The Rock River Valley League is a former high school athletic conference with its membership concentrated in south central Wisconsin. Competing from 1922 to 1952, all conference members were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
The Rock River Valley League was formed in 1922 by eight medium-sized high schools near the Rock River in south central Wisconsin: Cambridge, Edgerton, Fort Atkinson, Jefferson, Lake Mills, Milton, Stoughton and Whitewater. Member schools were located in Dane, Jefferson, Rock and Walworth Counties. The league would grow to nine schools in 1925 with the addition of Evansville to the loop. Cambridge would leave the conference in 1927 after one season of dual membership with the Madison Suburban Conference. In 1928, the Rock River Valley Conference lost three schools (Edgerton, Fort Atkinson and Stoughton) to the newly formed Southern Six Conference. The league continued with five schools until Brodhead, who had recently left the smaller State Line League, joined in 1932. Whitewater left the Rock River Valley League in 1937 to join the Southern Five Conference. They were replaced by their crosstown rivals, College High School. In 1944, Brodhead left the conference to rejoin the State Line League. They were replaced by the "B" team from Janesville High School, whose varsity program belonged to the larger Big Eight Conference. College High left the conference in 1945 to join the Southern Regional Conference, leaving membership at five schools for the remainder of the conference's history. The Rock River Valley League was folded in 1952 when the four varsity members (Evansville, Jefferson, Lake Mills and Milton) would join with five former Southern Ten Conference schools (Edgerton, Fort Atkinson, Monroe, Stoughton and Wisconsin High) and Middleton (formerly of the Madison Suburban Conference) to form the new Badger Conference.
Conference membership history
Final members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceEvansvilleEvansville, WIPublicBlue Devils 19251952BadgerRock ValleyJanesville "B"Janesville, WIPublicBluebirds 19441952Big EightSplit into Craig and ParkerJeffersonJefferson, WIPublicEagles 19221952BadgerRock ValleyLake MillsLake Mills, WIPublicL-Cats 19221952BadgerCapitolMiltonMilton, WIPublicRedmen 19221952Badger
Previous members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceBrodheadBrodhead, WIPublicCardinals 19321944State LineRock ValleyCambridgeCambridge, WIPublicBluejays 19221927Madison SuburbanCapitolCollege HighWhitewater, WIPublicPreps 19371945Southern RegionalClosed in 1959EdgertonEdgerton, WIPublicCrimson Tide 19221928Southern SixRock ValleyFort AtkinsonFort Atkinson, WIPublicBlackhawks 19221928Southern SixBadgerStoughtonStoughton, WIPublicVikings 19221928Southern SixBadgerWhitewaterWhitewater, WIPublicQuakers 19221937Southern FiveRock Valley
Membership timeline
List of state champions
Fall sports None
Winter sports None
Spring sports +Boys Track & FieldSchoolYearDivisionFort Atkinson1927Class BFort Atkinson1928Class B
List of conference champions Boys Basketball SchoolQuantityYears Lake Mills141931, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950 Evansville61930, 1932, 1934, 1938, 1951, 1952 Milton41927, 1933, 1935, 1952 Whitewater College31939, 1941, 1942Jefferson21931, 1943 Edgerton11928 Stoughton11926 Whitewater11929 Brodhead0 Cambridge0Fort Atkinson0 Janesville "B"0
Football SchoolQuantityYears Lake Mills141928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1949Jefferson71928, 1935, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946 Milton71932, 1934, 1941, 1944, 1947, 1950, 1951Fort Atkinson21925, 1926 Edgerton11927 Evansville11950 Brodhead0 Cambridge0 Janesville "B"0 Stoughton0 Whitewater0 Whitewater College0
References