Upper Mississippi Conference
The Upper Mississippi Conference was a high school athletic conference in Iowa made up of 1A and 2A schools in northeastern Iowa. It had a total of 21 schools as members through 1990.Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Location map/data/USA Iowa' not found.
| Upper Mississippi Conference | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1950 |
| Dissolved | 1990 |
| Members | 21 |
| Region | Northeast Iowa |
History[edit]
Formation (1950-1959)[edit]
The league was founded in 1950 by Guttenberg, Garnavillo, Marquette Community, McGregor, Monona, and Luana. Marquette and McGregor would consolidate into Mar-Mac in 1952. Colesburg and Waterville also join the same year, increasing membership to 7. Strawberry Point joined the next year. Edgewood would move to the conference in 1954, leaving the Delaware County Conference. In 1957, Volga City would join, pushing membership to 10.[1]
Consolidation and Initial Decline (1960-1969)[edit]
Luana and Waterville left in 1960, with Edgewood and Colesburg consolidating into Edgewood-Colesburg (Ed-Co) and Volga City leaving the next year. 1962 saw Monona renamed to MFL (Monona-Farmersburg-Luana) and also saw the arrival of Maquoketa Valley, Kee High, and South Winneshiek. East Buchanan also joins from the AllAc Conference. Membership rebounds back to 10. In 1963, Strawberry Point would consolidate with Arlington and Lamont to form Starmont.[2] Maquoketa Valley, East Buchanan, and Edgewood-Colesburg would leave in 1967 to form the Tri-Rivers Conference. Starmont would also leave as well. The following year, MFL would leave for the Upper Iowa Conference, membership drops to 5, the lowest ever. South Winneshiek would then leave for the Cedar-Waspie Conference, and Mar-Mac would leave for the Bi-State Conference. The remaining three schools, Guttenberg, Garnavillo and Kee High, agree to disband in 1969.
Reformation and Final Decline (1970-1990)[edit]
The Upper Mississippi Conference would return a year later with Guttenberg, Garnavillo, Kee High, Notre Dome in Cresco, as well as Mar-Mac and St. George of the Bi-State Conference to bring membership up to 7. However, it was clear that it would not last long, as St. George would close in 1974, followed by Guttenberg leaving a second time to help form the Mid-East Conference in 1980. Holy Cross Leo would be the last addition in 1981. After that Kee High would leave for the Upper Iowa Conference in 1987. Notre Dome and Holy Cross Leo would close in 1989. After that, Garnavillo became an independent school. The last two, Mar-Mac and North Winneshiek, officially disband the conference a second and final time.
Legacy[edit]
The Upper Mississippi Conference was created by small country schools looking for some purpose. Many other conferences, including the Upper Iowa, Bi-State, AllAc, Northeast Iowa, Mid-East, and Cedar-Waspie Conferences, already had a firm hold on the area. Many of it's member schools either consolidated with others, closed entirely, or became independent (like Garnavillo). As a result, many schools after the second collapse of the Upper Mississippi became member of the UIC or were absorbed by bigger schools.
Former Members[edit]
| School
Name |
Location | Mascot | Colors | Current Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Buchanan | Winthrop | Buccaneers | Tri-Rivers Conference | |
| Edgewood-Colesburg | Edgewood | Vikings | Tri-Rivers Conference | |
| Garnavillo | Garnavillo | Hawks | Consolidated with Guttenburg to form Clayton Ridge, Upper Iowa Conference | |
| Guttenberg | Guttenburg | Pirates | Consolidated with Garnavillo to form Clayton Ridge, Upper Iowa Conference. | |
| Holy Cross Leo | Holy Cross | Rockets | Defunct, Absorbed by Wahlert | |
| Kee High | Lansing | K-Hawk | Upper Iowa Conference | |
| Mar-Mac | McGreggor | Spartans | Absorbed by MFL, now MFL-MarMac, Upper Iowa Conference | |
| Marquoketa Valley | Delhi | Wildcats | Tri-Rivers Conference | |
| MFL | Monona | Bulldogs | Consolidated with Marmac, now MFL-MarMac, Upper Iowa Conference | |
| North Winneshiek | Rural Decorah | Mustangs | Defunct, Combined with Decorah in the Northeast Iowa Conference | |
| Notre Dome | Cresco | Titans | Defunct | |
| South Winneshiek | Calmar | Warriors | Upper Iowa Conference | |
| St. George | Lansing | Knights | Defunct | |
| Starmont | Arlington | Stars | Tri-Rivers Conference | |
| Volga City | Volga City | Boatmen | Absorbed by Elkader to form Central Elkader | |
| Waterville | Waterville | Tigers | Absorbed by Waukon |
State Champions (By School)[edit]
These are the state title during when each school was a member of the conference. Only the event that have clear definitive years on them will be placed here.
Colesburg (Before Consolidation)[edit]
- Baseball: 1-time state champs (1952)
[edit]
- Girl's Basketball: 2-time state champs, 1953, 1954
- Boy's Cross Country: 4-time state champs, 1970 (D), 1972 (D), 1973 (D), 1978 (C); 1-time Team Mile state champs, 1972 (E)
Guttenberg[edit]
- None
East Buchanan[edit]
- None
Edgewood (Before Consolidation)[edit]
- None
Edgewood-Colesburg (After Consolidation)[edit]
- None
Holy Cross Leo[edit]
- Baseball: 1-time state champs, 1985 (F)
Kee High[edit]
- Baseball: 11-time state champs, 1973 (1A), 1977 (F), 1978 (F), 1980 (1A), 1981 (2A), 1986 (2A
- Boy's Cross Country: 5-time state champs, 1980 (B), 1981 (1A), 1982 (1A)
Luana (Before Consolidation)[edit]
- None
Maquoketa Valley[edit]
- Girl's Cross Country: 1-time state champs, 1988 (1A)
Mar-Mac (Before Consolidation)[edit]
- Boy's Track-Team Mile: 1-time state champs, 1973 (E)
Marquette Community (Before Consolidation)[edit]
- None
MFL Mar-Mac[edit]
- Baseball: 1976 (1A)
North Winneshiek[edit]
- Boy's Cross Country: 1-time state champs, 1967 (C)
Notre Dame, Cresco[edit]
- Boy's Cross Country: 1-time state champs, 1971 (D)
South Winneshiek[edit]
- None (During their tenure with UMC)
St. George[edit]
- None
Starmont (After Consolidation)[edit]
- Girl's Track: 1-time state champs, 1982 (2A)
Strawberry Point (Before Consolidation)[edit]
- None
Volga City[edit]
- None
Waterville[edit]
- None
Disclaimer[edit]
The info in this article is and will always be incomplete. The info has been put together by old newspaper articles and most of the specific info has been lost.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Upper Miss Conference - Iowa High School Sports". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2020-11-03.
- ↑ https://educateiowa.gov/sites/files/ed/documents/DistrictReorganizationHistoryThroughFY21.pdf
3.
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