Ohio Six-School Athletic Conference, Potential To Last Many Years

(11-16-21) The six schools listed below have the possibility of being a conference that will last years to come.

• Bellefontaine, Bluffton, Celina, St. Marys, Van Wert and Wapakoneta

The six schools have strong athletic foundations and feature strong rivalries. Six is a number that would give each school the opportunity to schedule non-league opponents to fill their schedules. This league will survive for many years based on the information about the six schools and athletic history.

In this time of constant changing leagues and conferences this one will work…guaranteed.

Constant changes taking place over the years –

• Is This The End Of The Three Rivers Athletic Conference…After Losing Four Members
• In the Beginning…Constant Changing High School Athletic Conferences
• UPDATED – Maumee and Cory-Rawson BOE’s To Consider Conference Affiliations
• Elmwood School Board Votes To Join Blanchard Valley Conference
• Time For HS Athletic Conference Realignment
• Four Ohio Schools Left Out In The Cold With Conference Membership
• Another Day, Another School Leaves An Athletic Conference
• Hopewell-Loudon To Leave Blanchard Valley Conference For Sandusky Bay Conference
• London and North Union Join Central Buckeye Conference
• Preble Shawnee To Leave SWBL

Why all the changes recently? There are many from school enrollment numbers going up or down, poor relationships between school administrations, travel time….etc. Is change bad? Not all of the time, living in the past doesn’t help the situation.

NOTE: To those of you who read the entire story you should know that the above schools were all charter members of the Western Buckeye League (WBL). One of the Ohio athletic leagues that have survived since 1937. This posting was an example to be learned from and changes facing numerous leagues. Yes…many changes and adjustments have taken place over 70 some years, but 4 of the 6 charter members still are members of the current set-up. The last membership change was during the 1982-83 school year when Shawnee re-entered the conference.

Current members:Bath, Celina, Defiance, Elida, Kenton, Ottawa-Glandorf, Shawnee, St. Marys, Van Wert and Wapakoneta