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THE BIG SIXTEEN CONFERENCE
St. Joseph High School is a voluntary member of the Big Sixteen Conference. The
value of membership in this conference is the aid it renders in the arranging of schedules,
equalizing competition, conducting league championships, and generally upgrading the
program of member schools through the establishment of conference standards and goals.
Membership in this conference provides high schools the opportunity for local competition
without excess travel, and aids in inter-school relationships and the promoting of good
sportsmanship.

HISTORY OF THE BIG SIXTEEN CONFERENCE
The Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference originated in 1931 and is now
commonly known as the Big Sixteen. Charter member schools were St. Joseph, Niles, Three
Rivers, Dowagiac, and South Haven. St. Joseph tendered its resignation in 1938 and made a
re-appearance in 1940. The membership has varied since then. Accordingly, the historians
make reference to the conference by its adopted name, but at times refer to it also as the Big
Five, Big Six, Big Eight, or Big Sixteen as the number of teams indicates:

BIG 16 ALIGNMENT: PAST AND PRESENT
The Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference expanded from 8 teams to 16 teams in the 2001-202 school year.  The original 8 teams, Battle Creek Central, Benton Harbor, Kalamazoo Central, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix, Niles, Portage Central, Portage Northern, and St. Joseph.  When the league expanded in 2001, eight teams were added.

Battle Creek Harper Creek, Battle Creek Lakeview, Coldwater, Marshall, and Sturgis joined from the now disbanded Twin Valley Conference.  Dowagiac and Lakeshore were independent teams who were former members of the Lakeland Conference.  Mattawan was a member of the Kalamazoo Valley Association.   Prior to the start of the 2006 school year, Dowagiac left the league and joined the Wolverine Conference.  To fill the void, the conference welcomed Jackson Lumen Christi as a member for football only. 

When the conference formed in 2001, the league was divided into 3 divisions with the East and West division with 5 teams and the Central Division had 6.

After Dowagiac's departure, Jackson Lumen Christi took their place for a season until a new football schedule rotation was started.  

Jackson Lumen Christi was placed in the East Division to coincide with the locations of the other schools.   Mattawan moved to the West Division for football, all other sports moved to the West a year earlier.

In 2009, the league will realign for football. Eliminating the Central Division.  Kalamazoo Loy Norrix, Portage Central and Portage Northern will go to the West Division, while Battle Creek Central and Kalamazoo Central will move to the East.  The new alignment also brings a new schedule format.  The first two games of the season will be crossover games against the other division, the last 7 weeks of the season will be inside the division.