Little Eight Conference (Wisconsin)
The Little Eight Conference is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin. Founded in 1926 and dissolved in 1937, the conference and its member schools belonged to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
[edit | edit source]Lua error in Module:OSM_Location_map at line 456: bad argument #1 to 'abs' (number expected, got nil). The Little Eight Conference was formed in 1926 by eight small high schools in west central Wisconsin: Altoona, Augusta, Black River Falls, Fairchild, Fall Creek, Humbird, Merrillan and Osseo.[1] Most conference members were located in Eau Claire County (or the neighboring counties of Clark, Jackson and Trempealeau) and all members with one exception were located along U.S. Route 12. A ninth member was added to the Little Eight in 1931 when Elk Mound moved over from the Dunn-St. Croix Conference.[2] The next year, Neillsville joined as members and the conference was realigned into Northern and Southern sections:[3]
| Northern Section | Southern Section |
|---|---|
| Altoona | Black River Falls |
| Augusta | Fairchild |
| Elk Mound | Humbird |
| Fall Creek | Merrillan |
| Osseo | Neillsville |
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This alignment lasted for three seasons before four members left the Little Eight Conference in 1935: Augusta, Black River Falls, Neillsville and Osseo.[4] Augusta left for membership in the Mississippi Valley Conference[5] along with Osseo, who relinquished dual membership in the Little Eight to join the MVC on a full-time basis. Black River Falls and Neillsville both became independents before forming the Mississippi Valley Triangular League with Augusta in 1936.[6] The six remaining members carried on for two more seasons before the Little Eight Conference ceased operations in 1937.[7] Elk Mound returned to the Dunn-St. Croix Conference[8] and Merrillan became members of the Trempealeau Valley Conference.[9] The other four schools (Altoona, Fairchild, Fall Creek and Humbird) became independents until joining new conferences after World War II.
Conference membership history
[edit | edit source]Final members
[edit | edit source]| School | Location | Affiliation | Enrollment | Mascot | Colors | Joined | Left | Conference Joined | Current Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Altoona | Altoona, WI | Public | 560 | Railroaders | 1926[1] | 1937[7] | Independent | Middle Border | |
| Elk Mound | Elk Mound, WI | Public | 344 | Mounders | 1931[2] | 1937[7] | Dunn-St. Croix | ||
| Fairchild | Fairchild, WI | Public | N/A | Purple Dragons | 1926[1] | 1937[7] | Independent | Closed in 1968 (merged into Osseo-Fairchild) | |
| Fall Creek | Fall Creek, WI | Public | 243 | Crickets | 1926[1] | 1937[7] | Independent | Cloverbelt | |
| Humbird | Humbird, WI | Public | N/A | Game Birds | 1926[1] | 1937[7] | Independent | Closed in 1949 (merged into Alma Center Lincoln) | |
| Merrillan | Merrillan, WI | Public | N/A | Yellow Jackets | 1926[1] | 1937[7] | Trempealeau Valley | Closed in 1949 (merged into Alma Center Lincoln) | |
Previous members
[edit | edit source]| School | Location | Affiliation | Enrollment | Mascot | Colors | Joined | Left | Conference Joined | Current Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augusta | Augusta, WI | Public | 226 | Beavers | 1926[1] | 1935[4] | Mississippi Valley | Dairyland | |
| Black River Falls | Black River Falls, WI | Public | 481 | Tigers | 1926[1] | 1935[4] | Independent | Coulee | |
| Neillsville | Neillsville, WI | Public | 269 | Warriors | 1932[3] | 1935[4] | Independent | Cloverbelt | |
| Osseo | Osseo, WI | Public | 255 | Chieftains | 1926[1] | 1935[4] | Mississippi Valley | Cloverbelt |
Membership timeline
[edit | edit source]<timeline> DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1926 till:1937 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
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PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1926 till:1932 text:Altoona (1926-1937) bar:1 color:blue from:1932 till:1935 text: bar:1 color:tan1 from:1935 till:1937 text: bar:2 color:tan1 from:1926 till:1932 text:Augusta (1926-1935) bar:2 color:blue from:1932 till:1935 text: bar:3 color:tan1 from:1926 till:1932 text:Black River Falls (1926-1935) bar:3 color:skyblue from:1932 till:1935 text: bar:4 color:tan1 from:1926 till:1932 text:Fairchild (1926-1937) bar:4 color:skyblue from:1932 till:1935 text: bar:4 color:tan1 from:1935 till:1937 text: bar:5 color:tan1 from:1926 till:1932 text:Fall Creek (1926-1937) bar:5 color:blue from:1932 till:1935 text: bar:5 color:tan1 from:1935 till:1937 text: bar:6 color:tan1 from:1926 till:1932 text:Humbird (1926-1937) bar:6 color:skyblue from:1932 till:1935 text: bar:6 color:tan1 from:1935 till:1937 text: bar:7 color:tan1 from:1926 till:1932 text:Merrillan (1926-1937) bar:7 color:skyblue from:1932 till:1935 text: bar:7 color:tan1 from:1935 till:1937 text: bar:8 color:tan1 from:1926 till:1932 text:Osseo (1926-1935) bar:8 color:blue from:1932 till:1935 text: bar:9 color:tan1 from:1931 till:1932 text:Elk Mound (1931-1937) bar:9 color:blue from:1932 till:1935 text: bar:9 color:tan1 from:1935 till:1937 text: bar:9 color:tan1 from:1935 till:1937 text: bar:10 color:skyblue from:1932 till:1935 text:Neillsville (1932-1935)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1926
</timeline> Northern Section Southern Section
List of state champions
[edit | edit source]Fall sports
[edit | edit source]None
Winter sports
[edit | edit source]| School | Year | Division |
|---|---|---|
| Fall Creek | 1937 | Class C |
Spring sports
[edit | edit source]| School | Year | Division |
|---|---|---|
| Altoona | 1934 | Class C |
List of conference champions
[edit | edit source]Boys Basketball
[edit | edit source]| School | Quantity | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Fall Creek | 5 | 1927, 1931, 1933, 1936, 1937 |
| Altoona | 4 | 1928, 1931, 1932, 1934 |
| Merrillan | 3 | 1928, 1929, 1933 |
| Augusta | 2 | 1930, 1935 |
| Neillsville | 2 | 1934, 1935 |
| Black River Falls | 0 | |
| Elk Mound | 0 | |
| Fairchild | 0 | |
| Humbird | 0 | |
| Osseo | 0 |
References
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