timeline> DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1100 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1949 till:2006 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor
id:line value:pink
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.78,0.391,0.654) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote)
id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Full from:1949 till:2004 text:Chenoa (1949–2004) bar:1 color:Full from:1996 till:2004 text:Consolidated into Prairie Central HS
bar:2 color:Full from:1949 till:1987 text:Cornell (1949–1987) bar:2 color:White from:1987 till:end text:Consolidated into Flanagan HS
bar:3 color:Full from:1949 till:1987 text:Flanagan (1949-1987) bar:3 color:White from:1987 till:end text:Consolidated with Cornell HS
bar:4 color:Full from:1987 till:2006 text:Flanagan-Cornell (1987-2006)
bar:5 color:Full from:1949 till:2004 text:El Paso (1949–2004) bar:5 color:Full from:1998 till:2006 text:Consolidated with Gridley
bar:6 color:Full from:1949 till:2004 text:Gridley (1949–2004) bar:6 color:Full from:1998 till:2006 text:Consolidated with El Paso
bar:7 color:White from:1998 till:2004 text:El Paso-Gridley (2004-2006) bar:7 color:Full from:2004 till:2006
bar:8 color:Full from:1949 till:1951 text:Fairbury (1949–1951) bar:8 color:White from:1955 till:end text:Consolidated with Cropsey HS
bar:9 color:Full from:1951 till:1958 text:Fairbury-Cropsey (1951–1957) bar:9 color:white from:1960 till:end text:Left for the United Conference
bar:10 color:Full from:1949 till:2006 text:Lexington (1949-2006)
bar:11 color:Full from:1949 till:1955 text:Minonk-Dana (1949-1955) bar:11 color:white from:1956 till:end text:Consolidated with Rutland HS
bar:12 color:Full from:1955 till:1989 text:Minonk-Dana-Rutland (1955–1992) bar:12 color:Full from:1989 till:1992 text:Consolidated with Toluca, and Wenona to become Fieldcrest bar:12 color:White from:1992 till:end
bar:13 color:Full from:1992 till:2006 text:Fieldcrest (1992-2006)
bar:14 color:Full from:1964 till:2006 text:Woodland (1964-2006)
bar:15 color:Full from:1972 till:2006 text:Deer Creek-Mackinaw (1972-2006)
bar:16 color:Full from:1995 till:2006 text:Tri-Point (1995-2006)
bar:17 color:Full from:1995 till:2006 text:Tremont (1995-2006)
bar:18 color:Full from:1997 till:2006 text:Ridgeview (1997-2006)
bar:19 color:Full from:1997 till:2006 text:Heyworth (1997-2006)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:3 start:1949 TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center)
text:^"Mid State membership history"
- > If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. Full members Full members (non-football) Assoc. members (football only) Assoc. member (list sports) Other Conference Other Conference <# </timeline>
Full members Sources:Illinois High School Glory Days,[5][6]
References
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