The Northeastern Wisconsin 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 ...

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 ...

, opening competition in 1927 and disbanding in 1970. Its members were concentrated in the northeastern part of the state, and all members were affiliated with 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

1927-1933

The Northeastern Wisconsin (NEW) Conference was formed in 1927 by thirteen small- to medium-sized high schools in northeastern Wisconsin. Algoma, Clintonville, De Pere, Kaukauna, Kewaunee,

Menasha Menasha () is a city in Winnebago and Calumet counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 18,268 at the 2020 census. Of this, 15,144 were in Winnebago County, and 2,209 were in Calumet County. The city's name comes from the W ...

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 ...

, New London, Oconto, Oconto Falls, Shawano,

Sturgeon Bay Sturgeon Bay is an arm of Green Bay extending southeastward approximately 10 miles into the Door Peninsula at the city of Sturgeon Bay, located approximately halfway up the Door Peninsula. The bay is connected to Lake Michigan by the Sturgeo ...

and West De Pere were charter members. Gillett and Two Rivers joined the conference before the 1927 football season to give the NEW Conference fifteen members. The conference had a large geographic footprint, including schools in nine counties (

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

Door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide securit ...

, Kewaunee, Manitowoc, Oconto, Outagamie, Shawano, Waupaca and Winnebago). Four years after the NEW Conference's formation, Clintonville and Gillett left the conference, putting the membership tally at thirteen schools.

1933-1952

In 1933, the NEW Conference split its thirteen member schools into Eastern and Western Divisions: Clintonville rejoined the conference in 1934, and they took up residence in the Western Division, putting each division at seven members apiece. Conference membership remained stable for over a decade until West De Pere left the NEW Conference in 1943 to compete as an independent. Two Rivers moved from the Eastern to the Western Division in 1949, and the conference added two schools in 1950: Kimberly and

Seymour Seymour may refer to: Places Australia *Seymour, Victoria, a township ** Seymour railway station * Electoral district of Seymour, a former electoral district in Victoria * Rural City of Seymour, a former local government area in Victoria * Se ...

. Both schools had recently left the

Little Nine Conference The Little Nine Conference is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin. Operational from 1928 to 1970, its membership was concentrated in east central Wisconsin and all member schools belonged to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athleti ...

in search of stronger competition, and both joined the Eastern Division for their first season in the NEW Conference. Kimberly switched to the Western Division in 1951, and the Eastern Division welcomed Pulaski and West De Pere. Both schools were formerly in the Mid-Valley Conference, and West De Pere was making its return after it left the NEW Conference eight years prior:

1952-1966

In 1952, all eight schools in the Northeastern Wisconsin Conference's Western Division left to form the Mid-Eastern Conference. The remaining nine schools in the Eastern Division of the NEW Conference continued on as a nine-member circuit. Growth in the

Green Bay metropolitan area The Green Bay metropolitan statistical area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is a metropolitan area in northeastern Wisconsin anchored by the City of Green Bay. It is Wisconsin's fourth largest metropolitan statistical area by popul ...

and the opening of new high schools drove expansion of the NEW Conference in the 1950s and 1960s.

Preble High School Preble High School is a public high school in the Green Bay, Wisconsin School District. The school serves students from Green Bay, Bellevue, and New Franken. The name comes from the former town of Preble, which is now part of northeastern ...

was opened in 1955 and joined the NEW Conference the next year, bringing membership to ten. In 1964, Preble left the NEW Conference after their school district was consolidated into Green Bay's school district. They joined their new brethren with the larger schools of the Fox River Valley Conference and were replaced by Bonduel, formerly of the Central Wisconsin Conference. Two recently opened high schools joined the NEW Conference in 1966 to bring membership to twelve schools:

Ashwaubenon High School Ashwaubenon High School is a public high school located in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, United States. A community pool and performing arts center are also housed within the school. Demographics AHS is 79% white, 6% Hispanic, 4% Native American, 3% ...

and Bay Port High School of the Howard-Suamico district.

1966-1970

The Northeastern Wisconsin Conference would continue with twelve member schools for the next four years before a major realignment occurred in the region. Several conferences were disbanded that year, and the NEW Conference was one of them. Eight of the twelve former NEW Conference schools, along with Clintonville of the Mid-Eastern Conference and former independent Marinette, formed the new

Bay Conference The Bay Conference is a high school athletics conference made up of eight teams in northeastern Wisconsin, centering primarily around the Green Bay and Fox Valley metropolitan areas. The conference and its member schools are members of the Wisc ...

: Ashwaubenon, Bay Port, De Pere, Oconto, Oconto Falls, Pulaski, Seymour and West De Pere. Three of the smaller schools (Algoma, Kewaunee and Sturgeon Bay) became charter members of the

Packerland Conference The Packerland Conference is an athletic conference of high schools located in northeastern Wisconsin. Formed in 1970, the conference and its member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. History 1970- ...

and Bonduel returned to the Central Wisconsin Conference after leaving six years prior.

Conference membership history

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1927 till:1970 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:100 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:1927 till:1933 text:Algoma (1927-1970) bar:1 color:blue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:1 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1970 text: bar:2 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1931 text:Clintonville (1927-1931, 1934-1952) bar:2 color:skyblue from:1934 till:1952 text: bar:3 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:De Pere (1927-1970) bar:3 color:blue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:3 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1970 text: bar:4 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1931 text:Gillett (1927-1931) bar:5 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Kaukauna (1927-1952) bar:5 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:6 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Kewaunee (1927-1970) bar:6 color:blue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:6 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1970 text: bar:7 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Menasha (1927-1952) bar:7 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:8 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Neenah (1927-1952) bar:8 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:9 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:New London (1927-1952) bar:9 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:10 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Oconto (1927-1970) bar:10 color:blue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:10 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1970 text: bar:11 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Oconto Falls (1927-1970) bar:11 color:blue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:11 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1970 text: bar:12 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Shawano (1927-1952) bar:12 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:13 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Sturgeon Bay (1927-1970) bar:13 color:blue from:1933 till:1952 text: bar:13 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1970 text: bar:14 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Two Rivers (1927-1952) bar:14 color:blue from:1933 till:1949 text: bar:14 color:skyblue from:1949 till:1952 text: bar:15 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:West De Pere (1927-1943) bar:15 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1943 text: bar:15 color:blue from:1951 till:1952 text:(1951-1970) bar:15 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1970 text: bar:16 color:blue from:1950 till:1951 text:Kimberly (1950-1952) bar:16 color:skyblue from:1951 till:1952 text: bar:17 color:blue from:1950 till:1952 text:Seymour (1950-1970) bar:17 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1970 text: bar:18 color:blue from:1951 till:1952 text:Pulaski (1951-1970) bar:18 color:tan1 from:1952 till:1970 text: bar:19 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1964 text:Preble (1956-1964) bar:20 color:tan1 from:1964 till:1970 text:Bonduel (1964-1970) bar:21 color:tan1 from:1966 till:1970 text:Ashwaubenon (1966-1970) bar:22 color:tan1 from:1966 till:1970 text:Bay Port (1966-1970) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1927

List of state champions

Fall sports

None

Winter sports

Spring sports

List of conference champions

Boys Basketball

Football

References

{{Wisconsin high school athletic conferences Wisconsin high school sports conferences Sports organizations established in 1927 1927 establishments in Wisconsin 1970 disestablishments in Wisconsin