For the NCAA athletic conference in the Central United States

Central United States

The Central United States is sometimes conceived as between the Eastern United States and Western United States as part of a three-region model, roughly coincident with the Midwestern United States plus the western and central portions of the Southern United States; the term is also sometimes used...

, see the Big 12 Conference

Big 12 Conference

The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

.

The Big Twelve Conference is a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 athletic conference

Athletic conference

An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams, playing competitively against each other at the professional, collegiate, or high school level. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller and smaller divisions, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels...

 in the Illinois High School Association

Illinois High School Association

The Illinois High School Association is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High...

 (IHSA), based in Central Illinois

Central Illinois

Central Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois that consists of the entire central section of the state, divided in thirds from north to south. It is an area of mostly flat prairie. The western section was originally part of the Military Tract of 1812 and forms the distinctive western...

. While the name implies that the conference has twelve schools, there are actually only ten schools currently active, due to other schools either closing, ending offering varsity

Varsity team

In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...

 athletics, or changing conferences. Stephen Decatur High School closed, bringing membership down to eleven. Rantoul High School then left to join the Corn Belt Conference, citing its inability to compete with larger schools.

Mattoon will be leaving the Big Twelve after the 2011-2012 season to join the Apollo Conference

Apollo Conference

The Apollo Conference is a high school athletic conference represented by 8 schools in the south-central portion of Illinois. It is a member of the Illinois High School Association....

. The Green Wave, as the smallest school in the conference, have had trouble competing against the more urban schools and are closer in size to the schools currently in the Apollo.

Recently, the Big Twelve has been known for its strong football teams, particularly Danville. The Vikings are a top-ranked football team year-after-year and went a perfect 9-0 in conference play last season. They finished 12-1 overall.

Member schools

School	Town	Team Name	Colors	IHSA Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association is one of 521 state high school associations in the United States, designed to regulate competition in most interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level. It is a charter member of the National Federation of State High...	Reference
Bloomington High School	Bloomington Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States and the county seat. It is adjacent to Normal, Illinois, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...	Purple Raiders		AA, 2A, 3A
Centennial High School	Champaign Champaign, Illinois Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...	Chargers Destrier The destrier is the best-known war horse of the medieval era. It carried knights in battles, tournaments, and jousts. It was described by contemporary sources as the Great Horse, due to its size and reputation....		AA, 2A, 3A
Champaign Central High School Champaign Central High School Champaign Central High School is a high school located in Champaign, Illinois. It has 1,385 students in grades 9-12. The principal is Joe Williams. It is part of the Champaign Unit 4 School District school system. Its sports teams are the Central Maroons....	Champaign Champaign, Illinois Champaign is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, in the United States. The city is located south of Chicago, west of Indianapolis, Indiana, and 178 miles northeast of St. Louis, Missouri. Though surrounded by farm communities, Champaign is notable for sharing the campus of the University of...	Maroon Maroon Maroon, marooning, or marooned may refer to:* Maroon , a dark shade of red* Maroon , runaway slaves, of African origin, in the Americas* Marooning, the act of leaving someone on a deserted island-Music:... s		AA, 2A, 3A
Danville High School Danville High School (Illinois) Danville High School is a public high school located in Danville, Illinois. DHS is part of Danville District 118, which also includes two middle schools and eight elementary schools....	Danville Danville, Illinois Danville is a city in Vermilion County, Illinois, United States. It is the principal city of the'Danville, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area' which encompasses all of Danville and Vermilion County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 32,467. It is the county seat of...	Vikings		AA, 2A, 3A
Eisenhower High School Eisenhower High School (Decatur, Illinois) Dwight Eisenhower High School is a public high school located in Decatur, Illinois. The school serves about 1200 students in grades 9 to 12 in Decatur Public Schools District 61...	Decatur Decatur, Illinois Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...	Panther Panthera Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae , which contains four well-known living species: the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard. The genus comprises about half of the Pantherinae subfamily, the big cats... s		AA, 2A, 3A
MacArthur High School	Decatur Decatur, Illinois Decatur is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city, sometimes called "the Soybean Capital of the World", was founded in 1823 and is located along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Central Illinois. In 2000 the city population was 81,500,...	General General A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given.... s		AA, 2A, 3A
Mattoon High School Mattoon High School Mattoon High School is located in Coles County, Mattoon, Illinois, USA.The school mascot is the fighting Green Wave, which represents the waves of corn in the fields surrounding the community of Mattoon...	Mattoon Mattoon, Illinois Mattoon is a city in Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,555 as of the 2010 census. It is a principal city of the Charleston–Mattoon Micropolitan Statistical Area.Mattoon was the site of the "Mad Gasser" attacks of the 1940s....	Green Wave Green Wave The Green Wave is the name of several sports teams, most prominently those of Tulane University.Other teams using the "Green Wave" name include:*Abington High School, Abington, Massachusetts*Ashbrook High School, Gastonia, North Carolina...		AA, 2A, 3A
Normal Community High School Normal Community High school Normal Community High School is a public high school located in Normal, Illinois that was founded in 1905. NCHS serves parts of Normal, Bloomington, and Towanda and is home to over 1,900 students with 150 faculty and staff....	Normal Normal, Illinois Normal is an incorporated town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. It had a population of 52,497 as of the 2010 census. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...	Ironmen		AA, 2A, 3A
Normal Community West High School Normal Community West High School Normal Community West High School is a public high school in Normal, Illinois. The mascot is the wildcat and school colors are black and silver. The school opened in 1995 and its current student body numbers roughly 2,000.-Sports:Football...	Normal Normal, Illinois Normal is an incorporated town in McLean County, Illinois, United States. It had a population of 52,497 as of the 2010 census. Normal is the smaller of two principal municipalities of the Bloomington-Normal metropolitan area...	Wildcat Wildcat Wildcat is a small felid native to Europe, the western part of Asia, and Africa.-Animals:Wildcat may also refer to members of the genus Lynx:... s		AA, 2A, 3A
Urbana High School Urbana High School (Illinois) -History:Urbana High School's current building was built in 1914. It was designed by architect Joseph Royer who also designed many other area buildings such as the Urbana Free Library and the Champaign County Court House...	Urbana Urbana, Illinois Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....	Tiger Tiger The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts... s		AA, 2A, 3A

External links

• Illinois High School Association (IHSA) official website