History

The Big Eight Conference is one of the most prominent high school athletic conferences in Wisconsin, governed by the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA). For nearly a century, it has served as the premier home for the largest public high schools in the south-central portion of the state, primarily centered around the greater Madison area.

1. The Early Eras (1925–1960s)

The conference was originally founded in 1925 under the name Big Six Conference (alternatively referred to as the Southern Wisconsin Conference). Its mission was to bring together the largest high schools in southern Wisconsin that sat outside the immediate Milwaukee metropolitan area.

The original six charter members were:

• Beloit Memorial

• Janesville

• Kenosha

• Madison Central

• Madison East

• Racine

Rapid Metropolitan Growth

As populations boomed over the next few decades, the conference’s lineup evolved. When Racine High School split into Racine Horlick and Racine Park in 1928, the conference expanded. By 1930, Madison opened Madison West, bringing the membership to eight schools and establishing the “Big Eight” moniker for the first time.

By the 1960s, overcrowding forced cities to build additional high schools. The conference expanded rapidly to absorb them:

• 1963–1964: Madison opened Madison LaFollette, and Kenosha opened Kenosha Tremper (while the original Kenosha High was renamed Kenosha Bradford).

• 1966–1967: Racine Case opened, Madison opened Madison Memorial, and Janesville split its original school into Janesville Craig and Janesville Parker.

2. The Great Rift & The Modern Re-Alignment (1970)

By 1970, the conference had expanded to 11 schools across a wide geographic spread. The travel distances and logistical strains between the Madison-area schools and the southeastern schools (Racine and Kenosha) caused a major structural rift.

In 1970, the schools officially split. The southeastern programs departed to form the South Shore (and later Southeast) conferences. This left a newly streamlined, seven-school Big Eight completely focused around south-central Wisconsin:

• Beloit Memorial

• Janesville Craig

• Janesville Parker

• Madison East

• Madison LaFollette

• Madison Memorial

• Madison West

To get back to an even eight-school rotation, the conference invited Sun Prairie High School to jump over from the Badger Conference in 1977. This alignment remained rock-solid for nearly two decades.

3. 1990s to the Present Day

As the suburbs surrounding Madison continued to swell, the Big Eight strategically pulled in top-tier, neighboring athletic programs from the Badger Conference to maintain its competitive edge as a Division 1 powerhouse:

• 1994: Middleton High School joined the ranks.

• 2008: Verona Area High School joined.

• 2022: Following massive population growth, Sun Prairie split into two distinct high schools—Sun Prairie East and Sun Prairie West—both of which entered the conference as full members.

• 2023: Longtime charter member Beloit Memorial officially departed the Big Eight to join the Southern Lakes Conference to compete against demographically similar school sizes, bringing the conference to its current 10-school alignment.

Name Changes: In 2021, Madison Memorial High School was officially renamed Vel Phillips Memorial High School in honor of the iconic Wisconsin civil rights leader and jurist.

Current Conference Lineup

Today, the Big Eight remains highly respected across Wisconsin high school sports, routinely producing state championship contenders in football, basketball, soccer, and track and field.

For an inside look at how intense modern conference matchups can get, check out this PrepMania Weekly Big 8 Showdown Preview, which breaks down a high-stakes boys’ basketball title race between Vel Phillips Memorial and Verona.