Big Eight Conference (IHSAA)

The Big Eight Conference was an athletic conference currently comprising six IHSAA Class AAA high schools located in Southwestern Indiana. The conference members were small city-based schools located in Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Posey, and Warrick counties in Indiana and once included Wabash County in Illinois. The conference ceased operations with the 2019-20 Winter Season as the final spring season was canceled because of the 2020 Coronavirus Outbreak.

Big Eight Conference
Established1980
Dissolved2020
Members6 when dissolved
8 at its height
Region7 Counties: Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Posey, and Warrick Counties, Indiana plus Wabash County, Illinois
HeadquartersIndiana
Locations
Big Eight at its height with Mount Carmel included.

History

The Big Eight Conference was created in 1980 when seven members of the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference (Boonville, Jasper, Mount Vernon, Princeton, Tell City, Vincennes Lincoln, and Washington) left to form a new conference with a member of the Pocket Athletic Conference (Gibson Southern). Gibson Southern left in 1992 to rejoin the PAC. Tell City followed to rejoin the PAC in 2001 as well (they had both been in that conference before joining the SIAC in 1953), reducing membership to six schools. Mount Carmel joined in 2003 to increase the membership to seven. Mount Carmel, located in Illinois, was the only school from outside Indiana to compete in an Indiana athletic conference.

There have been two different members of the conference that captured the 3A boys' basketball title in four successive years. Very rarely has this occurred in the history of the state finals. Washington captured the 2007–08, 2009–10, and 2010–11 titles, and Princeton captured the 2008-09 State Title.[1]

The conference's demise was set in motion by the Illinois High School Association voting to establish a district football format in 2021, meaning Mount Carmel would not be able to schedule all of the other conference members in that sport. The conference responded by voting to remove the school in 2020, while the school voted to leave before the 2019–20 school year. This set off a chain reaction, as Jasper and Vincennes Lincoln were accepted to return to the SIAC for 2020, and a week later, the PAC voted to accept the remaining four schools, including two former members, Boonville and Mount Vernon, effectively ending the conference.[2]

Member schools

Former members
School Location Mascot Colors County Year Joined Previous Conference Year Left Conference Joined
Boonville Boonville Pioneers     87
Warrick		 1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Pocket
Gibson
Southern		 Fort Branch Titans    
   		 26
Gibson		 1980 Pocket 1992 Pocket
Jasper Jasper Wildcats     19
Dubois		 1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Southern Indiana
Mount
Carmel		 Mount
Carmel		 Golden
Aces		     (IL)
Wabash		 2003 North Egypt 2019 Currently Independent
Mount
Vernon		 Mount
Vernon		 Wildcats     65
Posey		 1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Pocket
Princeton
Community		 Princeton Tigers       26
Gibson		 1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Pocket
Tell
City		 Tell City Marksmen     62
Perry		 1980 Southern Indiana 2001 Pocket
Vincennes
Lincoln		 Vincennes Alices       42
Knox		 1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Southern Indiana
Washington Washington Hatchets     14
Daviess		 1980 Southern Indiana 2020 Pocket

State championships

Boonville Pioneers (1)
  • 2006 Softball (3A)

Jasper Wildcats (8)
  • 1949 Boys' Basketball
  • 1996 Baseball
  • 1997 Baseball
  • 1998 Baseball (3A)
  • 1999 Boys' Tennis
  • 2000 Baseball (3A)
  • 2001 Football (4A)
  • 2006 Baseball (3A)

Mount Carmel Golden Aces (3)
  • 1927 Boys' Basketball (Illinois)
  • 1981 Football (3A) (Illinois)
  • 2010 Boys' Golf (1A) (Illinois)

Princeton Community Tigers (2)
  • 2009 Boys' Basketball (3A)
  • 2015 Girls' Basketball (3A)

Vincennes Lincoln Alices (3)
  • 1923 Boys' Basketball
  • 1981 Boys' Basketball
  • 2002 Baseball (3A)

Washington Hatchets (9)
  • 1914 Boys' Track
  • 1915 Boys' Track
  • 1930 Boys' Basketball
  • 1941 Boys' Basketball
  • 1942 Boys' Basketball
  • 2005 Boys' Basketball (3A)
  • 2008 Boys' Basketball (3A)
  • 2010 Boys' Basketball (3A)
  • 2011 Boys' Basketball (3A)

Former Members
  • One of the former members, Gibson Southern, has captured three state titles (2003, 2005 2A Softball, 2015 3A Softball) after rejoining the PAC.
  • Tell City has never won a state title.

Conference Championships

Sources:[3][4][5]

Football
SchoolChampionshipsYears
Jasper231981, 1982, 1984*, 1985, 1986*, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996*, 1998, 1999*, 2000, 2001, 2004*,
2005, 2006*, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014*, 2015
Vincennes Lincoln101983*, 1984*, 1996*, 1997, 1999*, 2002, 2003, 2004*, 2014*, 2017
Tell City61980, 1984*, 1988, 1989, 1991*, 1992
Mount Carmel52006*, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2014*, 2016
Boonville41984*, 1986*, 1991*, 2018
Gibson Southern11983*
Princeton Community11993
Mount Vernon0
Washington0

Boys Basketball
SchoolChampionshipsYears
Vincennes Lincoln211981, 1982*, 1984*, 1987, 1988, 1989*, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999*, 2002, 2003*,
2004, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016*
Jasper101982*, 1989*, 1993, 1996, 1999*, 2000*, 2014*, 2016*, 2018, 2019*
Washington101983, 1995, 2003*, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2016*, 2017, 2019*
Princeton Community61984*, 1985, 2009, 2010, 2014*, 2019*
Boonville41986, 1999*, 2000*, 2001
Mount Carmel0
Mount Vernon0
Tell City0
Gibson Southern0

Girls Basketball
SchoolChampionshipsYears
Washington101992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998*, 1999, 2001, 2003
Jasper91982, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1998*, 2005, 2010*, 2012, 2019
Boonville71981, 1984*, 1985, 1986, 1987, 2000, 2017*
Vincennes Lincoln62002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2017*, 2018
Mount Carmel42007, 2008, 2011, 2013
Princeton Community32014, 2015, 2016
Mount Vernon21984, 2010*
Tell City21989, 1990
Gibson Southern0

Note: Big Eight Conference championships are determined by a single round-robin among the active members. The Big Eight Conference does not break ties in the standings for championship purposes, instead co-championships are awarded.

Neighboring Conferences

References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 18, 2009. Retrieved August 23, 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Hickey, Pat (2019-06-05). "Four Schools to Join Pocket Athletic Conference in 2020-21; Big Eight Will Fold". Washington (IN) Herald Times. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  3. "Past Champions".
  4. "Big 8 Conference Constitution" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-22. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  5. "Past Champions".
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