The Kickapoo Valley League is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin, competing from 1907 to 1971. Membership was concentrated in the Driftless Area of the state, and all members belonged to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
1907–1953
The Kickapoo Valley League was formed in 1907 as an oratorical and track and field league by four small high schools in Crawford County and Vernon County in southwestern Wisconsin: La Farge, Seneca, Soldiers Grove and Viola. The original members were all located along the Kickapoo River, a tributary of the Wisconsin River that the conference derives its name from. Membership experienced some minor changes in the early years, but the original group remained together for nearly a decade. Wauzeka joined in 1916 and Gays Mills joined in 1923 to bring membership to six schools. These six schools would participate in the conference's first season of basketball sponsorship in 1928. In 1931, West Lima joined the Kickapoo Valley League, replacing the exiting Seneca. They would rejoin the league along with newcomers Readstown in 1934. This eight member group maintained stability into the early 1950s, when De Soto High School (who had opened the year before) joined the conference in 1953 as its ninth member.
1953–1971
The Kickapoo Valley League maintained a steady roster for the next decade, sponsoring eight-player football for the first time in 1963 with six participating members (Gays Mills, La Farge, Seneca, Soldiers Grove, Viola and Wauzeka). By the mid-1960s, conference membership began to change due to rural school district consolidation. The first of these changes occurred in 1964, when conference members Readstown, Viola and West Lima merged to form Kickapoo High School. The new school played for one more year in the league before joining the Scenic Central Conference in 1965. Blue River and Ithaca joined the conference after being displaced by the dissolution of the I-W League 1964 to replace the schools that were lost. In 1965, Gays Mills and Soldiers Grove combined to create the new North Crawford High School. They inherited the two predecessor schools' place in the league and were joined by two more schools left without conference affiliation after the I-W League's closing: Barneveld and Hollandale. North Crawford's stay in the Kickapoo Valley League would be brief, as they and De Soto left in 1966 to join the Scenic Central Conference. Blue River High School was lost to consolidation in 1967 when they joined with the Riverdale School District. That same year, the Kickapoo Valley League transitioned to eleven-player football along with several other leagues in southern Wisconsin. La Farge's exit from the Kickapoo Valley League to join the Scenic Central Conference in 1968 left the loop with just five schools. The Kickapoo Valley League lost Hollandale to consolidation with Blanchardville in 1971, and the new Pecatonica High School inherited Blanchardville's State Line League membership. The remaining four schools dissolved the conference that same year, with Barneveld joining the State Line League and the other three schools (Ithaca, Seneca and Wauzeka) taking up residence in the Scenic Central Conference.
Conference membership history
Final members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceBarneveldBarneveld, WIPublicGolden Eagles 19651971State LineSix RiversHollandaleHollandale, WIPublicPanthers 19651971Closed (merged into Pecatonica)IthacaIthaca, WIPublicBulldogs 19641971Scenic CentralRidge & ValleySenecaSeneca, WIPublicIndians 1907, 1914, 19341912, 1931, 1971Independent, Scenic CentralRidge & ValleyWauzekaWauzeka, WIPublicHornets 19161971Scenic CentralRidge & Valley
Previous members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceBlue RiverBlue River, WIPublicTigers 19641967Closed (merged into Riverdale)De SotoDe Soto, WIPublicPirates 19531966Scenic CentralRidge & ValleyGays MillsGays Mills, WIPublicTigers 19231965Closed (merged into North Crawford)KickapooViola, WIPublicPanthers 19641965Scenic CentralRidge & ValleyLa FargeLa Farge, WIPublicWildcats 19071968Scenic CentralRidge & ValleyNorth CrawfordSoldiers Grove, WIPublicTrojans 19651966Scenic CentralRidge & ValleyOntarioOntario, WIPublicWildcats 19121913IndependentClosed (merged into Brookwood)ReadstownReadstown, WIPublicEagles 19341964Closed (merged into Kickapoo)Soldiers GroveSoldiers Grove, WIPublicCardinals 19071965Closed (merged into North Crawford)ViolaViola, WIPublicBlue Jackets 19071964Closed (merged into Kickapoo)West LimaWest Lima, WIPublicBulldogs 19311964Closed (merged into Kickapoo)
Membership timeline
Full members
Football members
List of state champions
Fall sports None
Winter sports None
Spring sports +Boys Track & FieldSchoolYearDivisionWauzeka1927Single DivisionViola1932Class CViola1935Class CViola1936Class CSoldiers Grove1940Class CSoldiers Grove1941Class C
List of conference champions
Boys Basketball SchoolQuantityYearsSoldiers Grove131930, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1945, 1946, 1954, 1960, 1963Gays Mills111929, 1943, 1944, 1947, 1948, 1953, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962 La Farge61931, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1956Seneca61957, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1967Wauzeka51934, 1935, 1936, 1955, 1969Barneveld21968, 1970Viola21932, 1933West Lima21941, 1949 Ithaca11971Kickapoo11965Readstown11958Blue River0De Soto0Hollandale0North Crawford0
Football SchoolQuantityYears Ithaca31965, 1969, 1970Barneveld21966, 1967Kickapoo11964Seneca11963Wauzeka11968Blue River0Gays Mills0Hollandale0 La Farge0North Crawford0Soldiers Grove0Viola0
References