Flambeau League

Last updated

The Flambeau League is a former high school athletic conference with its membership concentrated in northwestern Wisconsin. Founded in 1940 and disbanded in 1970, the conference and its member schools belonged to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

Contents

History

The Flambeau League was formed in 1940 by six small high schools in northwestern Wisconsin: Butternut, Draper-Loretta, Fifield, Glidden, Tripoli and Winter. [1] [2] Original members were located in four counties (Ashland, Lincoln, Price and Sawyer) and the conference was named after the Flambeau River, which ran through the conference's geographic area. Prentice joined the Flambeau League as its seventh member after leaving the 3-C Conference in 1943. [3] Membership remained stable until 1952, when Draper-Loretta was consolidated with fellow conference member Winter. [4] Hawkins moved over from the similarly named Flambeauland Conference to replace them, [5] [6] keeping the roster at seven schools. Three years later, the Flambeauland Conference disbanded, [7] and former members Ingram-Glen Flora joined as the Flambeau League's eighth member in 1955. [8] Their time in the league would be short-lived, as they were merged with Tony in 1961 to form the new Flambeau High School, with the new school inheriting Tony's Lakeland Conference membership. [9] The next year, Fifield was consolidated into nearby Park Falls, [4] and two schools displaced by the cessation of the 3-C Conference (Rib Lake and Westboro) entered the Flambeau League as replacements, increasing membership back to eight schools. [10]

In the late 1960s, the Flambeau League continued to lose members to both rural school district consolidation and membership in other conferences. Hawkins and Westboro left the conference in 1967, with Hawkins' consolidation into Ladysmith and the folding of Westboro into Rib Lake. [11] In 1968, Winter left to join the Lakeland Conference, decreasing the roster to five member schools. [12] The conference lost another member in 1969 due to Tripoli's consolidation into Prentice's district. [13] The four remaining schools competed for one more season before disbanding the Flambeau League in 1970. Butternut and Glidden joined the Indianhead Conference, [14] Prentice became members of the Lakeland Conference [15] and Rib Lake was accepted into the Marawood Conference. [16]

Conference membership history

SchoolLocationAffiliation Enrollment MascotColorsJoinedLeftConference JoinedCurrent Conference
Butternut Butternut, WI Public57Midgets  1940 [1] [2] 1970 [14] Indianhead Northern Lights
Draper-Loretta Draper, WI PublicN/ABlue and Gold  1940 [1] [2] 1952 [4] Closed (consolidated into Winter)
Fifield Fifield, WI PublicN/AVikings  1940 [1] [2] 1962 [4] Closed (consolidated into Park Falls)
Glidden Glidden, WI PublicN/AVikings  1940 [1] [2] 1970 [14] Indianhead Closed in 2009 (merged into Chequamegon)
Tripoli Tripoli, WI PublicN/ATornadoes  1940 [1] [2] 1969 [13] Closed (consolidated into Prentice)
Winter Winter, WI Public86Warriors  1940 [1] [2] 1968 [12] Lakeland
Prentice Prentice, WI Public122Buccaneers  1943 [3] 1970 [15] Lakeland Marawood
Hawkins Hawkins, WI PublicN/AHawkeyes  1952 [5] [6] 1967 [11] Closed (consolidated into Ladysmith)
Ingram-Glen Flora Glen Flora, WI PublicN/ABluejays  1955 [8] 1961 [9] Closed (merged into Flambeau)
Rib Lake Rib Lake, WI Public132Redmen  1962 [10] 1970 [16] Marawood
Westboro Westboro, WI PublicN/ATrojans  1962 [10] 1967 [11] Closed (merged into Rib Lake)

Membership timeline

Flambeau League

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Open District Cage Play at Ashland Wednesday". Ironwood Daily Globe. 4 March 1941. p. 10. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Princess Pine. Winter, WI: Winter High School. 1942. p. 67.
  3. 1 2 "3-C Conference to Start Play Nov. 23". Marshfield News-Herald. 11 November 1943. p. 10. Retrieved 12 May 2025.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Rupnow, Chuck (12 October 1986). "School consolidations may affect alumni most". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. p. 6. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  5. 1 2 Hawkeye 1952-53. Hawkins High School. 1953. pp. 19–20.
  6. 1 2 "Holcombe Off To Slow Start, Drops 2nd Game in Week". Chippewa Herald-Telegram. 21 November 1952. p. 9. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  7. ↑ "Holcombe Chieftains Play Host to Hawkins". Chippewa Herald-Telegram. 12 December 1955. p. 8. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  8. 1 2 "Basketball (see Flambeauland - erroneously named but shows Flambeau League opponent)". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. 3 December 1955. p. 8. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  9. 1 2 "Turtle, Shell Lake Seek Lakeland Lead". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. 11 October 1961. p. 10. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  10. 1 2 3 "Cloverbelt, Marawood Open Conference Seasons Friday". Marshfield News-Herald. 15 November 1962. p. 17. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  11. 1 2 3 "Consolidation Cuts WIAA to 425 Schools". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. 7 September 1967. p. 14. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  12. 1 2 "Lakeland Loop Western Race Opens Tonight". Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. 6 December 1968. p. 16. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  13. 1 2 "Apportion Tripoli School District". Wausau Daily Herald. 18 July 1969. p. 9. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  14. 1 2 3 "Glidden Leads in Indianhead". Ironwood Daily Globe. 24 December 1970. p. 15. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  15. 1 2 "Holcombe, New Auburn set Lakeland schedule". Chippewa Herald-Telegram. 29 October 1970. p. 15. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
  16. 1 2 "Marawood Conference votes to enroll Nekoosa". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. 22 October 1969. p. 14. Retrieved 4 April 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.