SHARK Conference

The SHARK Conference was a high school conference in north central Illinois and south central Wisconsin. The conference participated in athletics and activities in the Illinois High School Association and the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. The conference included private and public high schools with enrollments between 75 and 2,000 students in Boone, DeKalb, Lee, McHenry, Stephenson and Winnebago counties in Illinois and Rock in Wisconsin.

History

The name SHARK is an acronym representing the first letter of its 5 charter members. The SHARK originated as a collection of schools in northern Illinois based primarily on proximity and not on enrollment. By 1953, Kirkland-Hiawatha left the conference and was replaced with Harvard and Marengo, taking the total number of teams to six. In 1955 Freeport Aquin left the conference, however Rockford St. Thomas High School took their place. The conference continued to morph as the 1950s came to a close with Boone Community Unit School District 200|North Boone High School] joining in 1957 and Richmond-Burton in 1958. Also in 1958, based on the completion of Boylan Catholic High School, St. Thomas dropped out of the conference as their students began transitioning toward a new high school, and Harlem left the league in order to join the Big 8 Conference with the intent of playing competition with similar enrollments.
As the 1960s began, Alden-Hebron High School joined, however, it quickly left in 1964 along with Richmond-Burton. The following season, Winnebago High School and two Beloit, Wisconsin schools joined the conference. The two schools from Wisconsin included; Beloit Catholic High School and Turner High School. Winnebago remained a member of the league until 1972 but left for the Mid Northern Conference. Amboy High School quickly replaced them in 1972, but left after the 1975 season, heading to the newly formed Three Rivers Conference. In 1978, Johnsburg High School joined the league and in 1981, the conference's final season, Woodstock Marian would be added. However, North Boone, Beloit Catholic, and South Beloit all left the conference before the start of the season, leaving the conference with only five teams in its final season.

All-Time Membership

The SHARK Conference had various teams throughout its history, this list of schools encompasses all of the schools which were once a part of the conference.

School	Location	County	Mascot	Colors	Year Joined	Year Left	Total Years	Still open	Current Conference
Alden-Hebron High School	Hebron, IL	McHenry	Giants	Green, White, Black	1960 1959	1964	5	Yes	8-Man Football North Division Northeastern Athletic Conference
Amboy High School	Amboy, IL	Lee	Clippers	Red, White, Black	1972	1975	3	Yes	8-Man Football North Division Northwest Upstate Illini Conference
Aquin Catholic High School	Freeport, IL	Stephenson	Bulldogs	Navy Blue, Gold	1946	1955	9	No*
Beloit Catholic High School	Beloit, WI	Rock	Crusaders	Green, Gold	1964	1981	17	No**
Harlem High School	Machesney Park, IL	Winnebago	Huskies	Black, Orange	1946	1958	12	Yes	Northern Illinois Conference (NIC-10)
Harvard High School	Harvard, IL	McHenry	Hornets	Black, Gold	1953 1952	1982	30	Yes	Kishwaukee River Conference
Hononegah High School	Rockton, IL	Winnebago	Indians	Purple, Gold	1946	1982	36	Yes	Northern Illinois Conference (NIC-10)
Johnsburg High School	Johnsburg, IL	McHenry	Skyhawks	Blue, Gold	1978	1982	4	Yes	Kishwaukee River Conference
Kirkland-Hiawatha High School	Kirkland, IL	DeKalb	Hawks	Navy Blue, Gold	1946	1953	7	Yes	8-Man Football North Division Little Ten Conference
Marengo High School	Marengo, IL	McHenry	Indians	Maroon, White	1953 1952	1982	30	Yes	Kishwaukee River Conference
Marian Central Catholic High School	Woodstock, IL	McHenry	Hurricanes	Columbia Blue, White, Red	1981	1982	1	Yes	Independent; Joining the upcoming Chicagoland Christian Conference in 2023
North Boone High School	Poplar Grove, IL	Boone	Vikings	Green, White	1957	1981	24	Yes	Big Northern Conference
Richmond-Burton High School	Richmond, IL	McHenry	Rockets	Maroon, Gold	1958	1964	6	Yes	Kishwaukee River Conference
St. Thomas Catholic High School	Rockford, IL	Winnebago	Tommies	Purple, White	1955	1958	3	No***
South Beloit High School	South Beloit, IL	Winnebago	Sobos	Scarlet Red, White	1946	1981	35	Yes	8-Man Football North Division Northeastern Athletic Conference
Turner High School	Beloit, WI	Rock	Trojans	Blue, Gold	1965 1964	1969	5	Yes	Rock Valley Conference
Winnebago High School	Winnebago, IL	Winnebago	Indians	Orange, Black	1964	1972	8	Yes	Big Northern Conference

*Aquin Catholic High School would close in 2024.

**Beloit Catholic High School would close in 2000.

***St. Thomas Catholic High School would close in 1962.

''Sources:IHSA Conferences, IHSA Coop Teams, and IHSA Member Schools Directory''

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1125 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1946 till:1982
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors = id:barcolor
id:line value:pink
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a full member in a football coop
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that was a member of the Mid Northern Conference

PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Full from:1946 till:1955 text:Freeport Aquin
bar:2 color:Full from:1946 till:1958 text:Harlem
bar:3 color:Full from:1946 till:1982 text:Hononegah
bar:4 color:Full from:1946 till:1953 text:Kirkland-Hiawatha
bar:5 color:Full from:1946 till:1981 text:South Beloit
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1952 till:1953 text:Harvard
bar:6 color:Full from:1953 till:1982 text:
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1952 till:1953 text:Marengo
bar:7 color:Full from:1953 till:1982 text:
bar:8 color:Full from:1955 till:1958 text:St. Thomas
bar:9 color:Full from:1957 till:1981 text:North Boone
bar:10 color:Full from:1958 till:1964 text:Richmond-Burton
bar:11 color:FullxF from:1959 till:1960 text:Alden-Hebron
bar:11 color:Full from:1960 till:1964 text:
bar:12 color:Full from:1964 till:1981 text:Beloit Catholic
bar:13 color:Full from:1964 till:1972 text:Winnebago
bar:14 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1965 text:Beloit Turner
bar:14 color:Full from:1965 till:1969 text:
bar:15 color:Full from:1972 till:1975 text:Amboy
bar:16 color:Full from:1978 till:1982 text:Johnsburg
bar:17 color:White from:1978 till:1981 text:Marian Central
bar:17 color:Full from:1981 till:1982 text:
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1946
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos: tabs:
text:^"SHARK Conference Membership History"

> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#