History of the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference
(Formerly known as the Clermont County League)
The Clermont County League was formed on September 5, 1919. There were only a few athletic leagues in existence at that time and the CCL was one of them. Today, the SBAAC (formerly named the CCL) is considered one of the oldest athletic leagues in the state of Ohio. The original charter member schools in the CCL included: Amelia, Batavia, Bethel- Tate, Felicity Franklin, Loveland, Milford, Owensville, New Richmond, and Williamsburg. In 1928, Goshen and Moscow schools joined the CCL and in 1936, Loveland became the first school to leave the league.
Milford and New Richmond left the CCL in 1956 because they had both become exempted school districts and the rest of the league schools were opposed to having exempted schools in the league. Also in 1958, Owensville School was renamed Clermont Northeastern and invited into the CCL.
In 1959, Felicity Franklin and Moscow schools consolidated for a short period of time and then Moscow later broke off to become a part of the New Richmond Exempted Village School District. It was during this time, 1961, that Little Miami came to the league to play football only and then left in 1965.
Glen Este joined the CCL in 1963, but only stayed until 1967 when they left to join the Eastern Hills League. New Richmond who had been in the Eastern Hills League, applied and was accepted to rejoin the CCL in 1968, where they remain to present day.
In 1971-72, Hamersville and Mt. Orab consolidated into the Western Brown School District and after one year in the Southern Hills League, applied to join the CCL. Also in 1971, Rick Crawford, Clermont County journalist, was named the CCL League Historian. Rick has been instrumental in keeping thorough records of league champions and all-stars throughout the years. Rick is an alumni of Amelia High School, Class of 1968.
Amelia and Batavia left the CCL in 1985 and Goshen departed in 1986 forcing the CCL to look beyond the borders of Clermont County for expansion. This was the 1st time in two decades that the league knew they needed a major overhaul.
In 1987, league administrators chose to rename the CCL league, the Southern Buckeye Athletic and Academic Conference (SBAAC) because there were too many schools in the league that were outside the boundaries of Clermont County. The new name gave the league the ability to invite schools from surrounding counties and North College Hill became one of the first schools to apply to the newly named league. North College Hill left after only five years. Then Batavia rejoined in 1989.
Hillsboro joined the SBAAC in 1993 and would stay for 10 years.
Loveland who had left the league in 1936 re-entered the SBAAC in 1995 and then departed again in 1997.
Blanchester joined the SBAAC in 1992, left in 1995, and the rejoined in 2001. Three other schools joined the SBAAC with Blanchester in 2001. They were Greenfield McClain, Clinton Massie, and East Clinton.
Then in 2003, Hillsboro and Greenfield McClain departed the SBAAC to reform the South
Central Ohio League (SCOL) which had disbanded in 1992. Clinton Massie followed in 2005. Goshen rejoined the SBAAC in 2005 and Amelia in 2010.
In 2010, East Clinton announced they would be leaving the league at the end of the 2011 – 2012 school year to join the South Central Ohio League. At the same time, the SBAAC announced the acceptance of Norwood City Schools into the SBAAC starting in the fall of 2012.
In 2017, Amelia merged with Glen Este to become West Clermont and left the SBAAC to join the ECC league. Norwood left to join the MVC league. The SBAAC added Clinton-Massie, East Clinton, and Wilmington in 2017 who were former members of the SCOL Conference.
The SBAAC currently consists of 13 schools (14 in football) in four counties. They are: Batavia, Bethel-Tate, Blanchester, Clermont Northeastern, Clinton-Massie, East Clinton, Fayetteville (football only), Felicity-Franklin, Georgetown, Goshen, New Richmond, Western Brown, Williamsburg, and Wilmington. Below is a list of all past and present members of the SBAAC by years in the league:
Amelia* 1919-1985, 2010 – 2017
Batavia* 1919-1985, 1989 - present
Bethel-Tate*# 1919 – present
Blanchester 1992-1995, 2001 – present
Clermont Northeastern 1958 – present
Clinton-Massie** 2001 - 2005, 2017 - present
East Clinton** 2001 – 2012, 2017 - present
Fayetteville (football only) 2017 - present
Felicity-Franklin*# 1919 – present
Georgetown 1997 – present
Glen Este 1964 – 1966
Goshen 1928 – 1985, 2005 – present
Hillsboro 1993 – 2003
Little Miami (football only) 1961 - 1965
Loveland* 1919 – 1936, 1995 – 1997
Greenfield McClain 2001 – 2003
Milford* 1919 – 1956
Moscow 1928 – 1958
North College Hill 1987 – 1992
New Richmond* 1919 – 1956, 1969 – present
Norwood 2012 - 2017
Owensville* 1919 – 1957
Western Brown 1972 – present
Williamsburg*# 1919 – present
Wilmington** 2017 - present
*Indicates Charter Members
#Indicates Concurrent Years
**Newest Member
