1920-1936: The North and mythical state champions
From the late 1800s through 1919, Indiana high school football teams often played fewer than five games per year and many times skipped entire seasons. Pre-1920 games often featured high school teams playing semi-pro club teams, college teams, and even intramural scrimmages. Various teams made state championship claims, but most were unfounded until organized leagues and verified games became commonplace beginning with the 1920 season. By that year, as many as 26 high schools in northern Indiana — stretching from Fort Wayne to East Chicago — were annually compiling standings and functioning as the state’s first organized football conference. These northern football teams frequently defeated powerhouse teams from other states and were rarely defeated by Indiana teams from outside the league. For example, From 1921 to 1926, Gary Emerson never lost a game to an in-state team. The winner of this early super conference usually claimed the "mythical" state football championship prior to 1928. Indeed, when an Indiana mythical state championship game was played between the best teams of northern and southern Indiana (in 1923, 1924, 1927, 1929, and 1930) the northern league champion won every time.
In 1926, for one year, the league standings included power teams from around the state, including Evansville Central, Richmond, Indianapolis Tech, Marion, and Muncie, all of whom finished behind league leaders Mishawaka and Gary Emerson. In 1927, many of these same northern teams – from Elkhart to East Chicago – officially formed the Northern Indiana Conference (NIC), with its champion going on to dominate the #1 final ranking in the AP and UPI polls well into the 1960s.
By the early 1930s, the Evansville and Terre Haute areas were also well established as Indiana high school football hotbeds. Clinton (north of Terre Haute) won three titles between 1928 and 1933, and Evansville Memorial, best in the south in 1937, defeated McKeesport, champions of Western Pennsylvania, 21-0, in what some newspapers called the mythical national championship.
The following teams were widely considered the state football champions: Schools in italics are now consolidated or defunct.
- 1920 - Wabash4 and Mishawaka1
- 1921 - Gary Emerson1 and Gary Froebel1
- 1922 - Gary Emerson1 (2)
- 1923 - Gary Emerson² (3)
- 1924 - Elkhart (Central)²
- 1925 - Mishawaka1,4 (2)
- 1926 - Mishawaka1 (3)
- 1927 - Gary Froebel² (2)
- 1928 - Clinton³
- 1929 - Gary Mann²,³
- 1930 - Gary Emerson²,³ (4)
- 1931 - South Bend Central4
- 1932 - Clinton³ (2)
- 1933 - Clinton²,³ (3)
- 1934 - South Bend Central1,4 (2) and Terre Haute Garfield4
- 1935 - Evansville Memorial²,³
- 1936 - Gary Mann5 (2)
1NIC Champion
2Winner of arranged post-season North-South Mythical State Championship Game
- 1923 - Gary Emerson 7, Muncie Central 0
- 1924 - Elkhart (Central) 28, Bicknell 6
- 1927 - Gary Froebel 70, Indianapolis Shortridge 0
- 1929 - Gary Mann 38, Fort Wayne Central 0
- 1930 - Gary Emerson 21, Logansport 7
- 1933 - Clinton 6, East Chicago Washington 6, tie
- 1935 - Evansville Memorial 13, Fort Wayne Central 0
3Winner of Indianapolis Times & IHSAA ‘Most Outstanding Team in Indiana’ Trophy – 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1933, and 1935
4Mythical State Champions named by “various Indiana newspapers,” according to AlmanacSports.com – 1920, 1925, 1931 and 1934
5NIC East-West Playoff Champion - 1936 (no other claims found)
( ) Total State Championships
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