Flyway Conference

The Flyway Conference is a former high school athletic conference with its membership concentrated in east central Wisconsin. Founded in 1970 and disbanded in 2001, all of its members were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

The Flyway Conference was formed in 1970 by seven small- to medium-sized high schools in the lower Fox River Valley in east central Wisconsin.^[1] Three schools came from the disbanded Fox Valley Tri-County League (Laconia, Lomira and Oakfield), two joined from the Scenic Moraine Conference (Campbellsport and North Fond du Lac), and one school each came from the Eastern Suburban Conference (Dodgeland) and the Little Ten Conference (Horicon) after the latter's dissolution.^[2] Membership remained relatively stable through the history of the conference with few changes in the conference's first decade. Markesan joined the Flyway in 1977 to create an eight-member circuit,^[3] and in 1980, Dodgeland left to rejoin the Eastern Suburban Conference with Mayville taking its place from the Scenic Moraine Conference.^[4] With the exception of Oakfield joining the Central Lakeshore Conference as a football-only member in 1987^[5] and Wautoma's entry as a football-only member in 1995,^[6] the Flyway Conference continued as an eight-school loop for nineteen seasons before any further realignment for most sports.

In 1999, two schools left to join the East Central Conference (Laconia and Markesan) along with Campbellsport's departure to the Eastern Wisconsin Conference. To counter the losses, four private schools joined as a result of the pending WIAA/WISAA merger set to be finalized in 2000. Three schools joined from the Midwest Classic Conference (Central Wisconsin Christian in Waupun, St. Lawrence Seminary in Mount Calvary and Winnebago Lutheran Academy in Fond du Lac) and St. Mary's Springs Academy in Fond du Lac joined from the former Fox Valley Christian Conference.^[7] Laconia and Markesan stayed on as football-only members for the last two seasons of the conference to counter the loss of Mayville and St. Mary's Springs to the East Central Conference for that sport.^[8] 2001 saw the end of the Flyway Conference as the merger agreement originally reached two years prior with the East Central Conference was finalized. The East Central Flyway Conference would begin play in the 2001-02 school year.^[9]