The State Line League 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 ...
. Formed in 1927 and ending competition in 1997, its membership consisted of small schools located in the southernmost counties of the state along the Wisconsin-
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
border. All member schools (with the exception of one) were associated 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
1927-1944
The State Line League was formed in 1927 by eight small high schools in south central Wisconsin:
Argyle,
Belleville,
Blanchardville,
Brodhead,
Hollandale,
Juda,
Monticello
Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...
and
New Glarus.
Original member schools were located predominantly in
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...
and
Lafayette Counties, which are located on the border between Wisconsin and Illinois.
Albany High School joined the State Line League in the 1928-29 school year, taking the place of Juda, which left the league after its first season.
Juda High School would make its return in 1929, bringing membership to nine schools.
Two years later, membership would go back down to eight as Brodhead left to join the
Rock River Valley League in 1931.
would take their place the next year,
and
Orfordville High School would join in 1933. With the increase in membership to ten schools, the State Line League would split into Eastern and Western Divisions:
1944-1971
The State Line League ended its two-division format and welcomed Brodhead back into the fold in 1944, bringing membership to eleven schools.
Three years later, the State Line League sponsored football for the first time, and six members (Argyle, Belleville, Brodhead, Brooklyn, New Glarus and Orfordville) played in the
six-player variant. Juda became the seventh football-playing member in 1949, and Blanchardville joined a year later after moving over from the
Madison Suburban Conference
The Madison Suburban Conference is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin, founded in 1926 and ending competition in 1969. Its members were located in south central Wisconsin, predominantly around the Madison, Wisconsin, Madison ar ...
and transitioning from eleven-player football.
Hollandale left to join the
Iowa County League in 1951, decreasing the amount of full members to ten schools.
Eight-player football was adopted by the State Line League in 1954, and over the next few years, rural school district consolidations began to affect conference membership. Brooklyn High School was closed in 1962 and consolidated with the larger Oregon High School,
and their place was immediately taken by
South Wayne (formerly of the
Black Hawk League).
The next year, the State Line League transitioned to
eleven-player football with eight participants. In 1967, South Wayne was merged with former conference rivals Gratiot to form
Black Hawk High School
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psyc ...
, which remained in the State Line League after consolidation.
In 1970, Parkview (formerly Orfordville) High School exited the State Line League to join the
Central Suburban Conference
The Central Suburban Conference was an IHSAA-sanctioned conference in the U.S. state of Indiana from 1971 to 1997. The conference can be considered a continuation of the Capital District Conference, as almost all of the schools involved in tha ...
.
The last of the consolidations to affect membership occurred in 1971, when Blanchardville and Hollandale merged to form
Pecatonica High School.
Two schools joined the State Line League that year in addition to Pecatonica:
Barneveld (from the disbanded
Kickapoo Valley League) and
Holy Name Seminary
Holy Name Seminary was a Roman Catholic seminary staffed by the Society of Jesus which existed in Christchurch, New Zealand from 1947 until 1978.
Establishment
With Holy Cross College, the New Zealand national major seminary, not taking school ...
in
Madison Madison may refer to:
People
* Madison (name), a given name and a surname
* James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States
* Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer
Places in the United States
Populated places
* Madi ...
.
1971-1997
Membership in the State Line League remained stable for the rest of its existence with the exception of two schools leaving the conference. Brodhead joined the
Rock Valley Conference
The Rock Valley Conference is a high school athletic conference in Wisconsin, originally formed as the Central Suburban Conference in 1969. All member schools belong to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association and are concentrated in t ...
in 1977,
and Holy Name Seminary left the conference in 1995 after the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Madison
The Diocese of Madison () is a Latin Church diocese in the southwestern part of Wisconsin in the United States. The diocese has approximately 167,000 Catholics in 102 parishes with 98 priests in active ministry.
As of 2025, the bishop of Madison ...
closed its doors that year.
The State Line League ended sponsorship of football in 1993 when Black Hawk and Pecatonica/Argyle were approved as new football members in the Black Hawk League for the 1994 season. Coupled with the formation of the Sugar River Raiders football cooperative between three State Line members (Belleville, Monticello and New Glarus),
the conference would have had only three members for football had it continued. In 1997, the Six Rivers Conference was formed through the merger of the nine members of the State Line League with the seven members of the neighboring Black Hawk League.
Conference membership history
Full members
Football-only members
Membership timeline
Full members
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bar:1 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Argyle (1927-1997)
bar:1 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1944 text:
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1997 text:
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Belleville (1927-1997)
bar:2 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1944 text:
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1997 text:
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1971 text:Blanchardville (1927-1971)
bar:3 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1944 text:
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1971 text:
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1931 text:Brodhead (1927-1931)
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1977 text:(1944-1977)
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1951 text:Hollandale (1927-1951)
bar:5 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1944 text:
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1951 text:
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1928 text:Juda (1927-1928, 1929-1997)
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1929 till:1933 text:
bar:6 color:blue from:1933 till:1944 text:
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1997 text:
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:Monticello (1927-1997)
bar:7 color:blue from:1933 till:1944 text:
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1997 text:
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1927 till:1933 text:New Glarus (1927-1997)
bar:8 color:skyblue from:1933 till:1944 text:
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1997 text:
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1928 till:1933 text:Albany (1928-1997)
bar:9 color:blue from:1933 till:1944 text:
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1997 text:
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1932 till:1933 text:Brooklyn (1932-1962)
bar:10 color:blue from:1933 till:1944 text:
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1962 text:
bar:11 color:blue from:1933 till:1944 text:Orfordville (1933-1964)
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1944 till:1964 text:
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1964 till:1970 text:Parkview (1964-1970)
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1962 till:1967 text:South Wayne (1962-1967)
bar:13 color:tan1 from:1967 till:1997 text:Black Hawk (1967-1997)
bar:14 color:tan1 from:1971 till:1997 text:Barneveld (1971-1997)
bar:15 color:tan1 from:1971 till:1995 text:Holy Name Seminary (1971-1995)
bar:16 color:tan1 from:1971 till:1997 text:Pecatonica (1971-1997)
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Football members
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bar:1 color:lavender from:1947 till:1991 text:Argyle (1947-1990)
bar:2 color:lavender from:1947 till:1994 text:Belleville (1947-1993)
bar:3 color:lavender from:1947 till:1977 text:Brodhead (1947-1976)
bar:4 color:lavender from:1947 till:1962 text:Brooklyn (1947-1961)
bar:5 color:lavender from:1947 till:1988 text:New Glarus (1947-1987)
bar:6 color:lavender from:1947 till:1964 text:Orfordville (1947-1963)
bar:6 color:lavender from:1964 till:1970 text:Parkview (1964-1969)
bar:7 color:lavender from:1949 till:1983 text:Juda (1949-1982)
bar:8 color:lavender from:1950 till:1971 text:Blanchardville (1950-1970)
bar:9 color:lavender from:1962 till:1967 text:South Wayne (1962-1966)
bar:10 color:lavender from:1967 till:1994 text:Black Hawk (1967-1993)
bar:11 color:lavender from:1971 till:1984 text:Barneveld (1971-1983)
bar:11 color:lavender from:1985 till:1990 text:(1985-1989)
bar:12 color:lavender from:1971 till:1994 text:Holy Name Seminary (1971-1993)
bar:13 color:lavender from:1971 till:1991 text:Pecatonica (1971-1990)
bar:14 color:lavender from:1988 till:1994 text:New Glarus/Monticello (1988-1993)
bar:15 color:lavender from:1990 till:1992 text:Beloit Catholic (1990-1991, 1993)
bar:15 color:lavender from:1993 till:1994 text:
bar:16 color:lavender from:1991 till:1994 text:Pecatonica/Argyle (1991-1993)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1947
List of state champions
Fall sports
Winter sports
Spring sports
List of conference champions
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Football
References
{{Wisconsin high school athletic conferences
Wisconsin high school sports conferences
Sports organizations established in 1927
1927 establishments in Wisconsin
1997 disestablishments in Wisconsin