Madison Suburban Conference

The Madison Suburban Conference is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin, founded in 1926 and ending competition in 1969. Its members were located in south central Wisconsin, predominantly around the Madison area.

History

1926-1952

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Location of Original Madison Suburban Conference Members

The Madison Suburban Conference formed in 1926 by ten schools in and around Dane County that were smaller in enrollment than those in the city of Madison: Cambridge, Deerfield, DeForest, Lodi, Marshall, Middleton, Oregon, Sun Prairie, Verona and Waterloo.^[1][2] It was subdivided into Eastern and Western sections after the first season of competition:^[3]

Eastern Section	Western Section
Cambridge	DeForest
Deerfield	Lodi
Marshall	Middleton
Sun Prairie	Oregon
Waterloo	Verona

In 1930, the Madison Suburban Conference began sponsorship of football with Cambridge, Lodi, Middleton and Sun Prairie as their original membership roster.^[4] Divisions were eliminated in basketball for the 1931-32 season,^[5] and Lodi left the conference for the Tri-County League at that season’s conclusion.^[6] Johnson Creek joined the conference in 1935 after moving over from the Little Five Conference, having won all six basketball titles during that conference’s history.^[7] The Madison Suburban Conference accepted its first football-only member in 1941 when Blanchardville, whose primary affiliation was with the State Line League, joined the conference.^[8] They remained a member until after the 1949 season, when they switched to eight-man football and joined the State Line League.^[9]

1952-1963

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Location of Madison Suburban Conference Members (1955-1963):

Growth in the Madison area during the post-war years accompanied some substantial shifts with the athletic conferences in south central Wisconsin. Middleton exited the Madison Suburban Conference in 1952 to join the new Badger Conference,^[10] and Juneau joined the following year after the break-up of the 4-C Conference.^[11] Verona left in 1954 to join the Tri-County League,^[12] and in 1955 the conference would add three schools that left the Badger Conference: Evansville, Lake Mills and Milton.^[13]

1963-1969

In 1963, the high school athletic conferences in the Madison area went through another period of significant realignment.^[14] Sun Prairie left the conference to join the Badger Conference that year,^[15] and their place was immediately taken by the new high school in McFarland.^[16] The conference also absorbed the former Tri-County League, which had been reduced from ten to six schools^[17] due to a series of consolidations and the defection of Sauk Prairie High School to the South Central Conference.^[18] Former members Lodi and Verona rejoined the conference, and they were accompanied by Poynette, River Valley in Spring Green, Waunakee and Wisconsin Heights in Mazomanie.^[19] In order to accommodate the new schools, the Madison Suburban Conference was subdivided into three sections of six schools each:^[20]

Central Section	Eastern Section	Western Section
DeForest	Cambridge	Lodi
Evansville	Deerfield	Poynette
Lake Mills	Johnson Creek	River Valley
Milton	Juneau	Verona
Oregon	Marshall	Waunakee
Waterloo	McFarland	Wisconsin Heights

The Madison Suburban Conference's absorption of both the Tri-County League and the football-only Southern Dairyland Conference (of which Deerfield, Johnson Creek and Marshall were members)^[21] meant all members of the Madison Suburban Conference participated in football for the first time in its history.^[22] River Valley would leave after only one season in the conference to join the Southwest Wisconsin Activities League, and their place was taken by Lakeside Lutheran High School in Lake Mills. They joined the Eastern Section with McFarland moving over to the Western Section:^[23]

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Location of Final Madison Suburban Conference Members:

Central Section	Eastern Section	Western Section
DeForest	Cambridge	Lodi
Evansville	Deerfield	McFarland
Lake Mills	Johnson Creek	Poynette
Milton	Juneau	Verona
Oregon	Lakeside Lutheran	Waunakee
Waterloo	Marshall	Wisconsin Heights

In the long term, this level of growth proved to be unsustainable and in 1969, the Madison Suburban Conference split up into three separate conferences,^[24] predominantly along the final sectional alignment. All six schools in the Western Section (along with DeForest and Waterloo from the Central Section) formed the Capitol Conference,^[25] the six schools in the Eastern Section (along with Palmyra and Queen of Apostles in Madison) formed the Eastern Suburban Conference, and the four remaining schools in the Central Section (along with Beloit Turner and Clinton) formed the Central Suburban Conference.^[26]

Conference membership history

Full members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Joined	Left	Conference Joined	Current Conference
Cambridge	Cambridge, WI	Public	266	Bluejays		1926	1969	Eastern Suburban	Capitol
Deerfield	Deerfield, WI	Public	216	Demons		1926	1969	Eastern Suburban	Trailways
DeForest	DeForest, WI	Public	1,093	Norskies		1926	1969	Capitol	Badger
Lodi	Lodi, WI	Public	451	Blue Devils		1926, 1963	1932, 1969	Tri-County, Capitol	Capitol
Marshall	Marshall, WI	Public	292	Cardinals		1926	1969	Eastern Suburban	Capitol
Middleton	Middleton, WI	Public	2,357	Cardinals		1926	1952	Badger	Big Eight
Oregon	Oregon, WI	Public	1,248	Panthers[a]		1926	1969	Central Suburban	Badger
Sun Prairie[b]	Sun Prairie, WI	Public	1,239	Cardinals		1926	1963	Badger	Big Eight
Verona	Verona, WI	Public	1,801	Wildcats[c]		1926, 1963	1954, 1969	Tri-County, Capitol	Big Eight
Waterloo	Waterloo, WI	Public	259	Pirates		1926	1969	Capitol	Capitol
Johnson Creek	Johnson Creek, WI	Public	180	Bluejays		1935	1969	Eastern Suburban	Trailways
Juneau	Juneau, WI	Public	278[d]	Chiefs		1953	1969	Eastern Suburban[e]	Trailways
Evansville	Evansville, WI	Public	507	Blue Devils		1955	1969	Central Suburban	Rock Valley
Lake Mills	Lake Mills, WI	Public	491	L-Cats		1955	1969	Central Suburban	Capitol
Milton	Milton, WI	Public	1,059	RedHawks[f]		1955	1969	Central Suburban	Badger
McFarland	McFarland, WI	Public	774	Spartans		1963	1969	Capitol	Badger
Poynette	Poynette, WI	Public	310	Indians		1963	1969	Capitol	Capitol
River Valley	Spring Green, WI	Public	389	Blackhawks		1963	1964	SWAL	Southwest Wisconsin
Waunakee	Waunakee, WI	Public	1,309	Warriors		1963	1969	Capitol	Badger
Wisconsin Heights	Mazomanie, WI	Public	228	Vanguards		1963	1969	Capitol	Capitol
Lakeside Lutheran	Lake Mills, WI	Private (WELS)	506	Warriors		1964	1969	Eastern Suburban	Capitol

Notes

1. Nickname was Orioles prior to 1963
2. Known as Sun Prairie High School prior to 2022
3. Nickname was Indians prior to 1992
4. Enrollment figure shown is for Dodgeland High School
5. Athletics program merged with Lowell-Reeseville in 1969, schools merged in 1970 to form Dodgeland High School
6. Nickname was Redmen prior to 1999

Football-only members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Seasons	Primary Conference
Blanchardville	Blanchardville, WI	Public	N/A	Golden Eagles		1941-1949[8][9]	State Line

Membership timeline

Full members

 Eastern Section  Western Section  Central Section

Football members

 Central Section  Eastern Section  Western Section

List of state champions

Fall sports

None

Winter sports

Curling

School	Year	Division
Poynette	1966	Single Division

Spring sports

None

List of conference champions

Boys Basketball

School	Quantity	Years
Marshall	10	1928, 1929, 1937, 1944, 1948, 1950, 1953, 1958, 1968, 1969
Sun Prairie	10	1930, 1931, 1932, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960
Oregon	7	1934, 1939, 1945, 1956, 1960, 1961, 1962
Waterloo	7	1933, 1935, 1938, 1944, 1956, 1963, 1964
Johnson Creek	6	1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1944, 1964
Middleton	5	1927, 1928, 1935, 1936, 1937
Juneau	4	1954, 1956, 1965, 1966
Lodi	4	1928, 1929, 1964, 1966
DeForest	3	1930, 1931, 1968
Lake Mills	3	1965, 1967, 1968
McFarland	3	1967, 1968, 1969
Verona	3	1947, 1949, 1954
Cambridge	2	1946, 1960
Deerfield	2	1966, 1967
Milton	2	1956, 1966
Evansville	1	1969
Poynette	1	1965
Waunakee	1	1969
Lakeside Lutheran	0
River Valley	0
Wisconsin Heights	0

Football

School	Quantity	Years
Sun Prairie	15	1930, 1931, 1941, 1942, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962
Middleton	7	1930, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1945, 1946
Cambridge	6	1933, 1934, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947
Milton	5	1957, 1959, 1965, 1966, 1968
Johnson Creek	3	1952, 1954, 1963
Oregon	3	1944, 1961, 1964
Poynette	3	1965, 1966, 1968
Deerfield	2	1965, 1968
DeForest	2	1956, 1957
Juneau	2	1964, 1967
Lake Mills	2	1963, 1967
Lodi	2	1963, 1966
McFarland	2	1964, 1968
Waunakee	2	1965, 1967
Blanchardville	1	1942
Marshall	1	1966
Waterloo	1	1940
Evansville	0
Lakeside Lutheran	0
River Valley	0
Verona	0
Wisconsin Heights	0