The Heart O'North Conference is a high school
athletic conference
An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...
with its membership base in northwestern
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. Founded in 1928, the conference and its member schools are affiliated with the
Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the earliest continually existing high school athletic organization in the country. ...
.
History
1928-1989
The Heart O'North Conference (also known as the Heart o' the North Conference in its early years) was formed in 1928 by ten small- to medium-sized high schools in northwestern Wisconsin:
Barron,
Bloomer,
Cameron
Cameron may refer to:
People
* Clan Cameron, a Scottish clan
* Cameron (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
* Cameron (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
;Mononym
* Cam'ron (born 19 ...
,
Chetek,
Clayton,
Cumberland
Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...
,
Ladysmith,
Rice Lake,
Shell Lake and
Spooner.
One year later, the league added
New Auburn and
Turtle Lake to its roster, bringing membership up to twelve schools.
Football was also added as a sponsored sport, with six schools (Barron, Bloomer, Cumberland, Ladysmith, Rice Lake and Spooner) comprising the initial roster. In 1934, membership in the Heart O'North was cut in half after the exit of the six non-football members (Cameron, Chetek, Clayton, New Auburn, Shell Lake and Turtle Lake). Five of these schools joined with
Clear Lake and
Weyerhaeuser
The Weyerhaeuser Company ( ) is an American timberland company which owns nearly of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company has manufactured wood products for over a c ...
to form the
Lakeland Conference.
The six remaining schools continued for twelve years before
Hayward was admitted as the Heart O’North’s seventh member in 1946.
Chetek's return to the conference from the Lakeland Conference in 1957 increased the membership ledger to eight schools, a level it would remain at for seventeen years.
In 1974,
Northwestern High School in
Maple
''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...
joined the Heart O'North Conference after their longtime membership in the
Michigan-Wisconsin Conference ended the year prior when the organization ceased operations.
1989-present
After Northwestern joined the Heart O'North in 1974, the conference continued with a nine-member roster for fifteen years, until Bloomer and Rice Lake left in 1989. Bloomer joined the
Middle Border Conference,
and Rice Lake became members of the larger
Big Rivers Conference
The Big Rivers Conference is a high school athletic conference consisting of large high schools in western Wisconsin. Formed in 1956, its member schools are affiliated with the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association. History
1956- ...
as an all-sport member
(they had previously been football-only members since 1986). After five years in the Middle Border, Bloomer rejoined the Heart O'North Conference in 1994.
That same year, the Heart O'North briefly ended football sponsorship to join the
Northwest Football League
The Northwest Football League (NWFL) was a professional American football minor league that played from 1935 to 1938, in the northern part of Midwestern United States. The league had some relationships with the National Football League (NFL), and ...
along with members of the
Middle Border and
Dunn-St. Croix Conferences. This arrangement would last for two seasons, after which the conference resumed sponsorship of interscholastic football. Membership remained stable until 2010, when Chetek High School merged with Weyerhaeuser High School of the Lakeland Conference to form the new
Chetek-Weyerhaeuser High School.
The new school inherited Chetek's place in the Heart O'North Conference.
In 2019, Cameron rejoined the Heart O'North after leaving the conference eighty-five years ago to help form the Lakeland Conference, which they were still members of at the time of their exit.
Two years later, the Heart O'North Conference accepted two new members and bid farewell to a longtime member. Bloomer exited the conference for a second time in 2021, this time to join the
Cloverbelt Conference.
and
St. Croix Falls
St. Croix Falls is a city in Polk County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 2,208 at the 2020 census. The city is located within the Town of St. Croix Falls along the St. Croix River, from which it takes its name. U.S. Route 8, Wi ...
became Heart O'North members that same year; St. Croix Falls joined from Lakeland Conference
and Ashland were previously members of the
Minnesota
Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...
-based
Lake Superior Conference.
Football-only alignment
In February 2019, in conjunction with the
Wisconsin Football Coaches Association
The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association is an association of American football coaches on all levels within the state of Wisconsin. An annual clinic of members is held in Madison, Wisconsin to promote the sport, primarily at the high school lev ...
, the WIAA released a sweeping football-only realignment for Wisconsin to commence with the 2020 football season and run on a two-year cycle. For the first cycle, Hayward and Ladysmith left the Heart O'North football roster to join the
Great Northern Conference and Lakeland Conference, respectively, as associate football-only members. This alignment would remain in place through the 2022-2023 competition cycle. In 2024, Hayward made their return to the Heart O'North's football group, joined by Ashland after their exit from the Great Northern Conference. They replaced outgoing members Cameron and Chetek-Weyerhaeuser after their exit to associate membership in the Lakeland Conference for football. There are no changes planned for the conference's football roster during the 2026-2027 cycle.
List of member schools
Current members
Current football-only members
Former members
Membership timeline
Full members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1928 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:120 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:tan1 from:1928 till:2030 text:Barron (1928-present)
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1928 till:1989 text:Bloomer (1928-1989)
bar:2 color:tan1 from:1994 till:2021 text: (1994-2021)
bar:3 color:tan1 from:1928 till:1934 text:Cameron (1928-1934)
bar:3 color:tan1 from:2019 till:2030 text:(2019-present)
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1928 till:1934 text:Chetek (1928-1934)
bar:4 color:tan1 from:1957 till:2010 text:(1957-2010)
bar:5 color:tan1 from:1928 till:1934 text:Clayton (1928-1934)
bar:6 color:tan1 from:1928 till:2030 text:Cumberland (1928-present)
bar:7 color:tan1 from:1928 till:2030 text:Ladysmith (1928-present)
bar:8 color:tan1 from:1928 till:1989 text:Rice Lake (1928-1989)
bar:9 color:tan1 from:1928 till:1934 text:Shell Lake (1928-1934)
bar:10 color:tan1 from:1928 till:2030 text:Spooner (1928-present)
bar:11 color:tan1 from:1929 till:1934 text:New Auburn (1929-1934)
bar:12 color:tan1 from:1929 till:1934 text:Turtle Lake (1929-1934)
bar:13 color:tan1 from:1946 till:2030 text:Hayward (1946-present)
bar:14 color:tan1 from:1974 till:2030 text:Northwestern (1974-present)
bar:15 color:tan1 from:2010 till:2030 text:Chetek-Weyerhaeuser (2010-present)
bar:16 color:tan1 from:2021 till:2030 text:Ashland (2021-present)
bar:17 color:tan1 from:2021 till:2030 text:St. Croix Falls (2021-present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:10 start:1928
Football members
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1929 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:120 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:1929 till:1994 text:Barron (1929-1993)
bar:1 color:lavender from:1996 till:2030 text:(1996-present)
bar:2 color:lavender from:1929 till:1989 text:Bloomer (1929-1988)
bar:2 color:lavender from:1996 till:2030 text:(1996-present)
bar:3 color:lavender from:1929 till:1994 text:Cumberland (1929-1993)
bar:3 color:lavender from:1996 till:2030 text:(1996-present)
bar:4 color:lavender from:1929 till:1994 text:Ladysmith (1929-1993)
bar:4 color:lavender from:1996 till:2020 text:(1996-2019)
bar:5 color:lavender from:1929 till:1986 text:Rice Lake (1929-1985)
bar:6 color:lavender from:1929 till:1994 text:Spooner (1929-1993)
bar:6 color:lavender from:1996 till:2030 text:(1996-present)
bar:7 color:lavender from:1950 till:1994 text:Hayward (1950-1993)
bar:7 color:lavender from:1996 till:2020 text:(1996-2019)
bar:7 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:(2024-present)
bar:8 color:lavender from:1958 till:1983 text:Chetek (1958-1982)
bar:8 color:lavender from:1986 till:1991 text:(1986-1990, 1993, 1996-2009)
bar:8 color:lavender from:1993 till:1994 text:
bar:8 color:lavender from:1996 till:2010 text:
bar:9 color:lavender from:1974 till:1994 text:Northwestern (1974-1993)
bar:9 color:lavender from:1996 till:2030 text:(1996-present)
bar:10 color:lavender from:2010 till:2024 text:Chetek-Weyerhaeuser (2010-2023)
bar:11 color:lavender from:2019 till:2024 text:Cameron (2019-2023)
bar:12 color:lavender from:2019 till:2030 text:St. Croix Falls (2019-present)
bar:13 color:lavender from:2024 till:2030 text:Ashland (2024-present)
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:10 start:1929
Membership map
List of state champions
Fall sports
Winter sports
Spring sports
List of conference champions
Source:
Boys Basketball
Girls Basketball
Football
References
External links
Heart O'North Conference (official website){{Wisconsin high school athletic conferences
Sports organizations established in 1928
Wisconsin high school sports conferences
1928 establishments in Wisconsin