I visited the heartland of Wisconsin high school basketball this past weekend–and that, my friends, would be the city of Neenah. Just ask them! The Neenah high school boys have more state tournament appearances than anybody with a total of 30, 7 of them since 2000. They play in one of the toughest conferences in the state, the Fox Valley Conference, and have won 31 conference titles, though just 3 since 2000. They won state titles, in the largest school class each time, in 1930, 1975, 1978 and 2022, and they have been state runner-up 7 times. They have won 45 state tournament games while losing 32. My friend whom I was visiting started for Neenah’s 1977 state semi-finalist.
And, the Fox Valley Conference! Among the boys, Fon du Lac has 5 state titles, though none since 1924. Appleton High has 4, while Appleton West won in 1970. Kaukana won in 2016 and 2018. Oshkosh won in 1907, and Oshkosh West in 2006. Kimberly won in 1994 and 1995, and Menasha, which has since dropped out of the conference, won in 1953. That’s 22 titles for 9 different high schools in 7 different cities. The only analogies in Minnesota are the Lake and the Big 9.
Menasha is immediately adjacent to Neenah on the north. Appleton is adjacent to Menasha further north, while Oshkosh is about 20 miles south of Neenah. They’re all located on Lake Winnebago, which is a big wide area on the Fox River and is bigger than Mille Lacs Lake here in Minnesota. The area grew up around at least 8 different paper mills. At one time the Fox River Valley was the world’s largest producer of paper products. The city of Kimberly takes its name from the same fellow as Kimberly-Clark (Scott, Viva, Huggies). My friend’s dad worked at Bergstrom Paper for 32 years.
Returning to basketball, among the girls, Neenah also has a state title in 1978 when, as you’ll recall, the boys also won the state title. Appleton North has 2 in 2017 and 2018, Oshkosh West won in 2003 amd 2004 and Kimberly in 1987, 1989, 1996 and 1998. Some of you may remember Hortonville, who played in the Breakdown Tip-Off last year. Unfortunately, both of their top 2 players are out with injuries now, but you may have seen Maryland-bound Rainey Welson (26 ppg) and still-just-a-sophomore Kardyn Peppler at Hopkins 14 months ago. Hortonville is also in the Fox Valley.
But that’s not all. The geographical area is littered with other champions. As I drove to and from Neenah I drove past Stevens Points (6 boys and one girls title), Wausau (3 boys titles), Beaver Dam (2 girls and a boys title), Amherst (2 girls), Nicolet (a girls and a boys title), Neilsville (a girls title), Thorp (a boys title) and New Berlin (2 boys titles). My friend’s dad is buried 25 miles west of Neenah in tiny Reedsville, the smallest school ever to win the single class tournament back in 1946.
I think that Fon du Lac was the cradle of basketball activity in the area. They won state titles in 1905, 1915, 1916, 1919, 1922 and 1924. Having researched basketball in Red Wing, MN, I know that Red Wing’s senior men’s team had a fierce rivalry with Fon du Lac from around 1900 to about 1917. Both teams arose from the local militias (like the National Guard) and had a nice big armory to play in. I would say that they played annually, sometimes three and four times, and that Red Wing never beat Fon du Lac until 1915. They must have lost to Fon du Lac 20 or 25 times before that.
Oshkosh later had a major league professional team from 1929 to 1947, that played in the NBL, a forerunner to the NBA.
Neenah Girls Win!
The only game in town during my visit was the Neenah girls vs. Oshkosh North. The boys were on the road, losing at Wisconsin Lutheran (near Milwaukee), the 2009, 2014 and 2024 Class 2 (2nd biggest) state champ. Last year, Wisconsin Lutheran beat Neenah by 30 en route to its state title. The other night it was 46-45 in favor again of the Lutherans.
But, returning to the girls, they’re now 3rd in the Fox Valley behind Kimberly and Hortonville, winners of 9 of the past 12 conference titles (Neenah did manage to win in 2023). Providence (yes, that Providence) is playing at Hortonville on Feb. 21, but with Welson and Peppler out, I fear that Hortonville will not be able to mount a whole lot of resistance. In any event, Oshkosh North came into its game at Neenah at 3-12 and Neenah won easily 79-41.
Neenah starts 2 sophomores and 2 juniors. Their star is Rowan Klesmit, whose older brothers are playing at Wisconsin and Eastern Michigan. She is a skilled and athletic 5-5 guard who does a little bit of everything, including score 17 the other night. Ellie Buss is also a junior guard and a 3-point specialist. She made 7-of-14 3s. Freshman guard Celia Gentile is 5-6 and quick on quick. She scored 13, at least 4 of them on bull rushes reminiscent of Maddyn Greenway from the defensive board to the offensive glass.
I got to watch this game with not one but 2 members of that 1977 boys state semi-finalist team from Neenah though, unfortunately, the game was not played in the same gym they used at that time. Neenah has a big field house with 6 basketball courts, but varsity basketball, both boys and girls, have long since moved into a more conventional gym in the new high school on the edge of town. It’s not actually in the city of Neenah, it’s in the Town of Fox Crossings (I think that’s the right name). Progress.