Wisconsin Valley Conference

History

1921-1946

| mark-size1=10 | mark-title1=Antigo | mark-coord1 = | mark-description1=Location: | shape-color1=#6f2c3f | shape1=circle | mark-title2=Marshfield | mark-coord2 = | mark-description2=Location: | shape-color2=#e35205 | shape2=circle | mark-title3=Merrill | mark-coord3 = | mark-description3=Location: | shape-color3=#0032a0 | shape3=circle | mark-title4=Rhinelander | mark-coord4 = | mark-description4=Location: | shape-color4=#00843d | shape4=circle | mark-title5=Stevens Point | mark-coord5 = | mark-description5=Location: | shape-color5=#000000 | shape5=circle | mark-title6=Wausau | mark-coord6 = | mark-description6=Location: | shape-color6=#d50032 | shape6=circle | mark-title7=Wisconsin Rapids | mark-coord7 = | mark-description7=Location: | shape-color7=#ba0c2f | shape7=circle | auto-caption= The Wisconsin Valley Conference was founded in 1920 by seven medium- to large-enrollment high schools in north central Wisconsin: Antigo, Marshfield, Merrill, Rhinelander, Stevens Point, Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln. After sponsoring a full football schedule for the first two seasons, basketball played their first full schedule for the 1921-1922 school year. The early years of the Wisconsin Valley Cofnerence saw many smaller schools join for short periods of time, especially for basketball. In 1922, Edgar, Medford and Nekoosa joined and Tomahawk joined the conference for that sport, with Tomahawk also joining the conference's football roster. Edgar left the following year, and in 1924, Shawano and Wautoma joined the WVC. Shawano also became members in football, along with basketball members Medford, for the 1924 season. Nekoosa became the WVC's eleventh football playing member when it joined the group for the 1925 season. In 1926, Shawano and Wautoma left the Wisconsin Valley Conference, and after Medford's exit in 1928, membership stayed stable at nine schools for just over two decades.

1946-1956

Over time, tensions grew between the larger and smaller schools in the conference, with the smaller schools seeking other options outside the WVC. Tomahawk was the first of these schools to take action: first becoming charter members of the football-only Lumberjack Conference in 1946, then joining as full members in 1954 after the league began to sponsor other sports the year prior. Nekoosa followed Tomahawk out of the WVC, joining the Lumberjack for football in 1948, then becoming full members of the newly reformed South Central Conference in 1952. After the loss of Tomahawk as full members in 1954, the Wisconsin Valley Conference faced an even greater challenge the next year. Citing competitive imbalance in football, the four smallest schools in the conference (Antigo, Marshfield, Merrill and Rhinelander) left the Wisconsin Valley to start a new conference called the Northern Wisconsin Conference. These four schools continued to schedule WVC members Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids as non-conference opponents, but not Wausau, who had been the dominant force in football for decades. Wausau claimed one last Wisconsin Valley Conference title for football before they joined the new Big Rivers Conference and the four schools who left the WVC rejoined in 1956.

1956-2008

The revamped Wisconsin Valley Conference began play in 1956 with six schools (Antigo, Marshfield, Merrill, Rhinelander, Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln). A seventh school was added to the Wisconsin Valley in 1957 when former Lumberjack Conference members D.C. Everest High School in Schofield joined the conference. In 1970, Shawano became the eighth school to join the conference after leaving the disbanded Mid-Eastern Conference. Wausau East was invited to rejoin the Wisconsin Valley Conference from the Big Rivers in 1973, along with newcomer Wausau West to bring conference membership to ten schools. Shawano left the Wisconsin Valley Conference to join the Bay Conference in 1979, and the membership group would remain at nine schools for nearly thirty years.

2008-present

In 2008, two of the smaller schools in the conference left to become member of the new Great Northern Conference: Antigo and Merrill. Rhinelander left to compete as an independent in football for the 2009 season before leaving to join the Great Northern Conference as full members in 2010. Merrill, who left the WVC two years earlier to become GNC members, rejoined the WVC for all sports but football as Rhinelander's replacement. After two seasons of difficulties scheduling non-conference opponents, the six football-playing members of the Wisconsin Valley Conference joined forces with the ten-member Fox Valley Association to form the Valley Football Association, which began play in 2011. This arrangement lasted until the WIAA's 2024-2025 competition cycle, when the WVC was reinstated for football and entered into a scheduling partnership with the similarly sized Big Rivers Conference. Five full members of the conference (D.C. Everest, Marshfield, Stevens Point, Wausau West and Wisconsin Rapids) were joined by Big Rivers members Eau Claire Memorial and Eau Claire North in a seven-member roster. This arrangement is set to remain in place through at least the 2026-2027 football competition cycle. In 2025, Merrill returned to the Great Northern Conference after fifteen years of Wisconsin Valley membership, leaving the conference with six full member schools.

List of member schools

Current full members

Notes

Current associate members

Notes

Current co-operative members

Former full members

Membership timeline

Full members

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Football members

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Membership map

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| mark-title3=Stevens Point | mark-coord3 = | mark-description3=Location: | shape-color3=#000000 | shape3=n-circle | mark-title4=Wausau East | mark-coord4 = | mark-description4=Location: | shape-color4=#d50032 | shape4=n-circle | mark-title5=Wausau West | mark-coord5 = | mark-description5=Location: | shape-color5=#ffc72c | shape5=n-circle | mark-title6=Wisconsin Rapids | mark-coord6 = | mark-description6=Location: | shape-color6=#ba0c2f | shape6=n-circle | auto-caption=1

Sanctioned sports

Notes

List of state champions

Fall sports

Winter sports

Spring sports

List of conference champions

Boys Basketball

Source

Girls Basketball

Source

Football

Source

References

References

1. (27 April 1920). "Valley Schools Arrange Games". Stevens Point Journal.
2. (30 September 1921). "Antigo Giants Here Saturday for First Game". Marshfield News-Herald.
3. (19 February 1923). "Antigo Trims Wausau, Stevens Point Preps Tie for League Lead". Stevens Point Journal.
4. (1 November 1922). "Look to Wausau and Point for Tie in League". Marshfield News-Herald.
5. (2 February 1925). "Medford in Nearly Invincible Position in Conference, Point Slips Notch Below in Cage Race". Stevens Point Journal.
6. (18 November 1924). "Gerbert Given Real Praise". Merrill Daily Herald.
7. (12 November 1925). "Antigo-Shawano Battle Will Decide Second Place". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune.
8. (10 January 1929). "Sport Ink-Lings". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune.
9. (9 November 1945). "New Grid Loop Being Organized". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune.
10. (1 July 1954). "4 Schools Form New Prep League". The Capital Times.
11. (4 November 1948). "Await Conference Meeting to Decide Lumberjack Title". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune.
12. (30 November 1951). "South Central League Expands". Wisconsin State Journal.
13. (28 March 1955). "Expect Discussion on Valley's Future". Stevens Point Journal.
14. Associated Press. (30 June 1954). "Northern Wisconsin Conference Formed". Stevens Point Journal.
15. (11 November 1954). "Point, Rapids Domination of Valley Cage Race Threatened". Marshfield News-Herald.
16. (29 October 1955). "Wausau and Eau Claire Play 14-14 (Tie) Game". Wausau Daily Herald.
17. Associated Press. (24 April 1956). "Wausau, Four Other Schools to Play Next Fall". The Rhinelander Daily News.
18. Lewis, Ben. (13 April 1956). "WVC Reorganization Is Almost Certainty". The Rhinelander Daily News.
19. (13 November 1956). "D.C. Everest Admitted Into Valley Circuit". Stevens Point Journal.
20. Kloppenburg, Dick. (19 December 1969). "Valley Conference takes in Shawano". Wausau Daily Herald.
21. Associated Press. (24 February 1970). "Wausau Schools Will Join WVC". Manitowoc Herald-Times-Reporter.
22. Lee, John. (12 February 1978). "Realignment pleases New London officials". Appleton Post-Crescent.
23. Miller, Jake. (12 December 2006). "Changes will strip Valley of tradition". Marshfield News-Herald.
24. Hernandez, Rob. (26 June 2009). "Five-division basketball plan among two going to fall area meetings". Baraboo News Republic.
25. (27 June 2009). "Merrill moving back to WVC". Marshfield News-Herald.
26. Arguello, Ricardo. (4 August 2011). "Starting from scratch". Appleton Post-Crescent.
27. Johnson, Tim. (14 August 2011). "Season of change". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune.
28. (14 December 2023). "2024-25 Conference Realignment Plan – 11-Player Football".
29. (10 December 2024). "2026 - 27 Conference Realignment – 11-Player Football".
30. (6 March 2024). "Board acts on conference plans; Merrill's move to GNC becomes official".
31. "D.C. Everest".
32. "Marshfield".
33. "Stevens Point Area Senior High".
34. "Wausau East".
35. "Wausau West".
36. "Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln".