Southland Athletic Conference
Data
Established	2006
Members	6

The Southland Athletic Conference (SAC) is a high school

Secondary school

Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 athletic and activity 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...

 which comprises six schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

The conference was one of three (the Southwest Suburban Conference

Southwest Suburban Conference

The Southwest Suburban Conference is an athletic and competitive activity conference consisting of public secondary schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois....

 (SWSC) and South Suburban Conference

South Suburban Conference (Illinois)

The South Suburban Conference is a high school athletic and activity conference which comprises fourteen schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois....

 (SSC) to be carved from the long extant South Inter-Conference Association (SICA)

SICA (high school sports)

The South Inter-Athletic Association Conference is a former conference on the south side of Chicago and the predecessor of the current South Suburban Conference, Southwest Suburban Conference, and Southland Athletic Conference. At one point it was the largest conference in Illinois. -Former...

; a large athletic conference which broke apart in 2005 after 33 years of existence.

History

For 33 years prior to 2006, most of the public high schools in the south and southwest suburban Chicago area were a part of the South Inter-Conference Association (SICA) which by 2005 had reached a membership of 33 schools split into five divisions. The conference covered a large geographic area and sociological spectrum "from the Indiana border to Joliet, from impoverished Ford Heights to affluent Frankfort, from virtually all-black Hillcrest to almost all-white Lincoln-Way Central and from Joliet, enrollment 4,993, to 1,066- student Rich South" In 2004, the athletic directors voted 30–3, the principals' board of control voted 6–2, and the district superintendents voted 16–3 to approve a new conference realignment which was to take to take effect in 2006. The realignment had been pushed because of long travel times and a reduction of sports offerings at some schools. The realignment split the association into three roughly equal and geographically contiguous conferences, one of which, the southeast, contained most of the predominantly African–American schools (compared to one school in the remaining two conferences). It was from these schools that a majority of the votes against the realignment had come. Leaders from these schools demanded an investigation from the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, and petitioned the Illinois State Board of Education to investigate as to whether this action violated rules on equity.

In March 2005, ten schools announced that they were unilaterally leaving SICA to form a new conference, the Southwest Suburban Conference

Southwest Suburban Conference

The Southwest Suburban Conference is an athletic and competitive activity conference consisting of public secondary schools located in the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois....

. These ten schools collectively were among the largest in student population. Shortly after the announcement, a board member from Lincoln-Way Community High School District

Lincoln-Way Community High School District

Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210 was organized in 1951. The district serves the communities of New Lenox, Frankfort, Mokena, Manhattan, and small portions of Tinley Park and Orland Park. Four high schools comprise Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210: Lincoln-Way Central,...

, a district representing two of the schools leaving to form a new conference, was forced to resign after racially insensitive statements were left on a reporter's voice mail.

Shortly after this, eleven more schools split off to form the South Suburban Conference.

In April 2006, a federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the schools which had left claiming that "(an) apartheid-like realignment used public funds to regress to separate but equal". The suit was settled out of court with the three schools of Thornton Township High Schools District 205

Thornton Township High Schools District 205

Thornton Township High Schools District 205 is a consolidated high school district based in Harvey, Cook County, Illinois that serves much of Cook County's Thornton Township. The district is located due south of the city of Chicago; the township's northern border matches up with the southern border...

 joining the Southwest Suburban Conference, and the two schools of Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215

Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215

Thornton Fractional Township District 215, more commonly known as T.F. District 215, is composed of two high schools and the supplementary Center for Academics and Technology....

 joining the South Suburban Conference. The remaining six teams would be known as Southland Athletic Conference.

Members

School	Town	Team Name	Colors	IHSA Classes (2/3/4)	Reference
Bloom Township Bloom High School Bloom High School is a public school in Chicago Heights, Illinois. It is part of Bloom Township High School District 206.The school was founded in 1900. A second Chicago Heights high school, Bloom Trail, was established in 1976 to offset overcrowding... Bloom Township is a combined athletics program representing Bloom High School Bloom High School Bloom High School is a public school in Chicago Heights, Illinois. It is part of Bloom Township High School District 206.The school was founded in 1900. A second Chicago Heights high school, Bloom Trail, was established in 1976 to offset overcrowding...  and Bloom Trail High School Bloom Trail High School Bloom Trail High School is a public high school in Chicago Heights, Illinois, United States. It is part of Bloom Township High School District 206. Originally Bloom Township Freshman-Sophomore Division, in 1976 it became a four-year high school and was renamed Bloom Trail High School.-External... .	Chicago Heights Chicago Heights, Illinois Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 31,373 at the 2005 census. Chicago Heights is nicknamed 'Crossroads of the Nation'.-History:...	Blazing Trojans		AA/3A/4A
Crete-Monee High School	Crete Crete, Illinois Crete is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,346 at the 2000 census. Originally named Wood's Corner, it was founded in 1836 by Vermonters Dyantha and Willard Wood.-Geography:Crete is located at ....	Warrior Warrior A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:... s		AA/2A/3A
Kankakee Senior High School Kankakee High School Kankakee High School is a public secondary school in Kankakee, Illinois and is part of the Kankakee School District 111. KHS serves grades nine through twelve....	Kankakee Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee is a city in Kankakee County, Illinois, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 25,561, and 26,840 as of a 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Kankakee County...	Kays		AA/2A/3A
Rich Central High School Rich Central High School Rich Central High School or RCHS, is a public four-year high school located in Olympia Fields, Illinois, a southern suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. The Rich Central Campus serves the cities of Olympia Fields, Matteson, Richton Park,...	Olympia Fields Olympia Fields, Illinois Olympia Fields is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,732 at the 2000 census. It is the location of the prestigious Olympia Fields Country Club, and is also noteworthy as one of the wealthiest majority black communities in the United States...	Olympians Twelve Olympians The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon , in Greek mythology, were the principal deities of the Greek pantheon, residing atop Mount Olympus. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, and Hades were siblings. Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Athena, Apollo, and Artemis were children of Zeus...		AA/2A/3A
Rich East Rich East High School Rich East High School or REHS, is a public four-year high school located in Park Forest, Illinois, a southern suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. The Rich East Campus serves the cities of Park Forest, Matteson,Olympia Fields,Chicago Heights, & Richton Park...	Park Forest Park Forest, Illinois Park Forest is a village located south of Chicago in Cook County and Will County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a total population of 23,462...	Rocket Rocket A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction... s		AA/2A/3A
Rich South Rich South High School Rich South High School or RSHS, is a public four-year high school located in Richton Park, Illinois, a southern suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. The Rich South Campus serves the cities of Matteson, Park Forest, Richton Park, Olympia Fields & University Park...	Richton Park Richton Park, Illinois Richton Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 12,533 at the 2000 census. It is bordered by Matteson to the north, Park Forest to the east, University Park and Crete to the south.-Geography:...	Star Star A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth... s		AA/2A/3A