The Fox Valley Tri-County League is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin, founded in 1924 and dissolved in 1970. Its membership was concentrated in the southern Fox River watershed and all public school members belonged to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
1924–1939
The Fox Valley Tri-County League, also known by its original name of the Tri-County Interscholastic Association, was founded in 1924 by eight small high schools in east central Wisconsin (Brandon, Campbellsport, Glenbeulah, Kewaskum, Lomira, Oakfield, Rosendale and Slinger). Despite the Tri-County moniker, original league members were located in four Wisconsin counties (Dodge, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan and Washington). The number of members decreased to seven in 1928 when Glenbeulah left to join the Kettle Moraine Conference. North Fond du Lac joined the Fox Valley Tri-County League in 1929, bringing the loop back up to eight member schools. Slinger left the conference in 1935 to join the 4-C Conference, bringing membership down to seven schools. In 1939, the Fox Valley Tri-County League started sponsorship of six-man football, with all seven members participating in the first season.
1939–1962 By the late 1940s, North Fond du Lac and Rosendale (who ended their program) had both dropped out of the conference as football members, leaving the conference with five football-playing schools. Green Lake, a member of the 7-C Conference for other sports, joined in 1949 for football and played for three seasons until the formation of the Central Lakes Conference in 1952. North Fond du Lac, who rejoined the conference for football in 1951, took their place. They, along with all other league members, switched from six-man to eight-man football for the 1952 football season. 1955, Hustisford High School joined the Fox Valley Tri-County League after nearly two decades of competing as an independent, and Random Lake of the Kettle Moraine Conference joined for football when the conference dropped sponsorship of the sport. Random Lake rejoined the KMC when the conference reinstated football as a competitive sport for the 1958 season. The Fox Valley Tri-County League experienced a three-member loss in 1958 when the new Scenic Moraine Conference was formed, with three of the largest high schools in the conference (Campbellsport, Kewaskum and North Fond du Lac) leaving to join. Rosendale reinstated their football program in 1958, and Lowell-Reeseville formed their first team, joining the conference for football a year before full membership was attained. Three schools joined as full members in 1959: Fox Lake (formerly of the Dual County Conference), Green Lake (a former football-only member who previously competed in the Central Lakes Conference) and Lowell-Reeseville.
1962–1970
Like many conferences in rural areas during the 1950s and 1960s, consolidation of school districts had a great effect on conference affiliation. Fox Lake was the first conference member affected, as they left after consolidating with Waupun in 1962. Winnebago Lutheran Academy would become the first private school to join the Fox Valley Tri-County League: first as a football-only member for the 1962 and 1963 seasons, and then as a full member in 1964 after the dissolution of the short-lived Badger Lutheran Conference. The conference also made the transition from eight-man to eleven-man football for the 1963 football season. Two consolidations further whittled away conference membership in 1969. Brandon and Rosendale agreed to a merger of their two districts, and they combined to form a single athletic program until Laconia High School was completed in 1972. In addition, Lowell-Reeseville consolidated with Juneau High School to form the new Dodgeland High School. Rosendale-Brandon remained in the Fox Valley Tri-County League for its first season, while Dodgeland took Juneau's spot in the Eastern Suburban Conference. St. Lawrence Seminary in Mount Calvary was added to the conference that year to put membership back up to seven schools. They would only play one season in the Fox Valley Tri-County League, as the conference disbanded in 1970. Three members (Lomira, Oakfield and Rosendale-Brandon) became charter members of the Flyway Conference, two schools (St. Lawrence Seminary and Winnebago Lutheran) joined the new Bay-Lakes Conference, Green Lake joined the Dual County Conference and Hustisford joined the Eastern Suburban Conference.
Conference membership history
Final members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceGreen LakeGreen Lake, WIPublicLakers 19591970Dual CountyTrailways (co-op with Princeton)HustisfordHustisford, WIPublicFalcons 19551970Eastern SuburbanTrailwaysLomiraLomira, WIPublicLions 19241970FlywayWisconsin FlywayOakfieldOakfield, WIPublicOaks 19241970FlywayTrailwaysRosendale-BrandonRosendale, WIPublicSpartans 1969 1970FlywayWisconsin FlywaySt. Lawrence SeminaryMount Calvary, WIPrivate (Catholic, Capuchin)Hilltoppers 19691970Bay-LakesWisconsin FlywayWinnebago LutheranFond du Lac, WIPrivate (Lutheran, WELS)Vikings 19641970Bay-LakesWisconsin Flyway
Previous members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceBrandonBrandon, WIPublicTanagers 19241969Closed (consolidated into Laconia)CampbellsportCampbellsport, WIPublicCougars 19241958Scenic MoraineWisconsin FlywayFox LakeFox Lake, WIPublicLakers 19591962Closed (consolidated into Waupun)GlenbeulahGlenbeulah, WIPublicBoosters 19241928Kettle MoraineClosed in 1957 (consolidated into Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah)KewaskumKewaskum, WIPublicIndians 19241958Scenic MoraineGlacier TrailsLowell-ReesevilleReeseville, WIPublicCardinals 19591969Closed (consolidated into Dodgeland)North Fond du LacNorth Fond du Lac, WIPublicOrioles 19291958Scenic MoraineWisconsin FlywayRosendaleRosendale, WIPublicDalers 19241969Closed (consolidated into Laconia)SlingerSlinger, WIPublicRedmen 192419354-CNorth Shore
Football-only members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsSeasonsPrimary ConferenceGreen LakeGreen Lake, WIPublicLakers 1949-19517-CRandom LakeRandom Lake, WIPublicRams 1955-1957Kettle MoraineLowell-ReesevilleReeseville, WIPublicCardinals 1958IndependentWinnebago LutheranFond du Lac, WIPrivate (Lutheran, WELS)Vikings 1962-1963Badger Lutheran
Membership timeline
Full members
Football members
List of state champions
Fall sports None
Winter sports None
Spring sports +Boys Track & FieldSchoolYearDivisionNorth Fond du Lac1942Class CNorth Fond du Lac1943Class CNorth Fond du Lac1944Class CNorth Fond du Lac1945Class C
List of conference champions
Boys Basketball SchoolQuantityYearsOakfield91938, 1945, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1969, 1970Kewaskum81939, 1940, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1953, 1956Rosendale61942, 1944, 1945, 1958, 1959, 1966Campbellsport41941, 1950, 1951, 1954North Fond du Lac31943, 1952, 1957Lomira21965, 1967Brandon11955Green Lake11964Fox Lake0Glenbeulah0Hustisford0Lowell-Reeseville0Rosendale-Brandon0Slinger0St. Lawrence Seminary0Winnebago Lutheran0Champions from 1925 to 1937 unknown
Football SchoolQuantityYearsKewaskum71939, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1955North Fond du Lac61940, 1941, 1942, 1951, 1956, 1957Oakfield61958, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1967, 1969Brandon41954, 1959, 1960, 1964Campbellsport41949, 1950, 1952, 1953Lomira41947, 1965, 1966, 1968Fox Lake0Green Lake0Hustisford0Lowell-Reeseville0Random Lake0Rosendale0Rosendale-Brandon0St. Lawrence Seminary0Winnebago Lutheran0
References