Trailblazer Conference

The Trailblazer Conference is a former high school athletic conference with its catchment in north central Illinois. The conference existed from 1981 to 1987, and most of its members were affiliated with the Illinois High School Association.

The Trailblazer Conference was formed in 1981 by six small high schools in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin: Alden-Hebron, Beloit Catholic, Kirkland-Hiawatha, North Boone, Rockford Lutheran and South Beloit.^[1] Three members of the conference (Beloit Catholic, North Boone and South Beloit) previously belonged to the SHARK Conference, and left one year before that conference was folded.^[2] Alden-Hebron and Kirkland-Hiawatha were former members of the Little Eight, and Rockford Lutheran competed in the Northwest Eight before the Trailblazer Conference's formation.^[3] Aside from the WISAA-affiliated Beloit Catholic, all five other schools belonged to the IHSA. Before the conference began competition, Beloit Catholic announced their entry into the Wisconsin-based Rock Valley Conference, effective for the 1982-83 school year.^[4] They were replaced by Christian Life School in Rockford soon after,^[5] and the Trailblazer Conference remained at six schools before the exit of North Boone to join the Big Eight Conference in 1985.^[6] The conference continued with five members for the next two years, until a merger with the larger Upstate Illini Conference was announced in 1987.^[7] Four Trailblazer Conference members (Kirkland-Hiawatha, Rockford Christian Life, Rockford Lutheran and South Beloit) joined that conference's East Division for the 1987-88 school year. Alden-Hebron was left out of the merger and competed as an independent until joining the Wisconsin-based Indian Trails Conference in 1990.^[8]