Central Suburban League
ConferenceIHSA
Founded1965
No. of teams12
RegionNorth Shore suburbs of Chicago, Illinois
Official websiteOfficial website

The Central Suburban League is an IHSA-recognized high school extracurricular conference comprising 12 public schools located in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago. Comprising 12 relatively large high schools, it is among the larger high school conferences (by student population) in Illinois.[1]


🌍
Current locations of Central Suburban League Schools

Schools

School Town Team Name Colors IHSA Classes 2/3/4 Reference County
Deerfield High School Deerfield Warriors     AA/3A/4A [2] Lake
Evanston Township High School Evanston Wildkits     AA/3A/4A [3] Cook
Glenbrook North High School Northbrook Spartans     AA/3A/4A [4] Cook
Glenbrook South High School Glenview Titans     AA/3A/4A [5] Cook
Highland Park High School Highland Park Giants     AA/3A/4A [6] Lake
Maine East High School Park Ridge Demons     AA/3A/4A [7] Cook
Maine South High School Park Ridge Hawks       AA/3A/4A [8] Cook
Maine West High School Des Plaines Warriors       AA/3A/4A [9] Cook
New Trier High School Winnetka Trevians     AA/3A/4A [10] Cook
Niles North High School Skokie Vikings     AA/3A/4A [11] Cook
Niles West High School Skokie Wolves     AA/3A/4A [12] Cook
Vernon Hills High School Vernon Hills Cougars     AA/2A/3A [13] Lake

Former schools

  • Niles East High School: Opened in 1938, the school was Niles High School until 1959 when Niles West opened. The school closed in 1980.
  • Maine North High School: Opened in 1970, the building closed in 1981.
  • New Trier West High School: New Trier was split into a west and east campus in 1967. Between 1967 and 1981 the west campus was a normal high school of its own. In 1981, due to a decline in the school's population, the west campus was turned into a freshman only campus (1981-1985). The west campus closed in 1985. Once again in 2001, District 203 decided to open it as a freshman campus. It still operates, and is known as the Northfield Campus.
  • Waukegan West High School: Between 1975 and 1990, Waukegan split into a west and east campus. Starting in 1990, the west campus folded into the east campus.
  • Waukegan High School: Waukegan, members of the CSL between 1975 and 2016, left the conference after 41 seasons to join the revamped North Suburban Conference. Waukegan competed in the CSL South while in the conference.[14]

Divisional alignment

While the divisions' names are geographic, their makeup is not based on a school's location. The North Division includes the schools with the smaller enrollments while the South Division includes the schools with the larger enrollments. Every two years the member school's official enrollment is used to determine division alignment.

North Division South Division
Niles North Evanston
Maine West Glenbrook South
Highland Park Maine South
Maine East New Trier
Niles West Deerfield
Vernon Hills Glenbrook North

Not all activities and sports make use of the division alignment. In chess, teams compete as a part of the North Suburban Chess League which comprises schools from many conferences. Scholastic Bowl plays as a single twelve team league.

Niles North moved to the CSL South for the 2016-'17 season after former South Division school Waukegan was replaced with Vernon Hills. Vernon Hills, which had the smallest enrollment in the conference at that point, was placed in the North Division.

In the 2019-2020 season, Glenbrook North and Niles North swapped divisions because of a division realignment.

In the 2023-2024 season, Deerfield and Niles West swapped divisions because of a division realignment.

History

The CSL traces its history back to the founding of the Suburban League in 1913, of which Evanston and New Trier were both founding members. The league had somewhat fluid membership over several decades. As the population of suburban Chicago grew (and the number of high schools with it) schools began leaving to join newer conferences such as the West Suburban Conference (started 1922), the Northwest Suburban (started in 1925, which later became the North Suburban Conference and Mid-Suburban League), and the South Suburban League (started in 1950). With more schools leaving (and newer suburban schools joining more geographically logical conferences), the Central Suburban League was founded in 1965, the last major conference to be carved from the old Suburban League. The last remaining bastion of the Suburban League started joining these other leagues, and finally folded after the 1974–1975 school year.

As of the end of the 2007–08 school year, the past and present schools of the CSL have won 233 state titles in various IHSA sports and activities. They have finished in second place 261 times. Nearly half of these (105 state titles and 113 state runners-up) have been won by New Trier (or the two schools it was split into for a time, New Trier East and New Trier West). Evanston adds 47 state titles and 49 runner-up prizes. The league has remained stable (except for divisional realignment) since Niles North returned to the league in 1991.[15]

During Winter 2016, the CSL Athletic Directors voted 7-5 for a division realignment system. The system incorporates enrollment and athletic success in determining division placement. Every three years, points are tallied and the top six teams are placed in the South Division, while the other six are in the North Division. Before 2016, divisions were determined only by enrollment. Glenbrook North and Niles North were the first schools to swap divisions in the 2019-2020 season.[16]

Timeline

  • 1965 – CSL is formed by Deerfield, Glenbrook North, Glenbrook South, Maine South, Niles North, and Niles West.
  • 1967 – Maine West joins the league, as does the newly opened New Trier West.
  • 1971 – Maine North joins.
  • 1972 – Highland Park and Niles East both join from the Suburban League. Maine East joins from the West Suburban Conference. This is the first year there are two divisions in the conference.
  • 1974 – Maine North moves out of conference.
  • 1975 – With the Suburban League now folded, Evanston, New Trier East, Waukegan East, and Waukegan West join.
  • 1979 – Niles North leaves the league.
  • 1980 – Niles East closes.
  • 1981 – New Trier East and West consolidate into New Trier Township High School.
  • 1990 – Waukegan East and West consolidate into Waukegan High School.
  • 1991 – Niles North rejoins the league.[15]
  • 2016 – Waukegan leaves the conference; Vernon Hills joins in their place.

Chart

Notable athletes in major sports (since 1965)

References

  1. ↑ 2008–09 official school enrollments
  2. ↑ "Deerfield (H.S.)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Evanston (Twp.)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Northbrook (Glenbrook North)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Glenview (Glenbrook South)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Highland Park". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Park Ridge (Maine East)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Park Ridge (Maine South)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  9. ↑ "Des Plaines (Maine West)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Winnetka (New Trier)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Skokie (Niles North)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  12. ↑ "Skokie (Niles West)". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Vernon Hills". Illinois High School Association (IHSA). October 14, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Waukegan's joining North Suburban Conference". Lake County News-Sun.
  15. 1 2 "History of Illinois athletic conferences". Archived from the original on 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  16. ↑ Sadin, Steve. "Niles North, Glenbrook North to swap divisions as CSL realigns via point system". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2018-06-26.
  17. ↑ Baseball Reference.com's entry on Dave Bergman being drafted from Maine South
  18. ↑ "Maine South newspaper article on Dave Butz". Archived from the original on 2007-10-30. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  19. ↑ Chicago Sun Times article listing Dave Butz as Maine South alum Archived 2008-12-04 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ↑ bio & stats for Tony Cogan; baseballcube.com; accessed 22 May 2009
  21. ↑ Chicago Sun Times article listing Conner as a Niles West alum
  22. ↑ Pro-Football-Reference.com's enrty on Jim Hart from Niles West High School
  23. ↑ Associated Press (December 27, 1996). "Dan Fouts' Nephew makes most of his chance to QB Utah". The Blade. Toledo, Ohio. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
  24. 1 2 3 Spanish, Tina (September 3, 2008), "Deerfield", Chicago Sun-Times, archived from the original on 2010-11-04, retrieved January 31, 2010
  25. ↑ Baseball-reference.com's entry for George Kontos from Niles West High School
  26. ↑ Reynolds, Dave (October 18, 2010). "Where Are They Now? Jim Lindeman". Peoria Journal Star (Peoria, IL, USA). Retrieved July 12, 2011. Lindeman, a shortstop-third baseman, was in Dewey Kalmer's second recruiting class at Bradley in 1980, plucked from Maine West in suburban Chicago.
  27. ↑ Indiana University Olympians with Loukas listing Deerfield HS Archived 2008-08-01 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ↑ Diver Christina Loukas ready for Olympics July 13, 2008 @chicagotribune.com
  29. ↑ IHSA Girls Swimming & Diving record page
  30. ↑ local paper reporting about Rashard Mendenhall
  31. ↑ nfl.com profile of Aaron Moorehead listing Deerfield HS
  32. ↑ The Year in Sports; 1 January 2009; Park Ridge Herald-Advocate; accessed 12 May 2009
  33. ↑ stats & bio for Adam Rosales; The Baseball Cube.com; accessed 12 May 2009 Archived May 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  34. ↑ "Scott Sanderson Stats".
  35. ↑ https://goduke.com/news/2021/6/4/mens-basketball-duke-announces-scheyer-as-next-head-coach.aspx Duke Basketball profile of Scheyer listing GBN as his high school
  36. 1 2 Tucker, Steve; Maine South: A past stocked with surprises; 30 January 2008; Chicago Sun-Times; accessed 12 May 2009 Archived 4 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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