The Mississippi Valley Conference (MVC) is a former high school athletic conference with its catchment in west central Wisconsin. Formed in 1933 and disbanded in 1965, it is the first of two athletic conferences in Wisconsin to carry this name, and all members were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
The Mississippi Valley Conference was founded in 1933 and contained five smaller high schools in western Wisconsin: Alma, Arcadia, Durand, Mondovi and Osseo. Augusta joined from the Little Eight Conference in 1935, replacing Alma after their return to the Bi-County Conference. Whitehall followed in 1936 while maintaining dual membership in the Trempeleau Valley Conference (which they left in 1938). Black River Falls became the conference's seventh member school when it joined in 1938. These seven schools competed together for two decades before three left to become charter members of the new Dairyland Conference in 1959: Augusta, Osseo and Whitehall. Chippewa Falls and Cochrane-Fountain City took their place that same year. Menomonie was also accepted into the conference for 1959 but withdrew before ever playing a game. Three schools exited the conference in 1963: Black River Falls for the South Central Conference, Chippewa Falls for the Big Rivers Conference and Cochrane-Fountain City for the Dairyland Conference. For the last two years of its existence, the Mississippi Valley Conference competed as a three-school circuit until Arcadia left for the Coulee Conference in 1965, thus ending the conference's run. The MVC name was revived in 1989 for a new athletic conference of large high schools located in the La Crosse-Onalaska-Sparta combined statistical area.
Conference membership history
Final members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceArcadiaArcadia, WIPublicRaiders 19331965CouleeDurandDurand, WIPublicPanthers 19331965IndependentDunn-St. CroixMondoviMondovi, WIPublicBuffaloes 19331965IndependentDunn-St. Croix
Previous members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent ConferenceAlmaAlma, WIPublicRivermen 19331935Bi-CountyDairylandAugustaAugusta, WIPublicBeavers 19351959DairylandBlack River FallsBlack River Falls, WIPublicTigers 19381963South CentralCouleeChippewa FallsChippewa Falls, WIPublicCardinals 19591963Big RiversCochrane-Fountain CityFountain City, WIPublicPirates 19591963DairylandOsseoOsseo, WIPublicChieftains 19331959DairylandCloverbeltWhitehallWhitehall, WIPublicNorse 19361959Dairyland
Football-only members SchoolLocationAffiliationMascotColorsSeasonsPrimary ConferenceGalesvilleGalesville, WIPublicGalloping Gales 1946-1948CouleeGale-EttrickGalesville, WIPublicRedmen 1949-1958Coulee
Membership timeline
Full members
Football members
List of conference champions
Boys Basketball SchoolQuantityYearsArcadia71938, 1939, 1940, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1958Augusta71936, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1952Durand71934, 1937, 1941, 1946, 1959, 1962, 1965Black River Falls41953, 1954, 1955, 1961Mondovi31956, 1957, 1964Osseo31935, 1950, 1952Chippewa Falls21960, 1963Whitehall11942Alma0Cochrane-Fountain City0
Football SchoolQuantityYearsArcadia121939, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959Mondovi91943, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964Black River Falls71940, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1959, 1960, 1961Durand31945, 1947, 1963Chippewa Falls11959Osseo11954Whitehall11946Augusta0Cochrane-Fountain City0Gale-Ettrick0Galesville0
References