Northern Indiana Valley Conference
School Location Mascot Year Joined Year Left Conference Joined
Greene Township Crumstown Bulldogs 1932 1965 none ( consolidated into Walkerton
Lakeville Lakeville Trojans 1932 1965 none ( consolidated into LaVille
Madison Township Wyatt Panthers 1932 1964 none ( consolidated into Penn )
New Carlisle New Carlisle Tigers 1932 1966 Northern State
North Liberty North Liberty Shamrocks 1932 1966 Northern State
South Bend Wilson South Bend Presidents 1932 1950 none ( school closed )
Walkerton Walkerton Indians 1932 1966 none ( consolidated into Glenn
South Bend Clay South Bend Colonials 1939 1963 1958 1978 Northern State Northern Indiana
Penn Mishawaka Kingsmen 1958 1978 Northern Indiana
South Bend Jackson South Bend Tigers 1965 1975 none ( school closed )
South Bend LaSalle South Bend Lions 1965 1978 Northern Indiana
Mishawaka Marian Mishawaka Knights 1967 1978 Independents ( Northern Indiana Athletic Conference 2005 )
South Bend St. Joseph 's South Bend Indians 1967 1978 Independents ( Northern Indiana Athletic Conference 2005 )
Membership
All schools located in St. Joseph County .
The Northern Indiana Valley Conference was an Indiana High School Athletic Association sanctioned conference in the South Bend/Mishawaka metropolitan area. The conference began as the St. Joseph County Conference in 1932, made up of county schools and South Bend schools not in the Northern Indiana Conference. Smaller county schools consolidated and moved to different conferences with schools of similar size, and by 1966 the county league was down to four members. The league decided to take in the two county Catholic schools, Marian and St. Joseph the next year, and rebranded as the Northern Indiana Valley Conference. The league took a hard hits beginning in 1974. Penn was accepted into the Northern Indiana Athletic Conference, South Bend Jackson announced its closure after the school year, and the league stopped sponsoring football. South Bend LaSalle were invited to replace LaPorte in the Northern Indiana Athletic Conference in 1976, although like Penn, they played in both leagues where schedules permitted. However, when Clay joined the Northern Indiana Athletic Conference in 1978, the schools broke off their relationship with the Catholic schools. Marian and St. Joseph continued on as independents for the next 27 years. With LaSalle closing in 2002, the Northern Indiana Athletic Conference discussed expanding beyond its seven schools, and took on both of the Catholic schools in 2005, so they absorbed every school in the Northern Indiana Valley Conference.