Draft:Little Ten Conference (Wisconsin)

The Little Ten Conference is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin, formed in 1925 and reorganizing into the Wisconsin Little Ten Conference in 1970.

History

Formation and Sustained Stability (1925-1959)

The Little Ten Conference was founded in 1925 by ten medium- to smaller-sized schools in south central Wisconsin: Beaver Dam, Berlin, Columbus, Hartford Union, Horicon, Mayville, Portage, Ripon, Watertown and Waupun. The conference went through a few membership changes during its first few seasons, starting with the loss of Portage to the South Central Conference in 1926 and Watertown to the Southern Six in 1928. The conference added West Bend in 1929 and Oconomowoc in 1930 to bring conference membership back up to ten. Membership would remain consistent until 1959, when Arrowhead joined from the Southeastern Wisconsin Conference and Watertown rejoined from the Braveland Conference.

Division Split and Reformation (1959-1970)

With conference membership increasing to twelve, the Little Ten subdivided into Northern and Southern Divisions for the 1959-60 school year:

Northern Little Ten	Southern Little Ten
Berlin	Arrowhead
Columbus	Beaver Dam
Horicon	Hartford Union
Mayville	Oconomowoc
Ripon	Watertown
Waupun	West Bend

In 1965, Arrowhead left to join the Southeastern Badger Conference, bringing conference membership to eleven. By the late 1960s, increasing gaps in enrollment between the smaller schools in the Northern Little Ten and the larger schools in the Southern Little Ten were creating problems with competitive balance, and the schools in the Southern Little Ten began looking to secede from the conference. The conference officially subdivided into two separate conferences in 1966 and both conferences completely disbanded in 1970. The five Southern Little Ten members (six with the split of West Bend into East and West) joined with Waupun, who had the highest enrollment in the Northern Little Ten, to form the Wisconsin Little Ten Conference. The five schools in the Northern Little Ten disbanded to find other conferences with schools more similar in enrollment size.

Conference Membership History

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Joined	Left	Conference Joined	Current Conference
Beaver Dam	Beaver Dam, WI	Public	1,124	Golden Beavers		1925	1970	Wisconsin Little Ten	Badger
Berlin	Berlin, WI	Public	474	Indians		1925	1970	East Central
Columbus	Columbus, WI	Public	390	Cardinals		1925	1970	Central Suburban	Capitol
Hartford Union	Hartford, WI	Public	1,281	Orioles		1925	1970	Wisconsin Little Ten	North Shore
Horicon	Horicon, WI	Public	275	Marshmen		1925	1970	Flyway	Trailways
Mayville	Mayville, WI	Public	275	Cardinals		1925	1970	Scenic Moraine	Wisconsin Flyway
Portage	Portage, WI	Public	705	Warriors		1925	1926	Southern Six	Badger
Ripon	Ripon, WI	Public	484	Tigers		1925	1970	East Central
Watertown	Watertown, WI	Public	1,170	Goslings		1925, 1959	1928, 1970	Southern Six, Wisconsin Little Ten	Badger
Waupun	Waupun, WI	Public	573	Warriors		1925	1970	Wisconsin Little Ten	East Central
West Bend	West Bend, WI	Public	2,025	Badgers		1929	1970	Wisconsin Little Ten	North Shore
Oconomowoc	Oconomowoc, WI	Public	1,657	Raccoons		1930	1970	Wisconsin Little Ten	Classic Eight
Arrowhead	Hartland, WI	Public	2,076	Warhawks		1959	1965	Southeastern Badger	Classic Eight

List of State Champions

Fall Sports

None

Winter Sports

Boys Basketball

School	Year	Division
Watertown	1928	Single Division
Mayville	1935	Class B
Beaver Dam	1937	Class B

Spring Sports

Baseball

School	Year	Division
West Bend	1951	Single Division
Oconomowoc	1959	Single Division

Boys Track & Field

School	Year	Division
Berlin	1931	Class B
West Bend	1934	Class B
Horicon	1937	Class C
Horicon	1938	Class C
Horicon	1939	Class C
Horicon	1954	Class C
Horicon	1959	Class C
Berlin	1961	Class B
Arrowhead	1965	Class B
Ripon	1968	Class B