The Black Hawk League is a former high school athletic conference in Wisconsin. Formed in 1930 and in operation until 1997, its membership consisted primarily of small high schools in the southwest corner of Wisconsin. All members (with the exception of two) were affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.
The Black Hawk League was founded in 1930 by six small high schools in southwestern Wisconsin: Belmont, Benton, Hazel Green (now Southwestern), New Diggings, Shullsburg and South Wayne.[1] It was named after the portion of southwestern Wisconsin (then Michigan Territory) where the Black Hawk War had been fought a century earlier. Membership grew to eight schools after World War II with the addition of Gratiot High School in 1946[2] and Scales Mound High School in 1947.[3] In 1953, New Diggings High School was closed when their district was consolidated into Hazel Green,[4] and Scales Mound left two years later to join the U.S. Grant Conference, an IHSA-sponsored conference in Illinois.[5]
The consolidation of rural school districts and folding of smaller athletic conferences in southwestern Wisconsin continued to affect Black Hawk League membership into the 1960s and 1970s. Cassville and Potosi joined from the West Grant League in 1959,[6] and Bloomington joined the next year when the conference disbanded after all other members were lost to consolidation.[7] South Wayne left to join the State Line League in 1962[8] and were replaced by Highland joined from the Iowa-Wisconsin River League in 1963,[9] one year before that conference's demise. The Black Hawk League lost Gratiot when it consolidated with South Wayne to form Black Hawk High School in 1967,[10] and they took South Wayne's place in the State Line League. West Grant moved over from the Southwest Wisconsin Athletic League in 1969 to take their place.[11] The Black Hawk League added a tenth member (and its only private school) in 1979 when Martin Luther Prep moved their campus from New Ulm, Minnesota to the former Campion High School campus in Prairie du Chien.[12]
Final Years and State Line League Merger (1979-1997)
Southwestern High School's exit for the Southwest Wisconsin Athletic League brought conference membership in the Black Hawk League to nine in 1983.[13] 1995 saw an even more drastic change to membership, with a net loss of two schools in the process. Martin Luther Prep merged with Northwestern Prep in Watertown to form Luther Prep, closing the Prairie du Chien campus in the process.[14] In addition, Bloomington and West Grant were consolidated into River Ridge High School,[15][16] repurposing the West Grant High School campus for their new home. Two years later, the seven members of the Black Hawk League merged with the nine members of the State Line League to form the new Six Rivers Conference.[17]
