Southeastern Wisconsin Conference

The Southeastern Wisconsin Conference is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin, operating from 1928 to 1963. All but one of its member schools belonged to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

1929-1953

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Location of Original Southeastern Wisconsin Conference Members

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Location of Southeastern Wisconsin Conference Members (1934-1935)

The Southeastern Wisconsin Conference was formed for the 1928-29 school year by six high schools in southeastern Wisconsin: Clinton, Genoa City, Palmyra, Waterford, Williams Bay and Wilmot Union.^[1] These were smaller schools than those in the Southern Five Conference, which covered roughly the same geographical area. In 1930, Union Grove and Walworth joined the conference, and with Palmyra's departure the conference now had seven members.^[2] Palmyra rejoined the conference in 1932, and overall membership expanded to ten with the addition of Darien and Norris Foundation in Mukwonago.^[3] Mukwonago and Racine County Agricultural in Rochester joined the Southeastern in 1934, and the league subdivided into Eastern and Western Sections of six schools each:^[4]

Eastern Section	Western Section
Mukwonago	Clinton
Norris Foundation	Darien
Rochester Aggies	Genoa City
Union Grove	Palmyra
Waterford	Walworth
Wilmot Union	Williams Bay

Walworth left to join the Southern Five Conference in 1935, with Palmyra leaving a year later^[5] and Wilmot moving to the conference's Western Section. In 1937, Clinton, Darien, Genoa City and Williams Bay would leave the Southeastern to form the Southern Regional Conference along with Capron (now North Boone) High School in Illinois.^[6] East Troy joined the remaining six schools in the Southeastern to create a seven-member circuit for the 1937-38 school year.^[7] The Southeastern Wisconsin Conference began sponsorship of football that season, with six of the seven members coming over from the disbanded Lower Fox Conference, a football-only circuit that had been in existence since 1933.^[8][9] Membership would continue in this configuration for sixteen years (with Walworth joining as a football-only member in 1947)^[10] before East Troy, Mukwonago and Wilmot left to join the new Southern Lakes Conference in 1953.^[11] They were replaced by Hartland, Pewaukee and Slinger, who were left without a conference after the dissolution of the 4-C Conference.^[12]

1953-1963

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Location of Southeastern Wisconsin Conference Members (1953-1956)

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Location of Final Southeastern Wisconsin Conference Members

The far-flung geographic footprint of conference membership ushered in a volatile period of changes during the Southeastern Wisconsin Conference's final decade. Hartland High School was closed in 1956 and replaced by Arrowhead High School,^[13] who took Hartland's place in the conference.^[14] Slinger left to join the new Scenic Moraine Conference in 1958,^[15] and they were replaced by three returning members and one newcomer. Big Foot, Clinton and Palmyra were left without a conference after consolidation and closings whittled away membership of the Southern Regional Conference, and they rejoined the Southeastern in 1958.^[16] That same year, Salem Central (now Westosha Central) High School joined the Southeastern after dealing with their own issues with long travel distances as members of the Braveland Conference.^[17] In 1959, the Southeastern lost three schools: Arrowhead to the Little Ten, Pewaukee to the Scenic Moraine, and Racine County Agricultural to the school's closing. Pewaukee remained in the Southeastern as a football-only member for the 1959 season before their full membership in the Scenic Moraine started with the winter sports season.^[18] Williams Bay rejoined the conference that year after leaving the Southern Wisconsin Private Schools (SWAPS) Conference to bring membership to eight schools.^[19] Two years later, Big Foot left to join the Southern Lakes Conference, and their place was taken by St. Mary's (now Catholic Central) High School in Burlington, the only private school ever to play in the conference.^[20]

Epilogue

The Southeastern Conference ended operations in 1963. Four of its members (Salem Central, St. Mary's, Union Grove and Waterford) formed the new Southeastern Badger Conference,^[21] while the other four (Clinton, Norris Foundation, Palmyra and Williams Bay) joined with Northwestern Military and Naval Academy in Lake Geneva and Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delavan to form the Indian Trails Conference.^[22]

Conference membership history

Full members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Joined	Left	Conference Joined	Current Conference
Clinton	Clinton, WI	Public	359	Cougars		1928,[1] 1958[16]	1937,[6] 1963[22]	Southern Regional, Indian Trails	Capitol (2025)
Genoa City	Genoa City, WI	Public	N/A	Orioles		1928[1]	1937[6]	Southern Regional	Closed in 1958 (consolidated into Badger)
Palmyra	Palmyra, WI	Public	195	Panthers		1928,[1] 1958[16]	1936,[5] 1963[22]	Independent, Indian Trails	Trailways
Waterford	Waterford, WI	Public	958	Wolverines		1928[1]	1963[21]	Southeastern Badger	Southern Lakes
Williams Bay	Williams Bay, WI	Public	212	Bulldogs		1928,[1] 1959[19]	1937,[6] 1963[22]	Southern Regional, Indian Trails	Trailways
Wilmot Union	Wilmot, WI	Public	951	Panthers		1928[1]	1953[11]	Southern Lakes	Southern Lakes
Union Grove	Union Grove, WI	Public	1,049	Broncos		1930[2]	1963[21]	Southeastern Badger	Southern Lakes
Walworth	Walworth, WI	Public	N/A	Warriors		1930[2]	1935[5]	Independent	Closed in 1958 (consolidated into Big Foot)
Darien	Darien, WI	Public	N/A	Golden Eagles		1932[3]	1937[6]	Southern Regional	Closed in 1957 (consolidated into Delavan-Darien)
Norris Foundation	Mukwonago, WI	Public, Alternative	10[23]	Nors'men		1932[3]	1963[22]	Indian Trails	Dropped interscholastic athletics
Mukwonago	Mukwonago, WI	Public	1,619	Indians		1934[4]	1953[11]	Southern Lakes	Classic 8
Racine County Agricultural	Rochester, WI	Public	N/A	Aggies		1934[4]	1959[19]	Closed in 1959
East Troy	East Troy, WI	Public	504	Trojans		1937[7]	1953[11]	Southern Lakes	Rock Valley
Hartland	Hartland, WI	Public	N/A	Trojans		1953[12]	1956[13]	Closed in 1956
Pewaukee	Pewaukee, WI	Public	874	Pirates		1953[12]	1959[19]	Scenic Moraine	Woodland
Slinger	Slinger, WI	Public	1,052	Owls		1953[12]	1958[15]	Scenic Moraine	North Shore
Arrowhead	Hartland, WI	Public	2,076	Warhawks		1956[13][14]	1959[19]	Little Ten	Classic 8
Big Foot	Walworth, WI	Public	449	Chiefs		1958[16]	1961[20]	Southern Lakes	Rock Valley
Salem Central	Paddock Lake, WI	Public	1,220	Falcons		1958[17]	1963[21]	Southeastern Badger	Southern Lakes
St. Mary's	Burlington, WI	Private (Catholic)	128	Hilltoppers		1961[20]	1963[21]	Southeastern Badger	Midwest Classic

Football-only members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Seasons	Primary Conference
Walworth	Walworth, WI	Public	N/A	Warriors		1947-1957[10][16]	Southern Regional
Pewaukee	Pewaukee, WI	Public	874	Pirates		1959[18]	Scenic Moraine

Membership timeline

Full members

 Eastern Section Western Section

Football members

List of conference champions

Boys Basketball

School	Quantity	Years
Rochester Aggies	11	1935, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1946, 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1957
Wilmot Union	8	1932, 1933, 1943, 1944, 1947, 1948, 1950, 1951
Waterford	6	1929, 1930, 1932, 1944, 1945, 1963
Salem Central	4	1960, 1961, 1962, 1963
Arrowhead	3	1957, 1958, 1959
Mukwonago	3	1951, 1952, 1953
Union Grove	3	1934, 1935, 1945
Big Foot	2	1960, 1961
Clinton	2	1936, 1937
East Troy	1	1949
Hartland	1	1956
Norris Foundation	1	1935
Walworth	1	1935
Darien	0
Genoa City	0
Palmyra	0
Pewaukee	0
Slinger	0
St. Mary's	0
Williams Bay	0
Champions from 1931, 1936 (Eastern Section) and 1938 unknown

Football

School	Quantity	Years
Waterford	9	1938, 1939, 1943, 1944, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1962
Rochester Aggies	7	1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1953, 1956
Wilmot Union	4	1940, 1946, 1947, 1949
Mukwonago	3	1950, 1951, 1952
Union Grove	3	1948, 1954, 1961
East Troy	2	1945, 1948
Arrowhead	1	1958
Big Foot	0
Clinton	0
Hartland	0
Norris Foundation	0
Pewaukee	0
Salem Central	0
Slinger	0
St. Mary's	0
Walworth	0