Big Rivers Conference

The Big Rivers Conference is a high school athletic conference consisting of large high schools in western Wisconsin. Formed in 1956, its member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

1956-1989

The Big Rivers Conference was formed by five large high schools in northern and western Wisconsin. Four long-time independents (Eau Claire, La Crosse Central, Marinette and Menominee (MI)) joined with Wausau, who was forced out of the Wisconsin Valley Conference. The twin cities of Marinette and Menominee left the conference in 1963, primarily due to travel issues and lack of competitiveness in basketball. The two exiting schools were replaced by four newcomers: Chippewa Falls from the disbanded Mississippi Valley Conference, the newly opened Eau Claire North, and two former independents in La Crosse Logan and Menomonie. The conference added an eighth member in 1970 when Wausau High School split into Wausau East and the new Wausau West High School. The two Wausau high schools would go back to the Wisconsin Valley Conference in 1973, and membership stayed consistent until realignment in the late 1980s.

1989-present

In 1989, the two La Crosse high schools (Central and Logan) left the Big Rivers Conference to become charter members of the new Mississippi Valley Conference, along with other schools that were geographically closer than the Eau Claire-area schools. Two schools from the Middle Border Conference (Hudson and River Falls) and one from the Heart O'North Conference ( Rice Lake) took the place of the La Crosse high schools and made for a smaller geographic footprint for the Big Rivers. New Richmond briefly joined the Big Rivers in 1998 from the Middle Border Conference, which they returned to after a four-year stint. That same year, Superior became a football-only member of the Big Rivers Conference. New Richmond would return to the Big Rivers in 2020, first as a football-only member and then as a full member in 2021.

List of member schools

Current members

Notes

Football-only members

Former members

Notes

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1956 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5

Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white

PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m

bar:1 color:tan1 from:1956 till:2030 text:Eau Claire (1956-1963), Eau Claire Memorial (1963-present)
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1989 text:La Crosse Central (1956-1989)
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1963 text:Marinette (1956-1963)
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1963 text:Menominee (MI) (1956-1963)
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1970 text:Wausau (1956-1970)
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1973 text:Wausau East (1970-1973)
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1963 till:2030 text:Chippewa Falls (1963-present)
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1963 till:2030 text:Eau Claire North (1963-present)
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1989 text:La Crosse Logan (1963-1989)
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1963 till:2030 text:Menomonie (1963-present)
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1970 till:1973 text:Wausau West (1970-1973)
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:Hudson (1989-present)
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:Rice Lake (1989-present)
bar:13 color:tan1 from:1989 till:2030 text:River Falls (1989-present)
bar:14 color:tan1 from:1998 till:2002 text:New Richmond (1998-2002)
bar:14 color:tan1 from:2021 till:2030 text:(2021-present)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1956

Membership map

List of state champions

Fall Sports

Winter sports

Spring sports

See also

*List of high school athletic conferences in Wisconsin

References

External links

Big Rivers Conference WebsiteBRCFootball.com

{{Wisconsin high school athletic conferences

Wisconsin high school sports conferences
Sports organizations established in 1956
1956 establishments in Wisconsin