Big 8 Conference (MHSAA)

The Big "8" Conference is a MHSAA athletic conference in South Central Michigan consisting of Class B and C schools from Branch, Eaton, Hillsdale, and Jackson counties.

Big "8" Conference
Founded1973
No. of teams7
Country United States
Official websiteBig 8 Conference

History

Little "C" Conference (1932–73)

The beginning of the Big "8" Conference can be traced back to its predecessor, the Little "C" Conference, which was founded in 1931 and began play for the 1932–33 school year. The original members of this conference were Athens, Bronson, Homer, Jonesville, Litchfield, Quincy, Reading, and Union City. As the conference was founded during the Great Depression, the league schedule was developed to accommodate a short travel distance for each member school.[1]

The Little "C" was a football only conference for the first two years of its existence. Baseball, basketball, and track and field weren't added until the 1934–35 school year.

The conference saw no change in membership for the first 37 years of its existence. The first change was after the 1968–69 school year when Litchfield, the smallest school in the league, left the Little "C" for the Mid-Southern Conference. The next year, Reading left the Little "C" to join the SCAA.

With only six members in the conference, the majority of the remaining members wanted to add two more teams to the league. However, this was voted down by Athens and Bronson. With expansion denied, the remaining four schools who voted for expansion would terminate the Little "C" Conference to begin a new conference with eight members in 1972. The 1972–73 school year would mark the 41st and final season of the Little "C" Conference. At the time of dissolution, the Little "C" was the longest existing conference with its original membership of schools in Michigan.[1]

Founding and Stability (1973–2021)

Originally named the Big "8" Interscholastic Association, the conference began competition in the 1973–74 school year with all member schools being similar in make-up, enrollment, and a close proximity to one another. The association established a constitution in which defined the Big "8" as:

An organization to regulate and coordinate cooperative and competitive activities between member schools in all areas of student activities. In addition to athletics are band, student council, forensics, debate, and agricultural activities along with administrative exchange and other functions that could benefit by inter-school relationships.[1]

The original members of the Big "8" were five of the six remaining Little "C" members Athens (who decided to remain despite voting down expansion), Homer, Jonesville, Quincy, and Union City along with Reading from the SCAA, Concord from the Cascades Conference and Springport from the Central Michigan Athletic Conference. Bronson, who had ambitions of joining the Twin Valley (which they never joined) was not an original member of the Big "8" and decided to become an Independent.

Like its predecessor, the Big "8" sustained an extended period of stability. In its first 44 years of existence, there were no members that left or were added to the conference. However, in 2016, Athens, who was the smallest member of the conference and suffering from declining enrollment, left the Big "8" after the 2016–17 school year to join the SCAA. Bronson, who was the only Little "C" member not to be a charter member of the Big "8", would replace Athens for the 2017–18 school year after spending a couple of years in the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph League.[1] Coincidentally, both these schools were the ones that voted against expansion of the Little "C".

From its founding in 1973 until 2001, media outlets would sometimes refer to the conference as Big 8 (East) differentiating from the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference (SMAC). The SMAC, which was nicknamed the Big 8 would be referred to the media as the Big 8 (West). This would become a moot point after the 2000–01 school year as the SMAC expanded to 16 teams and subsequently be nicknamed the Big 16.

Changes and Future (2021–present)

With the exception of Bronson replacing Athens for the 2017–18 school year, things were very quiet in the Big "8" prior to 2022 with the exception of Concord switching to 8-man football in 2021 as they joined the Tri-River 8-man Football League but would remain a member of the Big "8" for all other sports.

The summer of 2022 would begin some very major changes in the landscape of the conference. The Cascades Conference was looking to expand from eight to twelve members and would extend invitations to both Homer and Jonesville, who were charter members of both the Little "C" and Big "8". On June 27, Jonesville accepted their invitation to the Cascades Conference beginning in the 2023–24 school year.[2] Three weeks later, on July 18, Homer also accepted the Cascades invitation to join the conference beginning in the 2023–24 school year.[3]

With only six members left in the conference after Homer and Jonesville's departure, the league was looking to expand. On September 15, 2022, the Big "8" announced that Vermontville Maple Valley of the Greater Lansing Athletic Conference would become the seventh member of the Big "8" beginning the 2023–24 school year.[4]

Notes

    Member schools

    Current members

    School[5] Nickname Location Class Enrollment Joined Previous Conference Colors
    Bronson Vikings Bronson, Branch County C 320 2017 Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference   
    Concord[lower-alpha 1] Yellowjackets Concord, Jackson County C 205 1973 Cascades Conference   
    Maple Valley[lower-alpha 1][4] Lions Vermontville, Eaton County C 235 2023 Greater Lansing Athletic Conference   
    Quincy Orioles Quincy, Branch County B 384 1973 Little "C" Conference   
    Reading Rangers Reading, Hillsdale County C 219 1973 Southern Central Athletic Association   
    Springport Spartans Springport, Jackson County C 289 1973 Central Michigan Athletic Conference   
    Union City Chargers Union City, Branch County C 300 1973 Little "C" Conference   
    Notes
    1. Concord and Maple Valley participate in 8-man football as members of the Tri-River 8-man Football League.

    Former members

    School Nickname Location Joined Previous Conference Departed Successive Conference Colors
    Athens Indians Athens, Calhoun County 1973 Little "C" Conference 2017 Southern Central Athletic Association   
    Homer Trojans Homer, Calhoun County 1973 Little "C" Conference 2023 Cascades Conference   
    Jonesville Comets Jonesville, Hillsdale County 1973 Little "C" Conference 2023 Cascades Conference   

    Membership Timeline

    Springport High SchoolMaple Valley SchoolsGreater Lansing Athletic ConferenceConcord High School (Michigan)Bronson Jr./Sr. High SchoolBCS League

    Full members Other Conference


    Conference Sports

    The Big "8" Conference currently sponsors 13 sports (7 boys and 6 girls).

    Conference sports
    SportMen'sWomen's
    BaseballGreen tickY
    BasketballGreen tickYGreen tickY
    Competitive cheerGreen tickY
    Cross countryGreen tickYGreen tickY
    FootballGreen tickY
    GolfGreen tickY
    SoftballGreen tickY
    Track and fieldGreen tickYGreen tickY
    VolleyballGreen tickY
    WrestlingGreen tickY

    References

    1. "Big 8 Conference History" (PDF). Big 8 Conference. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
    2. Flaherty, Joseph (June 27, 2022). "Jonesville votes to join The Cascade Conference in the 2023–24 school year". Hillsdale Daily News.
    3. Flaherty, Joseph (July 18, 2022). "Homer votes to join Cascades in 2023; following Jonesville, Leslie and Columbia Central". Hillsdale Daily News.
    4. Watson, Sean (September 15, 2022). "Big 8 Conference to add Maple Valley in 2023". WTVB. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
    5. "MHSAA > About the MHSAA > Leagues & Conferences > League Membership".
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