The Eastern Wisconsin Conference is a 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 ...
with its membership based in east central
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 ...
. It existed in two incarnations: the original conference from 1923 to 1970 and the current one since 1979. The conference and its member schools belong to the
Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the earliest continually existing high school athletic organization in the country. ...
.
History
1923-1930
The Eastern Wisconsin Conference, originally known as the Big Eight High School Athletic Conference, was founded in 1923 by eight small high schools in the area between
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...
and
Lake Winnebago
Lake Winnebago (, , ) is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. At , it is the largest lake entirely within the state, covering an area of about by with of shoreline, an average depth ...
in east central Wisconsin (
Brillion,
Chilton,
Elkhart Lake,
Hilbert
David Hilbert (; ; 23 January 1862 – 14 February 1943) was a German mathematician and philosophy of mathematics, philosopher of mathematics and one of the most influential mathematicians of his time.
Hilbert discovered and developed a broad ...
,
Kiel
Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...
,
New Holstein,
Plymouth
Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
and
Sheboygan Falls).
Original member schools were located in three counties:
Calumet,
Manitowoc and
Sheboygan. After the conference's first season of competition, three schools (Brillion, Elkhart Lake and Hilbert) were dropped from the membership roster.
Elkhart Lake rejoined the conference in 1925 to bring membership back up to six schools.
A seventh member school was added when
Valders joined the Big Eight in 1928,
and
Kohler brought the ledger back to eight members when they entered the league in 1929.
1930-1948
In 1930, three football-playing members of the Big Eight (Chilton, Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls) began to discuss the formation of a football conference. The Eastern Wisconsin Conference adopted its official moniker in 1935, and started eleven-man football competition the next year with Chilton, Kiel, Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls. A division for
six-man football
Six-man football is a variant of gridiron football played with six players per team, instead of the standard eleven. It is generally played by high schools in rural areas of the United States and Canada.
History
Six-man football was developed in ...
was formed in 1938, and its original members were New Holstein, Sheboygan Falls and Valders. Kohler joined in 1941 when they started their six-man football program, which is the same year that the eleven-man division stopped keeping records. In 1948, the decision was made by six of the eight conference members to transition to eleven-man football with six members (Chilton, Kiel, New Holstein, Plymouth, Sheboygan Falls and Valders) participating. Elkhart Lake and Kohler elected to continue as six-man programs and did not remain as football members.
1948-1970
After the initial membership shuffle, the Eastern Wisconsin Conference maintained a steady membership roster for over two decades for most of their sports. Original conference member
Brillion rejoined the EWC in 1951 after moving over from the
Little Nine Conference.
The Eastern Wisconsin Conference increased to ten members in 1960, adding Oostburg to its membership roster. In 1965, Brillion rejoined the Little Nine Conference,
with their place being taken by former Kettle Moraine Conference members Cedar Grove.
In football, Kohler and Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah joined the EWC after moving to eleven-man football in 1960 and 1964, respectively. Five schools left the conference in 1969; four became charter members of the
Central Lakeshore Conference (Cedar Grove, Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, Kohler and Oostburg)
and Chilton competed as an independent after completion of the 1969 football season.
The EWC disbanded at the end of the 1969-1970 school year, with members dispersed to two new conferences. Five schools joined the Packerland Conference (Chilton, Kiel, New Holstein, Plymouth and Sheboygan Falls)
and Valders accepted membership in the
Olympian Conference.
1979-present
The Eastern Wisconsin Conference was reformed in 1979 by six of the previous members (Chilton, Kiel, New Holstein, Plymouth, Sheboygan Falls and Valders) along with newcomers
Two Rivers.
The six previous members all left the conferences that were previously joined in 1970, and Two Rivers came over from the
Fox Valley Association. Valders only stayed in the new EWC for one season, rejoining the Olympian Conference in 1980.
Kewaskum joined the Eastern Wisconsin Conference as their replacement after being left without conference affiliation following the dissolution of the
Scenic Moraine Conference.
This alignment stayed intact for nearly two decades, until in 1999, Chilton left to become members of the Olympian Conference.
moved over from the
Flyway Conference and
Roncalli joined from the
Fox Valley Christian Conference as their replacements.
Roncalli's entry into the league coincided with the merger between the WIAA and 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 ...
,
and they became the first private school affiliated with the EWC. Roncalli's affiliation would last until 2007, when they accepted membership in the Olympian Conference
and
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 ...
joined from the
East Central Flyway Conference to keep the roster at eight schools.
The most recent change to conference membership came in 2015, when the Eastern Wisconsin Conference lost four members (Campbellsport, Kewaskum, Plymouth and Waupun) to the revival of the
East Central Conference
The East Central Conference is a high school athletic conference in Wisconsin. Originally founded in 1970, it was disbanded in 2001 and remained defunct until its reconstitution in 2015. It will be dissolved again after 2024-25 school year, and al ...
.
They were replaced by four schools displaced by the ceasing of the Olympian Conference. Chilton, Roncalli and Valders made their return to the EWC, along with Brillion, who were members of the original conference from 1951 to 1965.
Football-only alignment
In February 2019, in conjunction with the
Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, the WIAA released a sweeping football-only realignment for Wisconsin to commence with the 2020 football season and run on a two-year cycle. Seven members of the Eatsern Wisconsin Conference were carried over into the football conference (Brillion, Chilton, Kiel, New Holstein, Roncalli, Two Rivers and Valders) and the
Kohler/
Sheboygan Lutheran/
Sheboygan Christian (KLC) football cooperative was brought over from the
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...
. This alignment remained in place for the 2022-2023 realignment cycle. For the 2024-2025 cycle, Two Rivers was realigned to the
North Eastern Conference for football, and
St. Mary Catholic in
Neenah
Neenah ( ) is a city in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, United States. It is situated on the banks of Lake Winnebago, Little Lake Butte des Morts, and the Fox River approximately northeast of Oshkosh and southwest of Green Bay. Neenah's popul ...
took their place after moving from the
Trailways Conference. The Eastern Wisconsin Conference will continue with this alignment through at least the 2027 football season.
List of conference members (1979-present)
Current members
Current football-only members
Former members
Conference membership history (1923-1970)
Full members
Football-only members
Membership timeline
1923-1970
Full members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1923 till:1970
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:80 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:1923 till:1924 text:Brillion (1923-1924)
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1951 till:1965 text:(1951-1965)
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1923 till:1969 text:Chilton (1923-1969)
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1923 till:1924 text:Elkhart Lake (1923-1924, 1925-1957)
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1925 till:1957 text:
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1957 till:1969 text:Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah (1957-1969)
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1923 till:1924 text:Hilbert (1923-1924)
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1923 till:1970 text:Kiel (1923-1970)
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1923 till:1970 text:New Holstein (1923-1970)
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1923 till:1970 text:Plymouth (1923-1970)
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1923 till:1970 text:Sheboygan Falls (1923-1970)
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1928 till:1970 text:Valders (1928-1970)
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1929 till:1969 text:Kohler (1929-1969)
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1960 till:1969 text:Oostburg (1960-1969)
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1965 till:1969 text:Cedar Grove (1965-1969)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1923
Football members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1936 till:1970
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:90 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:green from:1936 till:1942 text:Chilton (1936-1941)
bar:1 color:lavender from:1948 till:1970 text:(1948-1969)
bar:2 color:green from:1936 till:1942 text:Kiel (1936-1941)
bar:2 color:lavender from:1948 till:1970 text:(1948-1969)
bar:3 color:green from:1936 till:1942 text:Plymouth (1936-1941)
bar:3 color:lavender from:1948 till:1970 text:(1948-1969)
bar:4 color:green from:1936 till:1938 text:Sheboygan Falls (1936-1969)
bar:4 color:yellowgreen from:1938 till:1948 text:
bar:4 color:lavender from:1948 till:1970 text:
bar:5 color:yellowgreen from:1938 till:1948 text:New Holstein (1938-1969)
bar:5 color:lavender from:1948 till:1970 text:
bar:6 color:yellowgreen from:1938 till:1948 text:Valders (1938-1969)
bar:6 color:lavender from:1948 till:1970 text:
bar:7 color:yellowgreen from:1941 till:1948 text:Kohler (1941-1947)
bar:7 color:lavender from:1960 till:1969 text:(1960-1968)
bar:8 color:lavender from:1951 till:1965 text:Brillion (1951-1964)
bar:9 color:lavender from:1961 till:1969 text:Oostburg (1961-1968)
bar:10 color:lavender from:1964 till:1969 text:Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah (1964-1968)
bar:11 color:lavender from:1965 till:1969 text:Cedar Grove (1965-1968)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1936
1979-present
Full members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1979 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:1979 till:1999 text:Chilton (1979-1999)
bar:1 color:tan1 from:2015 till:2030 text:(2015-present)
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:Kiel (1979-present)
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:New Holstein (1979-present)
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2015 text:Plymouth (1979-2015)
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:Sheboygan Falls (1979-present)
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1979 till:2030 text:Two Rivers (1979-present)
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1979 till:1980 text:Valders (1979-1980)
bar:7 color:tan1 from:2015 till:2030 text:(2015-present)
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1980 till:2015 text:Kewaskum (1980-2015)
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1999 till:2015 text:Campbellsport (1999-2015)
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1999 till:2007 text:Roncalli (1999-2007)
bar:10 color:tan1 from:2015 till:2030 text:(2015-present)
bar:11 color:tan1 from:2007 till:2015 text:Waupun (2007-2015)
bar:12 color:tan1 from:2015 till:2030 text:Brillion (2015-present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1979
Football members (since 2020)
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:2020 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:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Brillion (2020-present)
bar:2 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Chilton (2020-present)
bar:3 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Kiel (2020-present)
bar:4 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:KLC (2020-present)
bar:5 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:New Holstein (2020-present)
bar:6 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Roncalli (2020-present)
bar:7 color:lavender from:2020 till:2024 text:Two Rivers (2020-2023)
bar:8 color:lavender from:2020 till:2030 text:Valders (2020-present)
bar:9 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:St. Mary Catholic (2024-present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:2020
Membership map
List of state champions
Fall sports
Winter sports
Spring sports
Summer sports
List of conference champions
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Football
References
External links
Eastern Wisconsin Conference (official website)
{{Wisconsin high school athletic conferences
Wisconsin high school sports conferences
Sports organizations established in 1923
Sports organizations established in 1979
1923 establishments in Wisconsin
1970 disestablishments in Wisconsin
1979 establishments in Wisconsin