{{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox sports league | name = Inter-Academic League | founded = {{start date and age|1887}} | teams = 10 | region = Delaware Valley,<br> Pennsylvania,<br>United States | formerly = Interacademic Athletic Association | headquarters = }} '''The Inter-Academic League''' (officially known as the '''Inter-Academic Association of Philadelphia and Vicinity''', commonly known as the '''Inter-Ac''') is an inter-scholastic athletic conference. This high school sports league consists of selective private schools in the Philadelphia area.
==History== The schools were organized into a conference early in 1887 when they came together as the Interacademic Athletic Association (the name was later shortened to its present configuration). Two initial sports offered by the league were football and track and field.
It was one of the earliest permanent interscholastic football leagues,<ref name="PruterMuse2013">{{cite book|author1=Robert Pruter|author2=Project Muse|title=The Rise of American High School Sports and the Search for Control, 1880-1930|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tIWiAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA408|year=2013|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-5219-9|page=19}}</ref> and the rivalry between Penn Charter and Germantown Academy is perhaps the oldest football rivalry in the country.<ref name="Sielski2009">{{cite book|author=Mike Sielski|title=Fading Echoes: A True Story of Rivalry and Brotherhood from the Football Field to the Fields of Honor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6dwswbmFWh0C&pg=PT20|date=1 September 2009|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-101-13997-4}}</ref>
Early members were Germantown Academy, Haverford Grammar, Penn Charter, De Lancey, Friends' Central School, Swarthmore High School, and Episcopal Academy. In the first decade after the turn of the century{{which|date=August 2025}} the league increased the number of sports, adding ice hockey, baseball, tennis, and basketball.<ref name="PruterMuse2013"/>
==Member schools== '''Boys' Members:''' {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center;" |- ! scope="col" | Institution ! scope="col" | Location ! scope="col" | Founded ! scope="col" | Affiliation ! scope="col" | Enrollment ! scope="col" | Nickname ! class="unsortable" scope="col" | Colors |- |- | Episcopal Academy | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania | 1785 | Episcopalianism | 1,268 | Churchmen | {{color box|Navy}} {{color box|White}} |- | Germantown Academy | Fort Washington, Pennsylvania | 1759 | Nonsectarian | 1,189 | Patriots | {{color box|Red}} {{color box|Black}} |- | Haverford School | Haverford, Pennsylvania | 1884 | Nonsectarian | 1,013 | Fords | {{color box|Maroon}} {{color box|Gold}} |- | Malvern Preparatory School | Malvern, Pennsylvania | 1842 | Catholicism | 640 | Friars | {{color box|Navy}} {{color box|White}} |- | Springside Chestnut Hill Academy | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 1861 | Nonsectarian | 1,080 | Blue Devils |{{color box|Blue}} {{color box|White}} |- | William Penn Charter School | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 1689 | Quakerism | 960 | Quakers | {{color box|Blue}} {{color box|Yellow}} |}
'''Girls' Members:''' {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center;" |- ! scope="col" | Institution ! scope="col" | Location ! scope="col" | Founded ! scope="col" | Affiliation ! scope="col" | Enrollment ! scope="col" | Nickname ! class="unsortable" scope="col" | Colors |- |- | Academy of Notre Dame de Namur | Radnor, Pennsylvania | 1856 | Catholicism | 559 | Irish | {{color box|Blue}} {{color box|Gold}} |- | Agnes Irwin School | Rosemont, Pennsylvania | 1869 | Nonsectarian | 606 | Owls | {{color box|Blue}} {{color box|White}} |- | Baldwin School | Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania | 1888 | Nonsectarian | 571 | Bears | {{color box|Blue}} {{color box|Gray}} |- | Episcopal Academy | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania | 1785 | Episcopalianism | 1,268 | Churchmen | {{color box|Navy}} {{color box|White}} |- | Germantown Academy | Fort Washington, Pennsylvania | 1759 | Nonsectarian | 1,189 | Patriots | {{color box|Red}} {{color box|Black}} |- | Springside Chestnut Hill Academy | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 1861 | Nonsectarian | 1,080 | Blue Devils |{{color box|Blue}} {{color box|White}} |- | William Penn Charter School | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | 1689 | Quakerism | 960 | Quakers | {{color box|Blue}} {{color box|Yellow}} |}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Inter-Academic League}}
Category:High school sports conferences and leagues in the United States Category:Pennsylvania high school sports conferences Category:1887 establishments in Pennsylvania Category:Sports organizations established in 1887