The origins of the Wisconsin Catholic Interscholastic Athletic Association date back to 1928, when
Marquette University in
Milwaukee sponsored a basketball tournament for the state's
Catholic high schools. This was the first such competition in the state, and it eventually became an annual event. In 1957, the thirty-four Catholic high schools participating in that year's tournament assembled to form the Wisconsin Catholic Interscholastic Athletic Association. At the time of the WCIAA's founding, the
Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association limited its membership to public high schools, and the WCIAA gave parochial schools the chance to compete for statewide championships. Over the course of its eleven-year existence, the WCIAA sponsored championships for: • Baseball • Basketball • Cross Country • Golf • Tennis • Track and Field • Wrestling By the late 1960s, many new
independent high schools had opened up in the state of Wisconsin that were outside the Catholic church, sponsored either by other religions or private entities. The forty-one members of the WCIAA added twelve non-Catholic high schools in 1968 (along with
Queen of Apostles, a Catholic high school in Madison who was already slated to join) and became the
Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association to reflect its expanded scope. == Executive Directors ==