North Central Conference (Iowa)
The North Central Conference is an eight-team high school athletic conference based in North Central Iowa. The conference's membership is 3A, 2A, and sometimes even 1A. The conference dates to 1930 and has a long tradition together and many intense rivalries.
For many years, the North Central Conference was an eight-team league. Schools from Algona, Clarion, Clear Lake, Eagle Grove, Hampton, Humboldt, Iowa Falls, and Webster City competed in the conference. In the 1980s, Hampton and Clarion both began whole grade-sharing with smaller neighboring districts. The districts reorganized into Hampton–Dumont and Clarion–Goldfield, respectively.
In 1993–94, the league expanded to include two of the region's strongest Catholic schools: Bishop Garrigan of Algona and St. Edmond of Fort Dodge.
Iowa Falls and Alden began whole grade-sharing in 2004, as did Clarion–Goldfield and Dows in 2005. Clarion–Goldfield and Dows consolidated into Clarion–Goldfield–Dows in 2014.
Humboldt and Twin Rivers began whole grade-sharing in 2012. Algona and Titonka began whole grade-sharing in 2012 and consolidated in 2014, and Lu Verne began whole grade-sharing with Algona in 2015. Webster City and Northeast Hamilton will begin a whole grade-sharing agreement in 2015 as well.
Despite the deep roots the member schools have with the conference, the disparity in the size of conference schools has recently become a pressing issue for league members. CAL is looking at potentially beginning whole grade-sharing with Hampton–Dumont in 2018.
In October 2012, Bishop Garrigan Catholic looked at moving to the North Iowa Conference. In December 2012, NIC accepted Bishop Garrigan's request to join their conference and the move became official in 2014.
On Monday, December 10, 2012, the Eagle Grove Community School Board voted in favor of applying for North Iowa Conference membership. This was approved by the North Iowa Conference. Clarion–Goldfield–Dows has also been involved in discussions with the NIC, however no action was taken by CGD. Other NCC member institutions such as Iowa Falls-Alden, Hampton–Dumont, and St. Edmond have also suggested possible interest in leaving the NCC.
In February, the NCC superintendents approved on 9–0 and 8–0 votes to move to divisional play. There will be a large school division and a small school division, determined by enrollment. In basketball, baseball, and softball, teams will play schools in their own division twice and schools in the other division twice as well. It is hoped that this will not only hold the remaining eight teams of the NCC together, but also attract surrounding schools into the league. The large school division includes Webster City, Algona, Humboldt, and Iowa Falls-Alden. The small school division includes Clear Lake, Hampton–Dumont, Clarion–Goldfield–Dows, and St. Edmond.
In late 2024, the school districts of Eagle Grove, Forest City and Garner-Hayfield-Ventura voted to join and re-join the North Central Conference for the 2026-27 schoolyear. The 3 largest schools in the Top of Iowa Conference joined former Northeast Iowa Conference member Charles City to expand the league from 8 schools to 12 schools and usher in a divisional era of NCC athletics with the Tradition Division and Pride Division.
The Tradition Division will house the NCC's larger schools based on a 3-year BEDS enrollment average and will include Webster City, Charles City, Humboldt, Algona, Hampton-Dumont-CAL and Clear Lake. The Pride Division will house the NCC's smaller schools based on said BEDS enrollment average and will include Iowa Falls-Alden, Forest City, Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, Eagle Grove, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura and St. Edmond.
Members
| Institution | Location | Mascot | Colors | Affiliation | 2025-2026 BEDS | Football class |
| Algona | Algona | Bulldogs | Public | 332 | 3A | |
| Clarion–Goldfield–Dows | Clarion | Cowboys | Public | 217 | 1A | |
| Clear Lake | Clear Lake | Lions | Public | 351 | 3A | |
| Hampton–Dumont/CAL | Hampton | Bulldogs | Public | 321 | 2A | |
| Humboldt | Humboldt | Wildcats | Public | 342 | 3A | |
| Iowa Falls–Alden | Iowa Falls | Cadets | Public | 305 | 3A | |
| St. Edmond's Catholic | Fort Dodge | Gaels | Private | 112 | 8P | |
| Webster City | Webster City | Lynx | Public | 385 | 3A |
Former members
| Institution | Location | Mascot | Colors | Affiliation | 2022-2023 BEDS | Current Conference |
| Bishop Garrigan Catholic | Algona | Golden Bears | Private | 99 | Top of Iowa Conference | |
| Eagle Grove | Eagle Grove | Eagles | Public | 239 | Top of Iowa Conference |
Future Members
| Institution | Location | Mascot | Colors | Affiliation | 2025-2026 BEDS | Football Class | Current Conference |
| Eagle Grove | Eagle Grove | Eagles | Public | 243 | 1A | Top of Iowa Conference | |
| Forest City | Forest City | Indians | Public | 235 | 2A | Top of Iowa Conference | |
| Garner-Hayfield-Ventura | Garner | Cardinals | Public | 219 | 1A | Top of Iowa Conference | |
| Charles City | Charles City | Comets | Public | 335 | 3A | Northeast Iowa Conference |
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1400 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1930 till:2027
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors =
id:barcolor value:rgb
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Full from:1930 till:end text:Algona
bar:2 color:Full from:1930 till:1983 text:Clarion
bar:2 color:Full from:1983 till:2014 text:Clarion–Goldfield
bar:2 color:Full from:2014 till:end text:Clarion–Goldfield–Dows
bar:3 color:Full from:1930 till:1988 text:Hampton
bar:3 color:Full from:1988 till:end text:Hampton–Dumont
bar:4 color:Full from:1930 till:end text:Humboldt
bar:5 color:Full from:1930 till:2014 text:Eagle Grove
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2014 till:end text:
bar:5 color:Full from:2026 till:end
bar:6 color:Full from:1935 till:end text:Webster City
bar:7 color:Full from:1935 till:2004 text:Iowa Falls
bar:7 color:Full from:2004 till:end text:Iowa Falls-Alden
bar:8 color:Full from:1937 till:end text:Clear Lake
bar:9 color:Full from:1993 till:2014 text:Bishop Garrigan
bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:2014 till:end text:
bar:10 color:Full from:1993 till:end text:St. Edmond
bar:11 color:Full from:2026 till:end text:Forest City
bar:12 color:Full from:2026 till:end text:Garner-Hayfield-Ventura
bar:13 color:Full from:2026 till:end text:Charles City
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:1930