Central Suburban League


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 in Illinois.

Schools

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. 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.

Divisional alignment

While the divisions' names are geographic, their makeup is not based on a school's location. The North Division originally included 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 was used to determine division alignment. Beginning during the 2016-17 realignment, the conference changed its policy to reassess division alignment every three years. Realignments are now determined based off athletic success in their division, with the most athletically successful team in the North switching with the least successful team in the South.
North DivisionSouth Division
Niles NorthEvanston
Maine WestGlenbrook South
Highland ParkMaine South
Maine EastNew Trier
Niles West Deerfield
Vernon HillsGlenbrook 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 schools began leaving to join newer conferences such as the West Suburban Conference, the Northwest Suburban, and the South Suburban League. With more schools leaving, 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 have been won by New Trier. Evanston adds 47 state titles and 49 runner-up prizes. The league has remained stable since Niles North returned to the league in 1991.
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.

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.
  • 2016 – Waukegan leaves the conference; Vernon Hills joins in their place.

Chart


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Period = from:1965 till:2026
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width:15 textcolor:Black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:yellow from:1965 till:end text:Deerfield
bar:2 color:yellow from:1965 till:end text:Glenbrook North
bar:3 color:yellow from:1965 till:end text:Glenbrook South
bar:4 color:yellow from:1965 till:end text:Maine South
bar:5 color:yellow from:1965 till:1979 text:Niles North
bar:5 color:yellow from:1991 till:end text:
bar:6 color:yellow from:1965 till:end text:Niles West
bar:7 color:yellow from:1967 till:end text:Maine West
bar:8 color:yellow from:1967 till:1981 text:New Trier West
bar:9 color:yellow from:1971 till:1974 text:Maine North
bar:10 color:yellow from:1972 till:end text:Highland Park
bar:11 color:yellow from:1972 till:1980 text:Niles East
bar:12 color:yellow from:1972 till:end text:Maine East
bar:13 color:yellow from:1975 till:end text:Evanston
bar:14 color:yellow from:1975 till:1981 text:New Trier East
bar:15 color:yellow from:1975 till:1990 text:Waukegan East
bar:16 color:yellow from:1975 till:1990 text:Waukegan West
bar:17 color:yellow from:1981 till:end text:New Trier
bar:18 color:yellow from:1990 till:2016 text:Waukegan
bar:19 color:yellow from:2016 till:end text:Vernon Hills
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text:"Central Suburban League Membership History 1965-present"

Notable athletes in major sports (since 1965)