Little Nine Conference

The Little Nine Conference is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin. Operational from 1928 to 1970, its membership was concentrated in east central Wisconsin and all member schools belonged to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

1928–1950

The Little Nine Conference was founded in 1928 by a group of nine small high schools in the Fox River Valley: Bear Creek, Brillion, Denmark, Hortonville, Kimberly, Little Chute (not related to the current high school), Pulaski, Seymour and Wrightstown. Hilbert joined the following year to put membership at ten schools. In 1930, Reedsville joined the Little Nine Conference, replacing the original Little Chute High School, which closed and redistricted to Appleton and Kaukauna. The Little Nine also split into Eastern and Western Divisions that year: Eastern DivisionWestern DivisionBrillionBear CreekDenmarkHortonvilleHilbertKimberlyReedsvillePulaskiWrightstownSeymour In 1931, conference membership increased to twelve schools as Freedom and Shiocton joined the Little Nine. Stockbridge was also invited to join the Little Nine that year but declined the invite. Freedom was placed in the Eastern Division while Shiocton was placed in the Western Division: Eastern DivisionWestern DivisionBrillionBear CreekDenmarkHortonvilleFreedomKimberlyHilbertPulaskiReedsvilleSeymourWrightstownShiocton Pulaski left the conference in 1933 to compete independent of conference affiliation, and two schools swapped divisions with Freedom moving to the Western Division and Kimberly to the Eastern Division. Two years later, Winneconne joined the Little Nine Conference from the Little 6-C Conference to bring membership back up to twelve schools. They took up residence in the Western Division to give the conference two six-team divisions: Eastern DivisionWestern DivisionBrillionBear CreekDenmarkFreedomHilbertHortonvilleKimberlySeymourReedsvilleShioctonWrightstownWinneconne Seymour and Wrightstown swapped division affiliation in 1937, and the conference would maintain this alignment for twelve years. Football was added as a sponsored sport in 1947 with five schools (Brillion, Denmark, Shiocton Winneconne and Wrightstown) participating. In 1950, Kimberly and Seymour left to join the Northeastern Wisconsin Conference, leaving membership at ten schools. Divisions were also abolished that year, and the Little Nine competed as a single entity for the rest of its history.

1950–1970

The Little Nine Conference remained a fairly stable loop in terms of membership with few changes occurring during the last two decades of the conference's run. Brillion left in 1951 to join the Eastern Wisconsin Conference, they were not replaced until 1956 when Omro joined the Little Nine from the Big 7-C Conference. Brillion would return in 1965 to replace Bear Creek after they left the conference to compete in the Wolf River Valley Conference for the remainder of their history. The Little Nine Conference continued as a ten-member circuit before disbanding in 1970. Six schools moved on to the new Olympian Conference (Brillion, Denmark, Freedom, Hilbert, Reedsville and Wrightstown), three joined the new East Central Conference (Hortonville, Omro and Winneconne), and Shiocton was accepted into the Central Wisconsin Conference.

Conference membership history

Final members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceBrillionBrillion, WIPublicLions 1928, 19651951, 1970Eastern Wisconsin, OlympianEastern WisconsinDenmarkDenmark, WIPublicVikings 19281970OlympianNorth EasternFreedomFreedom, WIPublicIrish 19311970OlympianNorth EasternHilbertHilbert, WIPublicWolves 19291970OlympianBig EastHortonvilleHortonville, WIPublicPolar Bears 19281970East CentralFox Valley AssociationOmroOmro, WIPublicFoxes 19561970East CentralWisconsin FlywayReedsvilleReedsville, WIPublicPanthers 19301970OlympianBig EastShioctonShiocton, WIPublicChiefs 19311970Central WisconsinWinneconneWinneconne, WIPublicWolves 19351970East CentralBay (2025)WrightstownWrightstown, WIPublicTigers 19281970OlympianNorth Eastern

Previous members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceBear CreekBear Creek, WIPublicBruins 19281965Wolf River ValleyClosed in 1969 (consolidated into Clintonville)KimberlyKimberly, WIPublicPapermakers 19281950Northeastern WisconsinFox Valley AssociationLittle ChuteLittle Chute, WIPublicPurple and Gold 19281930Closed (district split between Appleton and Kaukauna)PulaskiPulaski, WIPublicRed Raiders 19281933IndependentFox River ClassicSeymourSeymour, WIPublicIndians 19281950Northeastern WisconsinBay

Membership timeline

Full members

Football members

List of conference champions

Boys Basketball SchoolQuantityYearsHortonville131931, 1933, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1959Winneconne111940, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1951, 1956, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968Kimberly101932, 1934, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1944, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949Reedsville81931, 1932, 1933, 1936, 1945, 1946, 1963, 1964Seymour71934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1941, 1942, 1949Hilbert61943, 1950, 1955, 1963, 1964, 1965Denmark51930, 1937, 1938, 1955, 1962Bear Creek31938, 1941, 1954Omro31968, 1969, 1970Brillion21929, 1935Freedom21945, 1946Shiocton21960, 1961Little Chute0Pulaski0Wrightstown0

Football SchoolQuantityYearsWinneconne81947, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957Denmark81952, 1954, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1969Freedom41957, 1961, 1964, 1965Wrightstown41948, 1954, 1962, 1968Brillion31948, 1967, 1968Hortonville31956, 1957, 1969Reedsville31957, 1958, 1959Omro11963Hilbert0Shiocton0

References