By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
Welcome to the Wolverine Conference.
The long-awaited vote of the Wolverine Conference's Board of Governors was unanimous on Tuesday morning to officially accept Dowagiac and Paw Paw into the eight-team league.
In a press release from the conference, it was stated that the board officially invited Dowagiac and Paw Paw to apply for admission.
While no firm date for play to begin in the Wolverine Conference as a 10-team league, the 2006-07 season has been targeted.
That would be the earliest that Dowagiac and Paw Paw could compete for conference championships, however, both schools will attempt to begin scheduling Allegan, Otsego, Plainwell, Comstock, Gull Lake, South Haven, Three Rivers and Vicksburg in a variety of sports.
The Wolverine Conference is an all-Class B conference. Dowagiac will be leaving the Southwest Michigan Athletic Conference (SMAC) after five years. Paw Paw will be coming to the Wolverine from the Kalamazoo Valley Association (KVA).
The Wolverine Conference was formed in 1951 with competition beginning in 1952.
The original Wolverine Conference consisted of Allegan, Otsego, Plainwell, Portage, South Haven and Western State Normal High School (State High in Kalamazoo). Gull Lake was the most recent addition to the league in 1974.
Paw Paw was a member of the Wolverine Conference until 1982 when it moved to the KVA.
Dowagiac athletic director Greg Younger, who played for the Chieftains in the Lakeland Conference, agreed that the move was good for the school district.
Younger said that he believes Dowagiac will begin attending monthly meetings with conference officials as early as next month.
Dowagiac's Board of Education voted in August to officially apply prior to the Oct. 1 deadline set by the Wolverine Conference.
At that board meeting several residents, both from Dowagiac and Niles, spoke out in favor of the move or against the move.
While most of the concern over the potential switching of conference centered around the loss of Niles and Lakeshore as football opponents, the community has been very supportive of the switch.