Ohio River Valley Conference - History

History

The ORVC traces its history to two conferences, the Southeastern Indiana and Laughery Valley. When the league began, half of its members came from the SEIC (Hanover, Rising Sun, Versailles). The first shakeup in conference membership came in the conference's second year, as North closed, and three LVC schools (Dillsboro, Moores Hill, Sunman) joined with one SEIC school (Vevay). This was followed by twenty years of stability, as while consolidations were happening in the area, the schools remained in the conference. Hanover and Osgood became Southwestern and Jac-Cen-Del, respectively, in 1960. Versailles became South Ripley in 1966, with Vevay changing to Switzerland County in 1968.

The 1970's were a different story, as the three Laughery Valley Schools that joined in 1953 would not survive to the end of the decade. Sunman was consolidated with North Dearborn in 1973, forming East Central. Dillsboro and Moores Hill would follow suit in 1978, combining with Aurora to form South Dearborn. Both of those schools became part of the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference. Left as a six-school conference, the ORVC expanded in 1984, adding Shawe Memorial. The conference has been stable since, a two-year hiatus by Southwestern in the mid-1990's notwithstanding. That stability looks to continue into the future. Lawrenceburg was denied entry in the 1990's, and there is only one other school in the area (Oldenburg Academy) who is of a similar size.