7-C ConferenceThe 7-C Conference is a former high school athletic conference with its membership concentrated in central Wisconsin. It existed from 1926 to 1962, and its members belonged to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. History1926-1934The 7-C Conference was formed in 1926 as the Four-County Conference, named after the four counties where member schools were located (Adams, Marquette, Portage and Waushara). It was initially made up of eleven small schools located in central Wisconsin: Almond, Coloma, Friendship, Hancock, Montello, Oxford, Plainfield, Redgranite, Wautoma, Westfield and Wild Rose.[1] In 1929, Friendship High School merged with neighboring Adams High School to form the new Adams-Friendship High School, which retained Friendship's membership in the conference.[2] That same year, the Four-County Conference added Neshkoro and Princeton to bring membership to thirteen schools.[3] Despite the expansion into Green Lake County, the league did not change its name. Green Lake and Omro joined the 4-C Conference in 1931, and Winneconne became members of the conference in 1932. That same year, the conference's name was changed to the 6-C Conference, representing its expanded geographic footprint:[4]
1934-1942In 1934 the conference renamed itself the 7-C Conference because of the expansion into Wood County, adding Markesan to the Little 7-C[5] and Port Edwards (formerly of the Wood County League) to the Big 7-C.[6] Winneconne left to join the Little Nine Conference in 1935,[7] and in 1937, the 7-C Conference realigned itself by geography instead of enrollment size:[8]
Endeavor joined the 7-C Conference in 1938 as its eighteenth overall member, and was assigned to the Northern 7-C.[12] In 1940, Wild Rose moved back to the Eastern 7-C after Omro's exit from the conference:[13]
1942-1946In 1942, the 7-C Conference disbanded for basketball because of wartime travel issues.[14] The conference was revived for the 1943-44 school year, albeit with a reduced grouping of Adams-Friendship, Almond, Hancock, Plainfield, Port Edwards, Wautoma and Westfield.[15] Former conference member Montello returned to the 7-C in 1944[16] along with several other schools, and the league split into two divisions by school enrollment size:
In 1945, the league welcomed back former members Omro and Wild Rose after the end of World War II.[20] These two schools, along with Green Lake from the Little 7-C, were placed into the Big 7-C. The Little 7-C was left with five members following Green Lake's move and Markesan joining the Dual County Conference.[21] The 7-C Conference also began sponsoring football with four conference members participating: Adams-Friendship, Omro, Wautoma and Westfield.[22][23] Neshkoro was reinstated as a sixth member to the Little 7-C before the start of league competition, and the 7-C started the 1945-46 season with a sixteen-member roster:[24]
1946-1962After the end of World War II, the 7-C Conference began to lose members to school district consolidation. Coloma was the first to leave the conference for this reason, with their district folded into Westfield in 1946.[26] To offset this loss, the Little 7-C added former members Redgranite and Wild Rose after the latter's shift from the Big 7-C.[27] The next year, Hancock and Plainfield merged to form the new Tri-County High School in Plainfield.[28] Almond moved over from the Big 7-C as their replacement.[29] In 1948, the 7-C Conference lost two high schools to consolidation: Neshkoro (redistricted to Westfield)[30] and Redgranite (redistricted to Berlin and Wautoma).[31] In 1951, Endeavor High School closed its doors when it was consolidated into Oxford.[32] That same year, Green Lake of the Big 7-C joined the four Little 7-C schools in seceding from the conference to form the new Central Lakes Conference.[33][34] The seven members of what was formerly known as the Big 7-C continued on until Omro left to join the Little Nine Conference in 1956.[35] Membership was whittled down to five schools in 1958 when Port Edwards left to join the Central Lakes Conference.[36] Montello joined the Dual County Conference in 1961,[37] further decreasing conference membership to four schools. Due in part to the rapid decline in membership, the 7-C Conference ceased operations in 1962. Three of its former members (Adams-Friendship, Tri-County and Westfield) aligned with the five Central Lakes Conference schools and Madonna High School in Mauston to form the new Central-C Conference.[38] The fourth school (Wautoma) joined the Central Wisconsin Conference[39] in the aftermath of the 7-C Conference's demise. Conference membership history
Membership timelineFull members Big 4-C/6-C/7-C Little 4-C/6-C/7-C Eastern 7-C Northern 7-C Western 7-C Football members List of state championsFall sportsNone Winter sportsNone Spring sports
List of conference championsBoys Basketball
Football
References
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