Braveland Conference
The Braveland Conference is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin, formed in 1953 and ending competition in 1993. Its membership was concentrated in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and members were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
1953–1955
The Braveland Conference was formed in 1953 by four high schools in the outer suburbs of Milwaukee: Cedarburg, Menomonee Falls, Port Washington and Watertown. Cedarburg and Menomonee Falls had previously been members of the 4-C Conference, and Port Washington and Watertown competed independent of conference affiliation. It was formed after several failed attempts by the four original members to join the Little Ten Conference, dating back to the late 1940s. The Braveland Conference was named after the National League's Milwaukee Braves, who had just relocated from Boston a few months earlier.1955–1963
Due to the rapid growth around the Milwaukee area occurring after World War II, new school districts began to pop up in and around Milwaukee County. In 1955, Salem Central in western Kenosha County joined the conference, followed by Brookfield and Nicolet in 1956. Salem Central left in 1958 to join the Southeastern Wisconsin Conference and cut down on the long travel distances to Milwaukee’s northern suburbs that they had been experiencing as Braveland members. They were replaced by the new high schools in Granville and Muskego that same year. Oak Creek joined the conference in 1959, just as Watertown left to rejoin the Little Ten Conference. In 1961, the conference added six schools: Brookfield East, Greendale, Greenfield, Homestead, New Berlin and Whitnall. Brookfield East and New Berlin joined as junior varsity members before attaining full membership in 1962. To accommodate this growth, the conference split into two divisions.| Northern Braveland | Southern Braveland |
| Cedarburg | Brookfield Central |
| Granville | Greendale |
| Homestead | Greenfield |
| Menomonee Falls | Muskego |
| Nicolet | Oak Creek |
| Port Washington | Whitnall |
In 1962, Brookfield East and New Berlin joined as full members, and they were placed in the Southern Braveland. The newly renamed Brookfield Central shifted to the Northern Braveland to accommodate the expansion. Hamilton High School in Sussex joined that same year as a junior varsity member.
| Northern Braveland | Southern Braveland |
| Brookfield Central | Brookfield East |
| Cedarburg | Greendale |
| Granville | Greenfield |
| Homestead | Muskego |
| Menomonee Falls | New Berlin |
| Nicolet | Oak Creek |
| Port Washington | Whitnall |
1963–1980
The influx of new high schools in the Milwaukee area led both the Braveland and Suburban Conferences to begin discussing realignment options in the early 1960s. With three more high schools set to join as full members in 1963, conference leadership decided that a seventeen-member conference was too unwieldy to continue. The eight members in the southern suburbs left to form what later became the Parkland Conference: Franklin, Greendale, Greenfield, Muskego, New Berlin, Oak Creek, St. Francis and Whitnall. Their departure solidified the Braveland as a conference for the Milwaukee area's northern second-ring suburban schools. In 1966, Granville High School changed its name to Brown Deer High School, due in part to annexation of the formerly unincorporated town of Granville into the city of Milwaukee a few years earlier. Conference membership increased to ten in 1969 with the split of Menomonee Falls High School into Menomonee Falls East and Menomonee Falls North.1980–1985
After years of discussion on high school conference realignment without any sort of resolution, the WIAA presented a sweeping realignment plan for southeastern Wisconsin to take effect for the 1980-81 school year. Two conferences were dissolved and four of the thirteen displaced schools joined the Braveland, bringing membership to fourteen. Arrowhead, Germantown and Grafton joined from the Scenic Moraine and Kenosha Bradford from the South Shore. The Braveland Conference competed as a single division for most sports with the exception of football, which subdivided into two groups that were originally referred to Division A and Division B:| Division A | Division B |
| Arrowhead | Brown Deer |
| Brookfield Central | Cedarburg |
| Brookfield East | Germantown |
| Menomonee Falls East | Grafton |
| Menomonee Falls North | Homestead |
| Kenosha Bradford | Nicolet |
| Sussex Hamilton | Port Washington |
For the 1982 football season, Kenosha Bradford and Germantown swapped divisions, and Divisions A and B were renamed the West and East Divisions, respectively. In 1983, Kenosha Bradford left the Braveland Conference to join the Milwaukee Area Conference, and the next year, the two Menomonee Falls high schools merged to form a new Menomonee Falls High School on East's campus. The new school inherited their predecessors' membership in the Braveland Conference.
1985–1993
In 1985, another round of conference realignment had occurred in southeastern Wisconsin, and seven schools left the Braveland Conference. Brown Deer joined the Parkland Conference, and six schools left to form the North Shore Conference. Replacing the seven schools exiting the conference were Mukwonago from the Parkland Conference and Waukesha North and Waukesha South from the Suburban Conference. For the final eight years of the conference's existence, all of its member schools were located in Waukesha County.Epilogue
The Braveland Conference was realigned out of existence by the WIAA after the 1992-93 school year. Its four largest members joined the new fifteen-member Southeast Conference. The four smaller schools were dispersed to three different conferences: Brookfield Central and Brookfield East went to the new Woodland Conference, and Menomonee Falls and Sussex Hamilton went to the North Shore and Parkland Conferences, respectively. Waukesha West High School was slated to become a member of the Braveland when they opened in 1993, but the conference had been disbanded by that time and they joined the Southeast Conference.Conference membership history
Final members
Previous members
Membership timeline
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bar:1 color:tan1 from:1953 till:1961 text:Cedarburg
bar:1 color:blue from:1961 till:1963 text:
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1985 text:
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1953 till:1961 text:Menomonee Falls
bar:2 color:blue from:1961 till:1963 text:
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1969 text:
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1969 till:1984 text:Menomonee Falls North
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1953 till:1961 text:Port Washington
bar:3 color:blue from:1961 till:1963 text:
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1985 text:
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1953 till:1959 text:Watertown
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1955 till:1958 text:Salem Central
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1993 text:Brookfield, Brookfield Central
bar:6 color:skyblue from:1961 till:1962 text:
bar:6 color:blue from:1962 till:1963 text:
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1993 text:
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1956 till:1961 text:Nicolet
bar:7 color:blue from:1961 till:1963 text:
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1985 text:
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1958 till:1961 text:Granville
bar:8 color:blue from:1961 till:1963 text:
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1966 text:
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1966 till:1985 text:Brown Deer
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1958 till:1961 text:Muskego
bar:9 color:skyblue from:1961 till:1963 text:
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1959 till:1961 text:Oak Creek
bar:10 color:skyblue from:1961 till:1963 text:
bar:11 color:tan2 from:1961 till:1962 text:Brookfield East
bar:11 color:skyblue from:1962 till:1963 text:
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1993 text:
bar:12 color:skyblue from:1961 till:1963 text:Greendale
bar:13 color:skyblue from:1961 till:1963 text:Greenfield
bar:14 color:blue from:1961 till:1963 text:Homestead
bar:14 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1985 text:
bar:15 color:tan2 from:1961 till:1962 text:New Berlin
bar:15 color:skyblue from:1962 till:1963 text:
bar:16 color:skyblue from:1961 till:1963 text:Whitnall
bar:17 color:tan2 from:1962 till:1963 text:Sussex Hamilton
bar:17 color:tan1 from:1963 till:1993 text:
bar:18 color:tan1 from:1969 till:1984 text:Menomonee Falls East
bar:19 color:tan1 from:1980 till:1993 text:Arrowhead
bar:20 color:tan1 from:1980 till:1985 text:Germantown
bar:21 color:tan1 from:1980 till:1985 text:Grafton
bar:22 color:tan1 from:1980 till:1983 text:Kenosha Bradford
bar:23 color:tan1 from:1984 till:1993 text:Menomonee Falls
bar:24 color:tan1 from:1985 till:1993 text:Mukwonago
bar:25 color:tan1 from:1985 till:1993 text:Waukesha North
bar:26 color:tan1 from:1985 till:1993 text:Waukesha South
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1953
List of state champions
Fall sports
| School | Year | Division |
| Waukesha North | 1992 | Division 1 |
| School | Year | Division |
| Nicolet | 1984 | Single Division |
| School | Year | Division |
| Nicolet | 1975 | Single Division |
| Nicolet | 1976 | Single Division |
| Nicolet | 1977 | Single Division |
| Nicolet | 1978 | Single Division |
| Nicolet | 1980 | Single Division |
| Nicolet | 1981 | Single Division |
| Nicolet | 1982 | Single Division |
| Brookfield Central | 1983 | Single Division |
| Brookfield Central | 1984 | Single Division |
| Brookfield Central | 1985 | Single Division |
| Brookfield Central | 1986 | Single Division |
| Brookfield Central | 1987 | Single Division |
| Brookfield Central | 1991 | Single Division |