Pocket Athletic Conference

The Pocket Athletic Conference (PAC) is a high school athletic conference in Southwestern Indiana with its headquarters at Forest Park. Most of the conference's 13 members are mainly Class 2A and 3A public high schools currently located in Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, and Warrick counties. Only one, Tecumseh, is a 1A and as such operates its football program independently of the PAC and remains independent in the sport, playing schools much closer to its size than its much larger borderline 3A or 3A and 4A fellow members.

Pocket Athletic Conference
PAC
Established	1938
Members	8 Class 3A, 4 Class 2A, and 1 Class A
Region	8 Counties: Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, and Warrick, Indiana
Locations
PAC's now current configuration as of 2020-21 season. The Yellow Squares are Large School Division Members, The White Squares are the Small School Division members.

History

The Pocket Athletic Conference was established in 1938 with nine founding schools: Cannelton, Chrisney, Lynnville, Mount Vernon, Owensville, Petersburg, Poseyville, Rockport, and Tell City. Seven of the nine original schools remain members in some form today. Cannelton left in 1971 and is now an independent. Mount Vernon left in 1959 to join the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference then a member of the Big Eight Conference before returning to the conference in 2020. All of the original members, all current members, and most of the new members are in counties along the western end of the Interstate 64 corridor within Indiana.

The first current member appeared in 1958 when Poseyville consolidated with Cynthiana, Griffin, and Wadesville to form North Posey. Rockport merged with Richland in 1965 to form South Spencer. Elberfeld merged with former member Lynnville in 1965 to form Tecumseh. Also in 1965, Oakland City and Francisco, both of which joined the PAC in 1939, joined to become Wood Memorial. Dale, which had joined in 1939, joined with another former member, Chrisney, to form Heritage Hills in 1972. Huntingburg joined the PAC in 1970 from the SIAC and in 1972 consolidated with Holland to become Southridge. In 1974, Owensville consolidated with Fort Branch and Haubstadt into Gibson Southern. Both Fort Branch and Owensville were members of the PAC at the time. Haubstadt was also briefly a member of the PAC. That same year Petersburg joined with Winslow, Otwell, and Stendal to form Pike Central.

Approximate location of the PAC schools and former schools. Abbreviations are as follows:
CHS: Cannelton FPHS: Forest Park GSHS: Gibson Southern
HHHS:Heritage Hills MVHS Mount Vernon
NPHS:North Posey PCHS: Pike Central SHS:Southridge
SSHS: South Spencer THS: Tecumseh TCHS: Tell City
WMHS: Wood Memorial

Gibson Southern left the PAC in 1979 when the Big Eight Conference was formed, only to return in 1994. In 2000, Wood Memorial left the PAC and is now a member of the Blue Chip Conference. Tell City, which had left in 1953, rejoined in 2001, also came back from the Big Eight Conference but also from the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference. In 2007, Forest Park, located in Ferdinand, officially joined the PAC from the Blue Chip Conference increasing the number of members back to the original nine.

The conference expanded to thirteen members in 2020, as they accepted former members Boonville and Mount Vernon, as well as Princeton, whose component school, Mount Olympus, was a member from 1939 to 1965, and complete newcomer Washington, all from the now extinct Big Eight Conference. In all, the PAC will inherit 6 of the original Big Eight members.[1]

Since 2000, the PAC has been represented in the state finals seven times. The three schools that have represented the PAC recently are Heritage Hills (2000 3A State Champs, and 2004 3A Runner-up), Southridge (2002 and 2006 2A Runner-up and again in 2018 and 2019) and North Posey (2005 2A Runner-up).

Forest Park, Southridge and Tecumseh have four state titles in both boys and girls basketball. Forest Park and Gibson Southern add three more state runner-up titles to the pool to make seven appearances at the state finals, not counting Tecumseh's appearance in the Tournament of Champions. Forest Park, Gibson Southern, North Posey, Southridge, and Tecumseh have all been ranked within the last eight years in either girls or boys basketball, sometimes both. In 1999, Tecumseh lost by six points in the experimental "Tournament of Champions" to the 4A State Champion, Indianapolis' North Central. Tecumseh was the 1A State Champion. Boonville and Washington bring additional strength on the conference's basketball schedule as well as two more of the state's largest gymnasiums.

The Pocket Athletic Conference has been exceptionally strong in baseball and softball in the last 20 years. Both South Spencer and Gibson Southern won the softball state title in their respective classes in 2015. Forest Park also won the title in 2001. North Posey ('05, '06) and South Spencer ('07, '13, '15) have won state titles in baseball. As a result, South Spencer, a AA school, plays in the AAA tournament, and Gibson Southern, a AAA school, plays in the AAAA tournament, where the Titans have made consecutive appearances at the AAAA Semi-State match, preventing their return to AAA. Likewise Tecumseh, having moved up to class AA after a state title and semi state appearance, has advanced to the AA Semi-State joining Gibson Southern in playing in a Semi State in a higher class only after beating conference rival Southridge in the regional. Southridge will also move up into AAA from AA in baseball after back-to-back State Runner-up titles.

In the last ten years, 29 Pocket Athletic Conference teams have represented their school and the conference in state championship games.

New inter conference County Rivals

Already containing two sets of two county rivals; Dubois County rivals Forest Park and Southridge, as well as Spencer County sole rivals Heritage Hills, the conference will add two more in 2020 in football; Posey County sole rivals Mount Vernon and North Posey and Gibson County rivals Gibson Southern and Princeton plus another in all other sports; Warrick County rivals Boonville and Tecumseh. In all cases except Southridge and Forest Park and Gibson Southern and Princeton, the rivals will compete in separate divisions.

Member schools

Current members (13)

School School Corp.	Mascot	Colors	Location	County	Gym Size	Enrollment	Division	Other Sports	Football	Soccer	Softball^4	Baseball^4	Year Joined	Previous Conference
Boonville Warrick County	Pioneers		Boonville	87 Warrick	5,650	919	Large	AAA	AAAA	AA	AAA	AAA	2020	Big Eight SIAC PAC
Forest Park Southeast Dubois	Rangers		Ferdinand	19 Dubois	3,500	446	Small	AA	AA	A	AA	AA	2007	Blue Chip
Gibson Southern South Gibson	Titans		Fort Branch	26 Gibson	3,870	708	Large	AAA	AAA	A	AAAA ^4	AAA	1974 ^1 1994	new school Big Eight
Heritage Hills N. Spencer	Patriots		Lincoln City	74 Spencer	2,800	619	Large	AAA	AAA	A	AAA	AAA	1972	none (new school)
Mount Vernon MSD Mount Vernon	Wildcats		Mount Vernon	65 Posey	3,200	728	Large	AAA	AA	AAA	AAA	AAA	2020	Big Eight SIAC PAC
North Posey MSD North Posey	Vikings		Poseyville	65 Posey	2,000	504	Small	AA	AA	A	AA	AA	1958	none (new school)
Pike Central Pike County	Chargers		Petersburg	63 Pike	3200	630	Small	AAA	AAA	A	AAA	AAA	1974	none (new school)
Princeton Community North Gibson	Tigers		Princeton	26 Gibson	3,210	628	Large	AAA	AA	AAA	AAA	AAA	2020	Big Eight SIAC
Southridge Southwest Dubois	Raiders		Huntingburg	19 Dubois	6,092	538	Small	AAA	AA	A	AAA	AAA	1972	none (new school)
South Spencer S. Spencer	Rebels		Rockport	74 Spencer	3,500	422	Small	AA	AA	A	AA	AAA ^5	1965	none (new school)
Tecumseh Warrick County	Braves		Lynnville	87 Warrick	2,600	259	Small	A	A^2	A	AA ^6	A	1965	none (new school)
Tell City^3 Tell City / Troy Twp.	Marksmen		Tell City	62 Perry	3,487	424	Small	AA	AA	A	AA	AA	1938 2001	Independents SIAC Big Eight
Washington Washington Community	Hatchets		Washington	14 Daviess	7,090	710	Large	AAA	AAA	AA	AAA	AAA	2020	Big Eight SIAC

1. Gibson Southern competed in the Big Eight Conference from 1980 to 1994 before rejoining the PAC.
2. Tecumseh is a 1A independent school in football.
3. Tell City played in the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference from 1953 to 1980, then played in the Big Eight Conference 1980–2001 before rejoining.
4. Due to Gibson Southern making back-to-back appearances at the state finals, Gibson Southern and defending 2014 state champ and 2015 runner-up Leo High School from the Allen County Athletic Conference will move up to Class AAAA for 2 years because of the IHSAA's Tournament Success Factor. Gibson Southern, due to making back to back appearances in the AAAA Semi-State, will remain in class AAAA in softball until 2019, provided that they do not continue to advance to the Semi-State. To date neither school has returned to AAA.
5. South Spencer advances to AAA for 2 years in Baseball also because of the IHSAA's Tournament Success Factor.[2]
6. Tecumseh advanced to AA also due to the IHSAA's Tournament Success Factor

• Shaded schools operate on Eastern Time. The rest operate on Central Time.

Former members

School School Corp.	Mascot	Colors	Location	County	Year Joined	Previous Conference	Year Left	Conference Joined
Cannelton^1 Cannelton Comm. Schools	Bulldogs		Cannelton	62 Perry	1938	Perry County	1971	Independents (BRC 1974)
Chrisney^2 North Spencer	Wildcats		Chrisney	74 Spencer	1938	Spencer County	1959	Patoka Valley
Lynnville^3 Warrick County	Lyndis		Lynnville	87 Warrick	1938	Warrick County	1959	Patoka Valley
Mount Vernon^4 M.S.D. Mount Vernon	Wildcats		Mount Vernon	65 Posey	1938	Posey County	1959	Southern Indiana, Later Big Eight
Owensville^5 South Gibson	Kickapoos		Owensville	26 Gibson	1938	Gibson County	1974	none (consolidated into Gibson Southern)
Petersburg^6 Pike County	Indians		Petersburg	63 Pike	1938	Pike County	1974	none (consolidated into Pike Central)
Poseyville^4 M.S.D. North Posey	Posies		Poseyville	65 Posey	1938	Posey County	1958	none (consolidated into North Posey)
Rockport^2 South Spencer	Zebras		Rockport	74 Spencer	1938	Spencer County	1965	none (consolidated into South Spencer)
Boonville^3 Warrick County	Pioneers		Boonville	87 Warrick	1939	Warrick County	1941	Southern Indiana, Later Big Eight
Dale^2 North Spencer	Golden Aces		Dale	74 Spencer	1939	Spencer County	1972	none (consolidated into Heritage Hills)
Fort Branch^5 South Gibson	Twigs		Fort Branch	26 Gibson	1939	Gibson County	1974	none (consolidated into Gibson Southern)
Francisco^5 East Gibson	Owls		Francisco	26 Gibson	1939	Gibson County	1965	none (consolidated into Wood Memorial)
Mount Olympus^5 North Gibson	Mountaineers		Mount Olympus	26 Gibson	1939	Gibson County	1965	none (consolidated into Princeton)
Oakland City^5 East Gibson	Acorns		Oakland City	26 Gibson	1939	Gibson County	1965	none (consolidated into Wood Memorial)
Winslow^6 Pike County	Eskimos		Winslow	63 Pike	1939	Pike County	1940	Pike County
Wood Memorial East Gibson	Trojans		Oakland City	26 Gibson	1965	none (new school)	2000	Blue Chip
Huntingburg Southwest Dubois	Happy Hunters		Huntingburg	19 Dubois	1970	Southern Indiana	1972	none (consolidated into Southridge)
Haubstadt South Gibson	Elites		Haubstadt	26 Gibson	1972	Independents (GCC 1965)	1974	none (consolidated into Gibson Southern)

1. Concurrent with Perry CC 1938-62.
2. Concurrent with Spencer CC: Chrisney 1938-59; Rockport 1938-65; Dale 1939-65.
3. Concurrent with Warrick CC: Tecumseh 1938-59; Boonville 1939-41.
4. Concurrent with Posey CC: Mount Vernon 1938-49; Poseyville 1938-58.
5. Concurrent with Gibson CC: Owensville 1938-49; Fort Branch, Francisco, Mount Olympus, Oakland City 1939-49.
6. Concurrent with Pike CC Petersburg 1938-49; Winslow 1939-40

•   Schools that operate on Eastern Time.

1. As of 2012-13, Princeton plays in a new 5,200 seat gym which replaced the aging 3,000 seat old gym which is still occasionally used for tourneys as of 2016.

Membership timeline

Sponsored Sports

Boys	State Titles	Runner-Up	Regional	Sectional	Girls	State Titles	Runner-Up	Regional	Sectional
Archery	0	0	0	0	Archery	0	0	0	0
Basketball	3	3	18	119	Softball	4	6	13	39
Baseball	6	1	20	69	Basketball	1	2	11	50
Football ^1 ^2	2	7	26	36	Cross Country	0	0
Cross Country	0	0	7	25	Golf	0	0
Golf	0	0	0	4	Soccer	0	1	1	7
Soccer	0	0	0	3	Swimming	0	0	No Regional
Swimming	0	0	No Regional	3	Tennis	0	0
Tennis	0	0	1	16	Track & Field	0	0
Track & Field	0	0	0	18	Volleyball	0	0
Wrestling	0	0	0	14
Total	10	10	71	307	Total	4	8
Conference Total	14	17

¹As of the 2008-09 school year Tecumseh will play football as an independent. They will remain in the PAC for all other sports.

²2 State Titles, however Tell City's football title was won under the Big Eight Conference.

• Sectional and Regional numbers include titles won by the nine schools' predecessors, but do not include those who left, i.e. Cannelton, Mount Vernon, and Wood Memorial or their predecessors.

Divisions

Due to the PAC inheriting the remains of the Big Eight Conference, the PAC will split into two divisions. These divisions will affect every sport except Archery, Cross Country, Swimming and Diving, Track and Field, and Wrestling, which have no IHSAA class divisions.

Large School	Small School
Boonville	Forest Park
Gibson Southern	North Posey
Heritage Hills	Pike Central
Mount Vernon	Southridge
Princeton	South Spencer
Washington	Tecumseh
	Tell City

State championships

Boonville Pioneers (1)

• 2006 Softball (3A) ²

Forest Park Rangers (3)

• 2001 Softball (A) ¹
• 2005 Boys Basketball (2A) ¹
• 2006 Boys Basketball (2A) ¹

Gibson Southern Titans (3)

• 2003 Softball (2A)
• 2005 Softball (3A)
• 2015 Softball (3A)

Heritage Hills Patriots (1)

• 2000 Football (3A)

Mount Vernon Wildcats (0)

North Posey Vikings (2)

• 2005 Baseball (2A)
• 2006 Baseball (2A)

Pike Central Chargers (0)

Princeton Community Tigers (2)

• 2009 Boys' Basketball (3A) ²
• 2015 Girls' Basketball (3A) ²

Southridge Raiders (2)

• 1998 Girls Basketball (2A)
• 2017 Football (2A)

South Spencer Rebels (5)

• 2007 Baseball (2A)
• 2011 Baseball (2A)
• 2013 Baseball (2A)
• 2014 Softball (2A)
• 2015 Baseball (2A)

Tecumseh Braves (4)

• 1999 Boys Basketball (A)
• 2003 Baseball (A)
• 2009 Softball (A)
• 2011 Softball (A)
• 2017 Softball (A)

Tell City Marksmen (0)

Washington Hatchets (9)

• 1914 Boys' Track
• 1915 Boys' Track
• 1930 Boys' Basketball
• 1941 Boys' Basketball
• 1942 Boys' Basketball
• 2005 Boys' Basketball (3A) ²
• 2008 Boys' Basketball (3A) ²
• 2010 Boys' Basketball (3A) ²
• 2011 Boys' Basketball (3A) ²

Former Member State Titles

Cannelton Bulldogs (0)

Wood Memorial Trojans (1)

• 2017 Girls' Basketball (A)

State Runner-Up Titles

Forest Park Rangers (2)

• 1999 Girls Basketball (2A) ¹
• 2003 Boys Basketball (2A) ¹
• 2018 Boys Basketball (2A)

Gibson Southern Titans (6)

• 2001 Girls Softball (2A)
• 2002 Girls Basketball (3A)
• 2013 Boys Soccer (1A)
• 2013 Girls Soccer (1A)
• 2014 Girls Softball (3A)
• 2014 Boys Baseball (3A)

Heritage Hills Patriots (2)

• 2005 Football (3A)
• 2019 Football (3A)

North Posey Vikings (2)

• 2005 Football (2A)
• 2007 Softball (2A)

Pike Central Chargers (1)

• 1990 Softball

Southridge Raiders (4)

• 1982 Football (A)
• 1998 Girls Basketball Tournament of Champions
• 2002 Football (2A)
• 2006 Football (2A)
• 2018 Baseball (2A)
• 2019 Baseball (2A)

South Spencer Rebels (2)

• 1988 Football (2A)
• 1999 Softball (2A)

Tecumseh Braves (5)

• 1999 Boys Basketball Tournament of Champions
• 2002 Baseball (A)
• 2003 Softball (A)
• 2007 Softball (A)
• 2008 Softball (A)
• 2010 Baseball (A)

Tell City Marksmen (1)

• 1986 Football (2A) ²

¹Occurred when Forest Park was a member of the Blue Chip Conference.

²Occurred as a member of the Big Eight Conference.

PAC titles

Boys	Girls
Baseball	Basketball
Basketball	Cross Country
Cross Country	Soccer
Football	Softball
Soccer	Swimming & Diving
Swimming & Diving	Tennis
Tennis	Track & Field
Track & Field	Volleyball
Wrestling
All-Sports Titles	All-Sports Titles

News and facts

• 2008 was the first season since 1996 that Heritage Hills solidly lost the PAC title. North Posey, and Southridge shared the title that year.[3]
• Southridge's home gymnasium in Huntingburg has a capacity of 6,092 and is one of the 20 largest in Indiana. Boonville and Washington add two more of the state's largest gymnasiums

Alumni

• Gil Hodges, Petersburg – Class of 1941. Longtime member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, manager of the 1969 New York "Miracle" Mets. Also the greatest snub in the history of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• Bill Feix, Tell City – Class of 1950, 2-year letterman, Captain, Vanderbilt Basketball team.
• Burke Scott, Tell City – Class of 1951, 2x All-PAC basketball player, was a starter on Indiana University's 1953 NCAA title team.
• Roger Kaiser, Dale – Class of 1957, Georgia Tech All-American, led the Dale Golden Aces to PAC Basketball titles in the 1954–55 (SO) and in 1956–57 (SR) seasons.
• Bob Reinhart, Dale – Class of 1957, future Georgia State MBB Coach was a teammate of Kaiser and led the Dale Golden Aces to PAC Basketball titles in the 1954–55 (SO) and in 1956–57 (SR) seasons.
• Del Harris, future NBA Coach, was the Dale Golden Aces Head Coach during the 1961–62 and 1962-63 seasons.
• Tim Barrett, Pike Central – Class of 1979, Major League Baseball player, Montreal Expos
• Bruce King, Heritage Hills – Class of 1981, NFL Running Back, 1984–1987
• Terry Brahm, Heritage Hills – Class of 1981; 1988 Olympian; NCAA & Big Ten Champion track athlete
• Ken Dilger, Heritage Hills - Class of 1989, Super Bowl Champion Tight End, led Heritage Hills to PAC Football titles in the 1987 (JR) and 1988 (SR) seasons; Ken was also a star baseball and basketball player, helping Heritage Hills to baseball titles in 1987 and 1988; and basketball titles in 1987-88 and 1988-89.
• Parrish Casebier, South Spencer - Class of 1989, Basketball star at University of Evansville. Casebier also spent several years in South American professional leagues.
• Alex Graman, Southridge – Class of 1996, Major League pitcher, New York Yankees
• Jon Goldsberry, Heritage Hills – Class of 2000, Purdue Boilermakers, NFL Fullback
• Mitch Stetter, Southridge – Class of 1999, Major League pitcher, Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• Jay Cutler - Heritage Hills - Class of 2001, former Chicago Bears quarterback, starred in high school football at Heritage Hills and led them to the 3A state title in 2000 (SR) and PAC titles in his three years as Varsity Starter (1998–2000).
• Ben Braunecker - Forest Park - Class of 2012, current Chicago Bears tight end, starred in high school football & track at Forest Park; consensus All-American Tight End for Harvard.

Neighboring Conferences

• Southern Indiana Athletic Conference
• Blue Chip Conference
• Patoka Lake Conference

See also

• Hoosier Hysteria
• Largest high school gyms in the United States

References

1. Hickey, Pat (2019-06-05). "Four Schools to Join Pocket Athletic Conference in 2020-21; Big Eight Will Fold". Washington (IN) Herald Times. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
2. http://www.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/ihsaa/documents/schools/201516SchoolDirectory.pdf
3. http://www.almanacsports.com/football/standings.php

External links

• Official website