[TCCardinal]

I was looking around at Taylor County high school and seen some trophies one was Skac winner and another was SKAC runner up. I was just wondering what this was and what teams competed in it

[Lone Ranger]

Can't tell you a lot about teams that participated, particularly when Taylor was a member, but SKAC was the Southern Kentucky Athletic Conference.
Playing in a conference used to have quite a few advantages to it, especially in the 80's and before, back when nearly every team in the state did not make the playoffs.
It gave teams a set out of district schedule which helped coaches with scheduling. Plus they were able to do some nice things for the kids with All Conference Teams and Conference Championships and the like. It made the games more important (if that is possible) from the beginning of the season to the end because pretty much every week you were playing for position, either fighting for a playoff spot or trying to better yourself inside your conference.

One other note, to the best of my knowledge most conferences were area specific and not class/school size specific.

[Amped 88]

Can't tell you a lot about teams that participated, particularly when Taylor was a member, but SKAC was the Southern Kentucky Athletic Conference.
Playing in a conference used to have quite a few advantages to it, especially in the 80's and before, back when nearly every team in the state did not make the playoffs.
It gave teams a set out of district schedule which helped coaches with scheduling. Plus they were able to do some nice things for the kids with All Conference Teams and Conference Championships and the like. It made the games more important (if that is possible) from the beginning of the season to the end because pretty much every week you were playing for position, either fighting for a playoff spot or trying to better yourself inside your conference.

One other note, to the best of my knowledge most conferences were area specific and not class/school size specific.

Who all was in it?

[Barteau10]

I know it has been over five years since this thread started, and I hope TCCardinal and Amped 88 are still members, so they can get this information.

The Lone Ranger is correct. SKAC stands for Southern Tier Athletic Conference. I can't speak for all sports, but the SKAC for football started in 1965. The initial members in football were: Glasgow, Tompkinsville, Metcalfe County, Greensburg, and Campbellsville. Caverna joined the conference in 1967. (Adair County and Taylor County were also early members, but did not field football teams at this time). Eventually, Adair County, Taylor County, and Hart County all joined the league to bring it to nine teams. (I believe Adair County first fielded a football team in 1972; not sure about Hart and Taylor).

In 1972 the conference spilt into an "A" and "B" Division. Glasgow, Campbellsville, and Tompkinsville comprised the "A" Division while the other six schools made up the "B" Division. Glasgow, Tompkinsville, and Campbellsville were well established football schools and the other newer programs could not compete with the "big" three since their programs dated back many years. Glasgow had been playing football since 1919 and T'ville since around 1938. I am not sure when Campbellsville started football, but it dates at least to 1934.

This "A" and "B" set-up lasted only three years. Glasgow won all three "A" titles in 1972, 1973, and 1974. I am not sure who won the "B" titles. Between 1975 and 1978 the conference enjoyed its most success in football. The conference was spilt into a West and East Division. Glasgow, Caverna, Hart County, Tompkinsville, and Metcalfe County were placed in the West while Campbellsville, Taylor County, Adair County, and now Green County were placed in the East Division. (Greensburg changed names to Green County sometime in the early 1970s--I believe for the 1973-74 school year). The goal was to play a post season championship game between the East and West winner at the end of the season, and such a game did occur between the two divisions at the end of all four of those seasons. (Keep in mind that not many teams made the football playoffs in those days. Between 1959-1964 only four teams made the playoffs in each of KY's three classes--only 12 teams in the whole state. District play started in 1965 and then only 8 teams in each of the three classes (A, AA, AAA) made the playoffs-- 24 total teams. Class AAAA started in 1975, so an additional 8 teams qualified. This meant quality teams were left out of the playoffs, making such a game competitive and worthwhile).

Campbellsville beat Glasgow to win the title game for the 1975 SKAC title 10-7 while GHS defeated Taylor County 44-0 to win the title in 1976 and Green County 6-0 for the 1977 title. There was a game in 1978 as well, but I am not sure who played in it. The divisional set-up was scrapped after the 1978 season. The KHSAA created sub-districts in 1979 that divided large districts into smaller sub-districts. This enabled more teams to make the playoffs making a post SKAC game less likely and less viable since the top teams would make the playoffs. Many of the SKAC teams also didn't want to play Glasgow at that time as they were getting better and were about embark on long run of success in the late 1970s and 1980s. GHS beat Campbellsville 70-0 in 1978 and schools like Adair and Metcalfe were not in a position to compete with GHS at that time. As a result, the conference continued, but the winner was determined by conference record and total overall wins. GHS dominated winning or sharing the SKAC tilte every year from 1979 to 1988, less 1983.

The conference remained strong in other sports to include basketball where a SKAC tournament was played every year and offered a meaningful and competitive tournament amongst the nine schools. In many ways it was a precursor to holiday tournaments around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's that we see today. It reminds me a little of today's All "A" Classic tournament that is played out in the middle of the season while teams continue to play a regular slate of games.

When Tompkinsville and Gamaliel merged in 1985 the new school--Monroe County--continued its SKAC membership as the ninth school.

In March of 1989 Hart County, Green County, Taylor County, and Campbellsville all dropped out of the league. The decision to drop out evolved around basketball as all four are from the 5th region and had started to play JV and varsity basketball doubleheaders while their 4th region foes (Glasgow, Monroe, and Metcalfe) continued to play boy/girl doubleheaders. (Not sure why Adair and Caverna remained since they are 5th Region schools).

With only five members left in the conference, the SKAC was on life support. (I believe Allen County-Scottsville joined sometime after the other four exited to bring the membership to 6--someone from Scottsville may be able to confirm?) The conference continued for another four years as Monroe County captured its only SKAC title in football in 1989 before the Scotties grabbed the last three football titles in 1990, 1991, and 1992. After the 1992 football season the SKAC was done, and I believe it ceased for all sports after the 1992-93 school year, but can't confirm.

I hope this helps. I agree with the Lone Ranger. Conferences helped with scheduling and were very meaningful in years before playoffs started. Conference championships in the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s were what you played for in football since there were no playoffs until 1959. I can talk more about those, especially the old SCKC, if you are interested.

[Barteau10]

Sorry, I made a mistake with my post last night. SKAC stands for Southern Kentucky Athletic Conference, not Southern Tier Athletic Conference. I now live in a state that has an STAC and made the mistake and caught it today. Otherwise, everything else stands.