Upper St. Croix Valley Conference

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Wikipedia

The Upper St. Croix Valley Conference is a former high school athletic conference in northwestern Wisconsin. Operational from 1934 to 1994, all conference members were public schools affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

1934–1953

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Webster
St. Croix Falls
Osceola
Milltown
Luck
Grantsburg
Frederic
Clayton
Centuria
Balsam Lake
Amery
Location of Original Upper St. Croix Conference Members

The Upper St. Croix Valley Conference was founded in 1934 by eleven small high schools in northwestern Wisconsin: Amery, Balsam Lake, Centuria, Clayton, Frederic, Grantsburg, Luck, Milltown, Osceola, St. Croix Falls and Webster.[1] Original members of the conference were located in two counties (Polk and Burnett) whose western border is the St. Croix River and were subdivided into Northern and Southern sections:

Northern Section Southern Section
Centuria Amery
Frederic Balsam Lake
Grantsburg Clayton
Luck Osceola
Milltown St. Croix Falls
Webster

Clayton left to join the Lakeland Conference in 1936,[2] and the conference consolidated into a single division. In 1940, the five smallest schools in the conference (Balsam Lake, Centuria, Luck, Milltown and Webster) joined with Siren to form the Northwest Border Conference.[3] Milltown returned to the Upper St. Croix Valley Conference in 1942,[4] bringing the membership roster back up to six schools. In 1946, Luck followed Milltown out of the Northwest Border Conference to becom the Upper St. Croix Valley's seventh member school.[5] Webster reentered the conference from the Northwest Border Conference in 1953, bringing the total number of schools to eight.[6]

1953–1977

Since Webster joined in 1953, there were relatively few changes to the roster, and the Upper St. Croix Valley Conference maintained an eight-member loop for the remainder of its existence. In 1957, Milltown was merged with two former Upper St. Croix Valley members in the Lakeland Conference (Balsam Lake and Centuria) to form Unity High School in Balsam Lake, and the new school inherited Milltown's place in the conference.[7] Amery left the conference for membership in the Middle Border Conference in 1977[8] and were replaced by Somerset, late of the Dunn-St. Croix Conference.[9]

1977–1994

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Webster
Unity
St. Croix Falls
Somerset
Osceola
Luck
Grantsburg
Frederic
Location of Final Upper St. Croix Conference Members

The Upper St. Croix Valley Conference continued on for seventeen more years before it was disbanded in 1994, and its members were dispersed to other conferences in the area. Four schools (Frederic, Grantsburg, Luck and Webster) became members of the Lakeland Conference,[10] three members (Osceola, St. Croix Falls and Unity)[11] joined the Middle Border Conference and Somerset returned to the Dunn-St. Croix Conference.[12]

Conference membership history

Final members

School Location Affiliation Mascot Colors Joined Left Conference Joined Current Conference
Frederic Frederic, WI Public Vikings     1934[1] 1994[10] Lakeland
Grantsburg Grantsburg, WI Public Pirates     1934[1] 1994[10] Lakeland
Luck Luck, WI Public Cardinals     1934,[1] 1946[5] 1940,[3] 1994[10] Northwest Border, Lakeland Lakeland
Osceola Osceola, WI Public Chieftains     1934[1] 1994[11] Middle Border
Somerset Somerset, WI Public Spartans       1977[9] 1994[12] Dunn-St. Croix Middle Border
St. Croix Falls St. Croix Falls, WI Public Saints     1934[1] 1994[11] Middle Border Heart O'North
Unity Balsam Lake, WI Public Eagles     1957[7] 1994[11] Middle Border Heart O'North
Webster Webster, WI Public Tigers     1934,[1] 1953[6] 1940,[3] 1994[10] Northwest Border, Lakeland Lakeland

Previous full members

School Location Affiliation Mascot Colors Joined Left Conference Joined Current Conference
Amery Amery, WI Public Warriors     1934[1] 1977[8] Middle Border
Balsam Lake Balsam Lake, WI Public Warriors     1934[1] 1940[3] Northwest Border Closed in 1957 (merged into Unity)
Centuria Centuria, WI Public Raiders     1934[1] 1940[3] Northwest Border Closed in 1957 (merged into Unity)
Clayton Clayton, WI Public Bears     1934[1] 1936[2] Lakeland
Milltown Milltown, WI Public Wildcats     1934,[1] 1942[4] 1940,[3] 1957[7] Northwest Border Closed (merged into Unity)

Previous football-only members

School Location Affiliation Mascot Colors Seasons Primary Conference
Chetek Chetek, WI Public Bulldogs     1983-1985 Heart O'North

Membership timeline

Full members

 Eastern Section  Western Section

Football members

List of state champions

Fall sports

Football
School Year Division
Osceola 1984 Division 5
Webster 1987 Division 6
Girls Volleyball
School Year Division
Webster 1985 Class C
Webster 1986 Class C
Somerset 1993 Division 3

Winter sports

Boys Basketball
School Year Division
St. Croix Falls 1950 Single Division
St. Croix Falls 1992 Division 3
Girls Gymnastics
School Year Division
Frederic 1992 Division 2
Boys Wrestling
School Year Division
St. Croix Falls 1991 Division 2

Spring sports

Boys Track & Field
School Year Division
Unity 1967 Class C
Unity 1969 Class C

Summer sports

Baseball
School Year Division
Unity 1992 Single Division

List of conference champions

Boys Basketball

School Quantity Years
Osceola 20 1940, 1942, 1945, 1946, 1954, 1957, 1961, 1965, 1969, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1991, 1994
St. Croix Falls 16 1935, 1941, 1943, 1944, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993
Amery 10 1951, 1952, 1953, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1970, 1971, 1975, 1977
Unity 8 1966, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991
Frederic 5 1956, 1963, 1964, 1969, 1983
Luck 3 1966, 1967, 1973
Milltown 3 1935, 1936, 1937
Grantsburg 2 1938, 1958
Balsam Lake 0
Centuria 0
Clayton 0
Somerset 0
Webster 0
Champions from 1939 unknown

Football

School Quantity Years
Grantsburg 12 1937, 1941, 1942, 1956, 1958, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
St. Croix Falls 12 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1944, 1948, 1953, 1969, 1979, 1988, 1989, 1990
Osceola 11 1939, 1944, 1945, 1956, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1992
Amery 10 1934, 1943, 1950, 1951, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1976
Frederic 6 1939, 1946, 1947, 1955, 1961, 1968
Unity 5 1963, 1967, 1978, 1986, 1987
Luck 3 1964, 1965, 1971
Somerset 2 1991, 1993
Webster 2 1956, 1972
Chetek 0
Milltown 0
Champions from 1940, 1949, 1952, 1954, 1957 and 1959 unknown

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Information on Wisconsin's High School Basketball Leagues". Wisconsin State Journal. 15 January 1935. p. 12. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Lakeland Teams Draw Up Schedule". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. 21 October 1936. p. 6. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Random Sports Bits". Dunn County News. 15 May 1940. p. 4. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  4. 1 2 "Suburban Cage Standings (see St. Croix Valley)". The Capital Times. 22 December 1942. p. 20. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  5. 1 2 The Amerian. 1949. p. 57.
  6. 1 2 The Amerian. 1954. p. 56.
  7. 1 2 3 Buzzell, Clell (19 March 1957). "Northwest Sportscope". Eau Claire Daily Telegram. p. 8. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  8. 1 2 "Middle Border campaign opens; Dairyland has key game". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. 8 September 1977. pp. 3B. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  9. 1 2 "Spring Valley again team to beat in D-SC". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. 1 September 1977. pp. 3B. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Holmes, Kirk (2 February 1993). "WIAA approves realignment plan (see "Who fits in where" inset)". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. p. 21. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Holmes, Kirk (15 May 1993). "Area teams on the move". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. pp. D1. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  12. 1 2 "Football, tennis teams excel". Dunn County News. 2 January 1994. p. 16. Retrieved 16 April 2025.