Southern Five Conference

The Southern Five Conference is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin. Its membership was concentrated in southeastern Wisconsin and was in existence from 1928 to 1946. All members were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

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Location of Original Southern Five Conference Members

The Southern Five Conference, alternatively known as the Little Five Conference^[1] and the Southern State Conference^[2] during its history, was formed in 1928 by a group of five medium-sized high schools in Racine and Walworth Counties: Burlington, Delavan (now Delavan-Darien), Elkhorn, Lake Geneva and Whitewater Normal.^[3] The addition of Walworth to the conference, first as a football-only member in 1932 and for all sports in 1935 brought the membership roster to its high of six schools.^[4] They would only last two more seasons as conference members,^[5] and the ledger experienced a net decrease to five schools with Whitewater Normal and Whitewater of the Rock River Valley League swapping affiliations.^[6] Competition lasted for eighteen years before the members of the Southern Five joined with three IHSA-affiliated high schools in neighboring McHenry County, Illinois (Harvard, Marengo and McHenry) to form the Southern Wisconsin-Northern Illinois Conference, more commonly known as the SWANI Conference, in 1946.^[7]

Conference membership history

Full members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Nickname	Colors	Joined	Left	Conference Joined	Current Conference
Burlington	Burlington, WI	Public	1,001	Demons		1928[3]	1946[7]	SWANI	Southern Lakes
Delavan	Delavan, WI	Public	628	Comets		1928[3]	1946[7]	SWANI	Rock Valley
Elkhorn	Elkhorn, WI	Public	1,142	Elks		1928[3]	1946[7]	SWANI	Southern Lakes
Lake Geneva	Lake Geneva, WI	Public	N/A	Resorters		1928[3]	1946[7]	SWANI	Closed in 1958 (consolidated into Badger)
Whitewater Normal	Whitewater, WI	Public (Lab school)	N/A	Quakers, Preps		1928[3]	1937[5]	Rock River Valley	Closed in 1959
Walworth	Walworth, WI	Public	N/A	Warriors		1935[4]	1937[5]	Independent	Closed in 1958 (consolidated into Big Foot)
Whitewater	Whitewater, WI	Public	606	Quakers		1937[5]	1946[7]	SWANI	Capitol (2025)

Football-only members

School	Location	Affiliation	Enrollment	Mascot	Colors	Seasons	Primary Conference
Walworth	Walworth, WI	Public	N/A	Warriors		1932-1934[4][5]	Southeastern Wisconsin

Membership timeline

List of conference champions

Boys Basketball

School	Quantity	Years
Delavan	8	1930, 1932, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1941, 1942
Burlington	7	1931, 1932, 1933, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1944
Elkhorn	3	1929, 1945, 1946
Lake Geneva	2	1935, 1943
Whitewater	1	1940
Walworth	0
Whitewater Normal	0

Football

School	Quantity	Years
Lake Geneva	6	1933, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1941, 1945
Burlington	4	1932, 1935, 1943, 1944
Delavan	3	1929, 1939, 1942
Elkhorn	3	1928, 1930, 1931
Walworth	1	1934
Whitewater	1	1940
Whitewater Normal	0