Kettle Moraine Conference

The Kettle Moraine Conference is a former high school athletic conference with its membership concentrated in Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine region. It existed from 1928 to 1969 and all public school members were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

The Kettle Moraine Conference was formed in 1928 by five small high schools in Sheboygan and Ozaukee Counties: Grafton, Howards Grove, Oostburg, Random Lake and Waldo.^[1][2] Glenbeulah High School would join in 1929^[3] from the Fox Valley Tri-County League, and Howards Grove would leave the conference a year later.^[4] Cedar Grove joined the Kettle Moraine Conference in 1931, bringing conference membership to six schools.^[5] It would remain at six when Howards Grove made their return to the Kettle Moraine Conference in 1934, replacing Glenbeulah, who exited the conference that year.^[6] Glenbeulah would return in 1939,^[7] and the conference would continue as a seven-member circuit for fifteen years. Stockbridge High School joined in 1954, bringing membership to its highest total of eight schools.^[8]

In 1957, the Kettle Moraine Conference lost Glenbeulah after their school district consolidated with Elkhart Lake,^[9] with the new Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah High School remaining in the Eastern Wisconsin Conference.^[10] Grafton would leave the next year to join the new Scenic Moraine Conference,^[11] decreasing membership to six schools. In 1960, Oostburg left to join the Eastern Wisconsin Conference^[12] and Random Lake followed Grafton into the Scenic Moraine Conference.^[13] Oostburg would play one more football season in the Kettle Moraine before joining the EWC for football in 1961.^[14] The Kettle Moraine Conference would play for two seasons as a four-member loop before Waldo High School closed after consolidation with Sheboygan Falls in 1962.^[15] In 1963, Cedar Grove and Howards Grove tentatively reached an agreement to join the Eastern Wisconsin Conference, only to have it reversed a few months later.^[16]

After the EWC's rejection of Cedar Grove and Howards Grove, the three remaining schools accepted St. Gregory High School, a Catholic high school in St. Nazianz into the conference to bring the loop to four members.^[17] Manitowoc Lutheran entered the Kettle Moraine Conference as its fifth member school in 1964 after the cessation of the Badger Lutheran Conference.^[18] In 1965, Cedar Grove became members of the Eastern Wisconsin Conference, two years after its initial application for membership was rejected.^[19] They were replaced by the new Ozaukee High School in Fredonia, marking their first conference affiliation.^[20] In 1967, Manitowoc Lutheran left the Kettle Moraine Conference for membership in the Peninsula Conference.^[21] Another Manitowoc-based private high school (Roncalli) replaced them as conference members for one season before joining the Fox Valley Catholic Conference in 1968.^[22] The Kettle Moraine Conference was disbanded in 1969, with two of its former members (Howards Grove and Ozaukee) becoming charter members of the Central Lakeshore Conference.^[23] Stockbridge played one season as an independent before joining the new Bay-Lakes Conference in 1970,^[24] and St. Gregory closed shortly after the conference's dissolution.^[25]

Due to the small size of its member schools, the Kettle Moraine Conference did not sponsor football until 1951, when three schools (Grafton, Oostburg and Random Lake)^[26] participated in six-man football. Waldo started its own football team the next year, bringing the football group to four schools for the next three seasons.^[27] League play was interrupted from 1955 to 1957 as the Kettle Moraine Conference sponsored fall baseball instead of football,^[28][29][30] as they had previously done in the years after World War II.^[31] Football returned to the conference's athletic offerings in 1958, this time in the normal eleven-player format with four schools participating (Grafton, Oostburg, Random Lake and Waldo).^[32] Grafton played one season as a football-only member of the conference, leaving to align fully with the Scenic Moraine Conference starting with the 1958-59 winter sports season. After Grafton's departure, Cedar Grove and Howards Grove entered conference play, with Howards Grove sponsoring football for the first time.^[33][34] Random Lake's departure for the Scenic Moraine Conference in 1960 decreased football membership to four schools,^[35] with Oostburg playing one last season as a football-only member before departing for membership in the Eastern Wisconsin Conference. Their place would be filled by Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah (whose primary affiliation was with the EWC) for the 1961 season.^[36] Membership was whittled down to three football-playing members with Waldo High School's 1962 closing.^[15] Elkhart Lake's departure the next year led to suspension of football sponsorship for the 1963 season due to lack of teams.^[37] Football returned in 1964, with new conference members Manitowoc Lutheran and Stockbridge joining Cedar Grove and Howards Grove to create a four-team loop.^[38] In 1965, Cedar Grove left to join the Eastern Wisconsin Conference, with new conference members Ozaukee replacing them.^[20] This alignment would continue until Manitowoc Lutheran's exit to join the Peninsula Conference in 1967, with Roncalli replacing them for one season before joining the Fox Valley Catholic Conference in 1968.^[22] The 1967 season would be the conference's last before completely dissolving after the 1968-69 school year.^[23]