The Classic Conference is a former high school
athletic conference
An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...
in
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. Consisting entirely of private schools during its ten year existence from 1973 to 1983, all member schools were affiliated with the
Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association
The Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association is a former organization for high school athletics in Wisconsin. Consisting entirely of private schools, it was formed in 1968 and completed a merger with the Wisconsin Interscholastic At ...
.
History
1973-1978
The Classic Conference was founded in 1973 by seven private high schools in southeastern Wisconsin:
Central Wisconsin Christian in
Waupun
Waupun is a city in Dodge and Fond du Lac counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 11,344 at the 2020 census. Of this, 7,795 were in Dodge County, and 3,549 were in Fond du Lac County. In Fond du Lac County, the Town of Waup ...
,
de Sales Prep in
St. Francis,
Notre Dame in
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
,
Sheboygan Christian,
St. Bonaventure
Bonaventure ( ; ; ; born Giovanni di Fidanza; 1221 – 15 July 1274) was an Italian Catholic Franciscan bishop, cardinal, scholastic theologian and philosopher.
The seventh Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, he also serv ...
in
Sturtevant,
St. John’s Military Academy in
Delafield and
University Lake School
University Lake School is an independent school in Delafield, in the Lake Country area of Waukesha County in Wisconsin. ULS opened in 1956 on the 1840 Vettelson Farm near the eastern shore of Nagawicka Lake. Anne Vettelson deeded the land to th ...
in
Hartland.
Notre Dame and St. Bonaventure were previously part of the
Milwaukee Catholic Conference, and the other five schools were independents at the time of the Classic Conference’s formation. SJMA would only spend one season in the conference before joining the
Midwest Prep Conference
The Midwest Prep Conference is a former high school athletic conference in competition from 1940 to 1983. Consisting entirely of private schools, most were located in Wisconsin and had membership in the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Asso ...
in 1974, and they were replaced by
Maranatha Baptist Academy in
Watertown.
in
Somers joined in 1975,
and
Brookfield Academy
Brookfield Academy is a non-sectarian, private PreK–12 school in Brookfield, Wisconsin. The school opened on September 10, 1962, in a converted ranch-style house. The Academy has expanded over the years with new buildings and more teachers ...
became members of the Classic Conference in 1976.
They swapped affiliations with Maranatha Baptist Academy, who left to join the
Indian Trails Conference
The Indian Trails Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership concentrated in southeastern Wisconsin. Originally founded as a conference for small public high schools in 1963, it has seen a high level of turnover among memb ...
.
in
Jackson
Jackson may refer to:
Places Australia
* Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region
* Jackson oil field in Durham, ...
joined as full members in 1977 after becoming members in girls’ sports the year prior.
The Prairie School
Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...
in
Wind Point
Wind Point is a village in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,651 at the 2020 census.
Geography
Wind Point is located at (42.782452, -87.774173).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total ...
also joined the conference, bringing membership in the Classic Conference to ten schools.
This was KML’s first conference affiliation after opening a few years earlier, while The Prairie School came over from the Indian Trails Conference.
1978-1983
De Sales Preparatory Seminary closed its doors in 1979, and were immediately replaced by another Catholic seminary,
St. Lawrence in
Mount Calvary
Calvary ( or ) or Golgotha () was a site immediately outside Jerusalem's walls where, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, Jesus was crucified.
Since at least the early medieval period, it has been a destination for pilgrimage. ...
.
Winnebago Lutheran Academy
Winnebago Lutheran Academy, also known as WLA, is a private Lutheranism, Lutheran high school in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, associated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).
History
WLA was founded in 1925 by St. Peter's Luthera ...
in
Fond du Lac also joined the conference that year, bringing the roster to eleven members.
Both schools were previously members of the Bay-Lakes Conference, which had disbanded the season before. In 1981, University Lake School left the Classic Conference
to compete as an independent for one season prior to the formation of the
Southern Wisconsin and Illinois Small Schools (SWISS) Conference in 1982.
Sheboygan Lutheran joined the Classic Conference to take ULS’s place.
The eleven schools would compete until 1983, when a merger agreement was reached with the Midwest Prep Conference.
All but two schools in the conference joined the new
Midwest Classic Conference for the 1983-84 school year, with Brookfield Academy competing as an independent before entering the SWISS Conference in 1984 and St. Bonaventure High School closing its doors after over eighty years of operation.
Conference membership history
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1973 till:1983
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:1973 till:1983 text:Central Wisconsin Christian (1973-1983)
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1973 till:1979 text:de Sales Prep (1973-1979)
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1973 till:1983 text:Notre Dame (1973-1983)
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1973 till:1983 text:Sheboygan Christian (1973-1983)
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1973 till:1983 text:St. Bonaventure (1973-1983)
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1973 till:1974 text:St. John's Military Academy (1973-1974)
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1973 till:1981 text:University Lake School (1973-1981)
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1974 till:1976 text:Maranatha Baptist Academy (1974-1976)
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1975 till:1983 text:Shoreland Lutheran (1975-1983)
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1976 till:1983 text:Brookfield Academy (1976-1983)
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1977 till:1983 text:Kettle Moraine Lutheran (1977-1983)
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1977 till:1983 text:The Prairie School (1977-1983)
bar:13 color:tan1 from:1979 till:1983 text:St. Lawrence Seminary (1979-1983)
bar:14 color:tan1 from:1979 till:1983 text:Winnebago Lutheran (1979-1983)
bar:15 color:tan1 from:1981 till:1983 text:Sheboygan Lutheran (1981-1983)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1973
List of state champions
Fall sports
Winter sports
Spring sports
List of conference champions
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
References
{{Wisconsin high school athletic conferences
Wisconsin high school sports conferences
Sports organizations established in 1973
1973 establishments in Wisconsin
1983 disestablishments in Wisconsin