Fox Valley Catholic Conference

The Fox Valley Catholic Conference is a former high school athletic conference in northeastern Wisconsin. Founded in 1929, it was composed entirely of Catholic high schools and was succeeded by the Fox Valley Christian Conference in 1971. The conference and its member schools were affiliated with the Wisconsin Catholic Interscholastic Athletic Association from 1957 to 1968, and the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association from 1968 to 1971.

The Fox Valley Catholic Conference was formed in 1929 by seven parochial high schools within the Diocese of Green Bay: Cathedral in Green Bay, Our Lady of Lourdes in Marinette, St. John in Little Chute, St. Mary in Oshkosh, St. Mary Catholic in Neenah, St. Norbert in De Pere and St. Peter's in Oshkosh.^[1] Cathedral spent two seasons in the conference before leaving in 1931 to compete as an independent.^[2][3] St. Joseph of Marinette joined in 1932,^[4] but they only lasted one season in the conference before leaving.^[5] St. Mary left the Fox Valley Catholic Conference in 1935,^[6] but returned two years later, offsetting the loss of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1937.^[7] St. Joseph Indian School on the Menominee Indian reservation in Keshena joined the conference in 1939,^[8] and Our Lady of Lourdes and newcomers St. Mary's Springs joined the Fox Valley Catholic Conference in 1940.^[9] St. Mary's Springs was the only conference member not in the Green Bay diocese, as Fond du Lac County was part of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Green Bay Central Catholic joined the conference after opening in 1941,^[10] the same year that the two Catholic high schools in Oshkosh (St. Mary and St. Peter's) closed their doors.^[11][12]

In 1942, the Fox Valley Catholic Conference lost three additional members: Our Lady of Lourdes (for the second time), St. Joseph Indian and St. Mary's Springs.^[13] The conference continued with four active members for the next two years before Our Lady of Lourdes rejoined in 1944.^[14] St. Mary's Springs made their return in 1948, bringing membership back up to six schools.^[15] During the 1950s, several Fox Valley Catholic Conference schools went through name changes. Green Bay Central Catholic renamed itself Our Lady of Premontre when it was relocated from downtown to the west side of Green Bay in 1955,^[16] and two schools changed their names in 1959. Our Lady of Lourdes became Marinette Central Catholic when the city's Catholic schools were consolidated,^[17] and St. Norbert was changed to Abbot Pennings when it was moved into the old Nicolet High School building in De Pere.^[18]

In 1961, membership in the Fox Valley Catholic Conference increased to eight schools with the addition of Lourdes Academy in Oshkosh and Xavier in Appleton.^[19] Roncalli High School in Manitowoc became the conference's ninth member in 1968 after a one-year stint in the WIAA's Kettle Moraine Conference.^[20] The conference continued with this lineup until it was ended in 1971, when the first non-Catholic member was accepted into the group (Fox Valley Lutheran in Appleton) and the new conference christened itself the Fox Valley Christian Conference in recognition.^[21]