The WIAA takes pride in proclaiming that it is the first high school athletic association organized in the country. The history of the WIAA goes back to late 1895 and early 1896 when meetings were held involving people interested in promoting (but not necessarily regulating) athletic competition between Wisconsin high schools.
The meetings developed as a result of a state track meet conducted in May of 1895 by the University of Wisconsin - Madison. This state track meet was the first such venture undertaken anywhere in the United States. The first State champion of any kind recognized under WIAA rules was Milwaukee West in track in 1897, although Milwaukee East is recognized at the first State track champion in 1895.
The first State champion in basketball was Fond du Lac in 1905 when Lawrence College of Appleton conducted an invitational tournament. Wisconsin Normal School Athletic Directors began running a State Tournament for high schools in 1916 and Fond du Lac also was that tournament's first champion. The WIAA did not begin running the tournament program until 1920 but goes back to 1916 to consider its first official State champion. Lawrence College discontinued its invitational after 1918.
Wisconsin became a charter member in 1923 of the organization which now is known as the National Federation of State High School Associations. P.F. Neverman, the WIAA's first executive head, played an influential role in the formation of that organization, and in 1984 he was named to the National High School Sports Hall of Fame sponsored by the NFSHSA. The National Federation has had only three executive heads, and one of them was Clifford B. Fagan (1957 to 1977) who earlier was executive secretary of the WIAA. Fagan also is in the high school's Hall of Fame. John E. Roberts became executive secretary at the time Fagan went to the Federation office, and he held the position for 29 years until Dec. 31, 1985, when he retired. Douglas E. Chickering became the WIAA's fourth executive director on Jan. 1, 1986. Chickering retired on July 31, 2009. Dave Anderson succeeded Chickering as the Association's fifth executive director on August 1, 2009 and retired on July 31, 2021. Stephanie Hauser became the sixth executive director on July 1, 2021.
The first WIAA offices were located in Marinette as established there when Neverman became Executive Secretary. The offices remained in Marinette until 1958 when they were moved to Stevens Point. The WIAA constructed an office building in downtown Stevens Point when it came to the community in 1958. But, after outgrowing its original facility, the WIAA built again, this time in Park Ridge on the eastern edge of Stevens Point in 1964. The building got an addition in 1978, and it is located on Highway 10 about a mile west of the Highway 51 beltline. In June of 1999, the WIAA moved into its current Executive Office Building in the Portage County Business Park located at the junction of Interstate 39 and CTH HH. The 16,000 sq. ft. facility is home to the members of the WIAA Executive Staff and support staff.