I-W League
The I-W League is a former high school athletic conference in southwestern Wisconsin. It was founded in 1960 and dissolved in 1964, and the league and its members were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
History
The I-W League, also known by its official name of the Iowa County-Wisconsin River League, was formed in 1960 from the merger of two previously established conferences: the Iowa County League and the Wisconsin River League. These two conferences were losing members rapidly due to consolidation of rural school districts, and joined forces to continue interscholastic league competition. Ironically, the very same reason this league was created also contributed to its eventual demise. Basketball was the first sport sponsored by the new league, and eight-player football was sponsored for the first time in 1961 with all members participating except for Ridgeway. In 1962, the I-W League lost both Lone Rock and Ridgeway to consolidation. Lone Rock merged with Arena and Spring Green to create the River [Valley High School (Spring Green, Wisconsin)|River Valley] district, and Ridgeway was folded into Dodgeville's school district. Additionally, three football members joined from the Kickapoo Valley League that fall: Gays Mills, La Farge and Seneca Their time as football-only members was short-lived, as all three schools returned to the Kickapoo Valley League for the 1963 season. The I-W League also lost two more members in 1963, as Highland and Weston left to join the Black Hawk League and Scenic Central Conference, respectively. Left with only five members, the conference continued for one more season before Muscoda left to join the Southwest [Wisconsin Activities League|Southwest Wisconsin Athletic League] in 1964. The I-W League ended operations in later that year when two of its members joined the Kickapoo Valley League. The two remaining schools competed as independents for a season before following their I-W League brethren into the Kickapoo Valley League for 1965.Conference membership history
Final members
Previous members
Football-only members
Membership timeline
Full members
DateFormat = yyyy
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1960 till:1964 text:Barneveld
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1960 till:1964 text:Blue River
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1960 till:1963 text:Highland
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1960 till:1964 text:Hollandale
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1960 till:1964 text:Ithaca
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1960 till:1962 text:Lone Rock
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1960 till:1964 text:Muscoda
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1960 till:1962 text:Ridgeway
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1960 till:1963 text:Weston
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Football members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1961 till:1964
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bar:1 color:lavender from:1961 till:1964 text:Barneveld
bar:2 color:lavender from:1961 till:1964 text:Blue River
bar:3 color:lavender from:1961 till:1963 text:Highland
bar:4 color:lavender from:1961 till:1964 text:Hollandale
bar:5 color:lavender from:1961 till:1964 text:Ithaca
bar:6 color:lavender from:1961 till:1962 text:Lone Rock
bar:7 color:lavender from:1961 till:1964 text:Muscoda
bar:8 color:lavender from:1961 till:1964 text:Weston
bar:9 color:lavender from:1962 till:1963 text:Gays Mills
bar:10 color:lavender from:1962 till:1963 text:La Farge
bar:11 color:lavender from:1962 till:1963 text:Seneca
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