History
The Tri-County League began in 1923 as an oratorical and forensics conference between five small high schools in south central Wisconsin: Arena, Black Earth, Mazomanie, Prairie du Sac and Sauk City. [1] These five schools were concentrated in the lower Wisconsin River Valley across three counties: Dane, Iowa and Sauk. The loop began sponsorship of athletic competition in 1926, [2] and in 1928 added two new members: Spring Green and Waunakee. [3] The Tri-County League started sponsorship of eleven-man football in 1930 with four members: Arena, Mazomanie, Sauk City and Spring Green. [4] [5] Lodi joined the Tri-County League in 1932 from the Madison Suburban Conference, [6] [7] and the conference maintained a steady eight-school roster for the next two decades. Poynette and Verona joined from the Dual County and Madison Suburban Conferences in 1954, [8] bringing conference membership to ten schools.
Over the next decade, consolidation of rural school districts in south central Wisconsin hit Tri-County League membership hard, leading to its eventual demise. In 1962, River Valley High School was created from the consolidation of high schools in Spring Green, Arena and Lone Rock. [9] They took the place of Arena and Spring Green in the conference. The next year, two new school districts affecting Tri-County League membership were created: Sauk Prairie (from Prairie du Sac and Sauk City) and Wisconsin Heights (from Black Earth and Mazomanie). [10] The new Sauk Prairie High School joined the South Central Conference in the same year it was created, [11] leaving only six schools in the conference for the 1963-64 school year. Because of the decline in member schools, the Tri-County League merged with the Madison Suburban Conference, with all six schools (Lodi, Poynette, River Valley, Verona, Waunakee, and Wisconsin Heights) comprising the Western Section of the conference. [12]
