- 8-Man One and 8-Man Two Football Championship Previews (11/21/24)1
- Complete list of Nebraska High School Single Season 2000 Yard Rushers. (11/12/24)
- Week 10 Friday Night Lights Football Heroes (11/7/24)
- Week Nine Friday Night Lights Football Heroes (10/30/24)
- Week Eight Friday Night Lights Football Heroes (10/24/24)
- Week Seven Friday Night Lights Football Heroes (10/16/24)
- Week Six Friday Night Lights Football Heroes (10/9/24)
A Look at Nebraska High School Football Conferences 55 Years Ago.
I though it may be interesting to take a peak at the Nebraska Prep Football Conference landscape in 1965. I was a junior in high school at the time, a starting halfback on a 7-3 GICC football team. We were in two conferences that year, the Louplatte and the Nebraska Catholic Conference.
GICC was Class B at the time and really did not belong in the Louplatte for football. If I recall they booted us out after 1965.
Here is a look at the final conference football standings in ‘65 and it goes without saying things have changed a bunch in 55 years. And, actually I’m setting myself up here for a series of articles about the BIG 10 CONFERENCE, which was a splendid outstate Class A conference.
The BIG 10 conference, especially in football, was a huge thing in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, and all the way until the NSAA initiated high school playoffs in 1975. I will be featuring a BIG 10 Conference Playoff game wrap up from every season beginning with 1945.
These BIG 10 articles will premier next week. Anyway, a trip back in time to 1965, right here.
THE 11-MAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCES;
The METRO CONFERENCE* (formed in 1964)
Bellevue--------------------------Omaha Ryan
Boys Town------------------------Omaha South
Omaha Benson------------------Omaha Technical
Omaha Beveridge (Burke)----Omaha Westside
Omaha Central……………………Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln
Omaha Creighton Prep--------Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson
Omaha North
(Omaha Rummel (now Roncalli) joined in 1966)
*BIG 10 Conference*
East Division--West Division
Grand Island---Scottsbluff
Fremont---------North Platte
Hastings---------Kearney
Columbus-------McCook
Norfolk-----------Alliance
*CENTRAL TEN*
York--------Crete
Seward----Central City
Schuyler---Fullerton
Albion------David City
Ord---------Aurora
*SOUTHWEST*
Cozad-------Broken Bow
Minden-----Ogallala
Holdrege---Gothenburg
Lexington
*WESTERN NEBRASKA*
Alliance---Ogallala
Gering-----Chadron
Sidney
*GOLDENROD*
Palmer--------Polk
Clarks----------Silver Creek
Stromsburg---St. Edward
Osceola--------Genoa
*TWIN RIVERS*
Beatrice--------Nebraska City
Crete------------Fairbury
Plattsmouth---Falls City
*AK-SAR-BEN*
North Division South Division
Ralston-----------Syracuse
Blair---------------Plattsmouth
Ashland----------Nebraska City
Wahoo-----------Falls City
Millard-----------Auburn
Papillion
*EASTERN NEBRASKA*
Gretna-------Weeping Water
Platteview---Louisville
Waverly------Arlington
Elkhorn……..Bennington
Fremont Bergan
*SOUTHERN NEBRASKA*
East Division---West Division
Wymore--------Hebron
Wilber-----------Sutton
Tecumseh------Superior
Pawnee City---Harvard
Humboldt------Deshler
*CORNHUSKER*
Scribner---Tekamah
Oakland---North Bend
Hooper----Lyons
*LOUPLATTE*
GICC------------St. Paul
Loup City------Ravenna
Burwell--------Gibbon
Wood River---Shelton
*NEBRASKA CATHOLIC Conference*
David City Aquinas---GICC
Columbus Scotus-----Hastings St. Cecilia
*FRENCHMAN VALLEY*
Grant-------Benkleman
Imperial---Wauneta
Curtis
*LOGAN VALLEY*
Homer-----Rosalie
Decatur----Winnebago
Bancroft---Newcastle
Beemer----Walthill
*SOUTHEAST BORDER*
Humboldt---Falls City Sacred Heart
Tecumseh---Pawnee City
Wymore
*MID-STATE Conference*
Howells----Newman Grove
Leigh-------Humphrey St. Francis
Clarkson---Dodge
*NORTH PLATTE VALLEY Conference*
Bayard--------Minatare
Bridgeport---Mitchell
Morrill--------Oshkosh
*PANHANDLE C*
Bayard----------Crawford
Rushville-------Alliance St. Agnes
Hay Springs---Sidney St. Pats
Minatare------Hemingford
*HUSKER Conference*
Wisner--------Scribner
West Point---Stanton
Wayne--------Pender
Wakefield----Neligh
Madison------Lyons
Laurel---------Bloomfield
*THREE RIVERS Conference*
Stuart---------Ewing
Springview---Lynch
Spencer-------Butte
Atkinson
*ATLAS Conference*
Ceresco-------Seward Concordia
East Butler---Utica
Norris---------Pilger
*CORNTASSEL Conference*
Tilden------Creighton
Verdigre---Osmond
Wausa
*LEWIS and CLARK*
Hartington---Hartington Cedar Catholic
Ponca---------Norfolk Burns
Allen----------Emerson-Hubbard
Winside------Coleridge
Randolph
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**THE 8-MAN FOOTBALL CONFERENCES**
There may also have been some additional teams in these conferences listed below but it’s as close to being accurate as I could get. There may also have been a few conferences I omitted.
*CROSSROADS* (How different did the this baby look in 1965?)
Waco--------Beaver Crossing
Gresham----York St. Joseph
Bradshaw---McCool Junction
Hampton
*CLOVERLEAF Conference*
Alexandria---Nebraska City Lourdes
Dorchester---Plymouth
Milligan-------Tobias
Nehawka
*FRENCHMAN VALLEY (8-Man Division)*
Culbertson---Stratton
Haigler--------Trenton
Madrid--------Palisade
*CENTRAL NEBRASKA*
Boelus--------Phillips
Doniphan----Trumbull
Giltner--------Cairo
Marquette---Hordville
*MUSTANG Conference*
Alvo-Eagle---Nehawka
Elmwood----Murdock
Garland------Palmyra
Malcolm-----Weston
*WESTERN 10*
Harrison-----Kilgore
Long Pine---Mitchell Sunflower
Cody----------Oehlrichs, S.D.
Merriman---Chadron Assumption
Melbeta-----and a mystery 10th school?
*SOUTH PLATTE VALLEY ASSN. {SPVA} Conference)
Elsie-------Arthur
Paxton----Sutherland
Madrid---Big Springs
Brule------Lewellen
Wallace---Venango
*NEMAHA VALLEY Conference
Brock--------Talmage
Elk Creek----Table Rock
Peru Prep---Nebraska City Lourdes
Cook
*MID-VALLEY*
Indianola---Red Willow (McCook)
Bartley------Beaver Valley (Lebanon Valley)
Holbrook
*HOMESTEADER*
East Division---West Division
Barneston------Odell
Lewiston--------Beatrice St. Joseph
Adams…………..DeWitt
Sterling----------Diller
Holmesville
Filley
*FORT KEARNY*
Overton---Pleasanton
Axtell------Wilcox
Sumner----Loomis
Amherst---Elm Creek
*EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA*
South Division--North Division
Cedar Bluffs-----Snyder
Prague-----------Waterloo
Yutan-------------Fort Calhoun
Mead-------------Craig
Weston
*SOUTHWEST BORDER*
East Division--West Division
Beaver Valley---Wilsonville
Indianola---------Farnam
Bartley------------Eustis
Red Willow------Holbrook
*SOUTHERN FRONTIER*
West Division---East Division
Culbertson------Holbrook
Trenton----------Bartley
Palisade----------Indianola
Hayes Center---Red Willow (McCook)
Stratton----------Beaver Valley (Lebanon)
*THUNDERBIRD*
Creston-------Shelby
Monroe-------Platte Center
Rising City----Humphrey
*CEDAR VALLEY*
Cedar Rapids---Spalding Academy
Wolbach--------Elgin St. Boniface
Greeley Sacred Heart
*REPUBLICAN VALLEY*
West Division--East Division
Bertrand--------Franklin
Elwood----------Blue Hill
Cambridge------Red Cloud
Beaver City-----Alma
Arapahoe-------Nelson
Oxford
Lexington St. Ann
*WHEATLAND*
Elsie-------Wallace
Brule------Lewellen
Madrid---Venango
There may also be some schools that jump out at you when scouring these conferences. Falls City Sacred Heart, for instance, was still playing 11-Man football back in my day and not winning very many games. There were still parochial schools in existence like Beatrice St. Joseph, Greeley Sacred Heart, Sidney St. Pats, Lexington St. Ann, Chadron Assumption, York St. Joseph and Elgin St. Boniface.
Fullerton was an 11-Man team football competing in the rugged Central Ten and a Class B school at one time. The Curtis Ag school still had a high school and football program back then too, and West Kearney, a Boys Town type facility, also fielded sports teams.
The one school that always intrigued me when I was still in high school was Mitchell Sunflower. Who were they? Were they a parochial school? Why the Sunflower tag?
There were few, if any consolidated school around back then, but Sunflower Consolidated High School was one such institution. Located four miles east and a mile and a half north of Mitchell, the high school was part of what was known as District 68 in Scotts Bluff county.
The Purple and Gold Mitchell Sunflower Eagles last graduating class was in 1976.
--------------------------------------------
Up next….A history of the BIG 10 Conference football championship games.
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