Lake Suburban Conference

Last updated

The Lake Suburban Conference was a high school athletic conference serving schools in the Indiana High School Athletic Association. The conference was formed in 1949 as the Calumet Athletic Conference, and disbanded in 1992. Most of its schools were located in Lake County, though two members during the CAC period were from Porter County.

Indiana High School Athletic Association organization

The Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) is the arbiter of interscholastic competition among public and private high schools in the U.S. state of Indiana. It monitors a system that divides athletically-competing high schools in Indiana based on the school's enrollment. The divisions, known as classes, are intended to foster fair competition among schools of similar sizes. A school ranked 3A is larger than a school ranked 1A, but not as large as a 6A-ranked school. Only football has 6 classes. Boys' basketball, girls' basketball, volleyball, baseball and softball are divided into four classes. Boys' and girls' soccer have featured three classes since the 2017–18 school year. All other sports compete in a single class.

Lake County, Indiana County in Indiana, United States

Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 2010, its population was 496,005, making it Indiana's second-most populous county. The county seat is Crown Point.

Porter County, Indiana County in Indiana, United States

Porter County is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 164,343. The county seat is Valparaiso.

Contents

History

The Calumet Athletic Conference was formed in 1949 by nine schools from Lake County. These schools were either Gary-Hammond metro area schools not involved in the Northern Indiana Conference, or suburban schools within the county. While membership did change, as three schools left to be Independent, two of those schools would return, along with other expansions, meant that two divisions would be utilized from 1963 to 1970.

Gary, Indiana City in Indiana, United States

Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States, 25 miles (40 km) from downtown Chicago, Illinois. Gary is adjacent to the Indiana Dunes National Park and borders southern Lake Michigan. Gary was named after lawyer Elbert Henry Gary, who was the founding chairman of the United States Steel Corporation. The city is known for its large steel mills, and as the birthplace of the Jackson 5 music group.

Hammond, Indiana City in Indiana, United States

Hammond is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. As of the 2010 United States census, it is also the largest in population: the 2010 population was 80,830, replacing Gary as the most populous city in Lake County. From north to south, Hammond runs from Lake Michigan down to the Little Calumet River; from east to west along its southern border, it runs from the Illinois state line to Cline Avenue. The city is traversed by numerous railroads and expressways, including the South Shore Line, Borman Expressway, and Indiana Toll Road.

1970 caused dramatic changes to the Calumet. Chesterton and Portage left to help found the Duneland Athletic Conference, Gary Wirt joined with the other Gary schools in the Northwestern Conference, and East Gary Edison would become an independent. Recently formed Munster was added, and the conference rebranded itself as the Lake Suburban Conference. Membership was much more stable, as the only change afterwards was Merrillville leaving for the Duneland. However, by the early 1990s, suburban growth had caused the conference to become unbalanced enrollment-wise. This led to the 1993 breakup of the LSC. Crown Point would become the Duneland's 8th member. Lowell would join the Northwest Hoosier Conference, which had a wide footprint that Lowell was firmly in the middle of. Lake Central would play as an independent for the next decade, eventually taking former CAC member Hobart's place in the Duneland. The remaining four schools joined with the remnants of the Indiana Lake Shore Conference to form the Lake 10 Conference.

Duneland Athletic Conference

The Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) is a high school athletic conference in Indiana serving eight members of the Indiana High School Athletic Association. Member schools are located in the counties of Lake, LaPorte, and Porter along Indiana's Lake Michigan shore. Each school is classified based on enrollment as 6A or 5A for football and 4A for basketball, the classes for the largest schools in Indiana. The Duneland Conference is also quite known for its gymnastics programs which have won a combined total of 35 state championship and state runner-up titles.

The Northwest Hoosier Conference was an IHSAA-sanctioned conference based in northwestern Indiana. The conference was started by five schools in 1968, and faced numerous membership changes during its span. The far-flung conference folded in 1998, when four of its members joined other leagues, and the other three schools were unable to find suitable replacements.

The Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) was a high school athletic conference serving members of the Indiana High School Athletic Association. The LAC existed in multiple guises from the fall of 1969 through the spring of 2007, at which time it comprised sixteen member high schools. The conference took its name from all its early members being located in Lake County, Indiana, in addition to the predecessing Lake 10 Conference, of which many schools were members before expansion increased the number of schools in the conference.

Membership

School Location Mascot Colors County Year
Joined
Previous Conference Year
Left
Conference Joined
Crown Point Crown Point Bulldogs         45
Lake
1949
1963

Independents
1953
1993
Independents
Duneland
Dyer Central Dyer Indians         45
Lake
1949 Lake-Porter County 1966 none (consolidated
into Lake Central)
Edison East Gary Fighting Eagles         45
Lake
1949 Lake-Porter County 1970 Independents
Gary Edison Gary Blazers         45
Lake
1949 1968 none (consolidated into
Gary West Side)
Gary Wirt Gary Troopers         45
Lake
1949 Lake-Porter County 1970 Northwestern
Griffith Griffith Panthers         45
Lake
1949 Lake-Porter County 1993 Lake 10
Hobart Hobart Brickies         45
Lake
1949 1955 Independents
Lowell Lowell Red Devils         45
Lake
1949
1956

Independents
1955
1993
Independents
Northwest Hoosier
Merrillville Merrillville Pirates         45
Lake
1949 Lake-Porter County 1975 Duneland
Portage Portage Indians             64
Porter
1949 Lake-Porter County 1970 Duneland
Highland Highland Trojans         45
Lake
1962 Independents 1993 Lake 10
Calumet Gary Warriors         45
Lake
1963 Independents 1993 Lake 10
Chesterton Chesterton Trojans         64
Porter
1963 Independents 1970 Duneland
Lake Central St. John Indians         45
Lake
1966 none (new school) 1993 Independent
Munster Munster Mustangs         45
Lake
1970 Independents 1993 Lake 10

Divisions 1963-70

North South
Calumet Crown Point
Chesterton Dyer Central (63-66)/
Lake Central (66-70)
Edison Griffith
Gary Edison (63-68) Highland
Gary Wirt Lowell
Portage Merrillville

Boys State Champions

Girls State Champions

Related Research Articles

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference

The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the western United States, mostly in Colorado with members in Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, and Utah. It participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II.

Calumet River river in the United States of America

The Calumet River is a system of heavily industrialized rivers and canals in the region between the neighborhood of South Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, and the city of Gary, Indiana. Historically, the Little Calumet River and the Grand Calumet River were one, the former flowing west from Indiana into Illinois, then turning back east to its mouth at Lake Michigan at Marquette Park in Gary.

Great Lakes Valley Conference

The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division II level. Member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri.

Porter County Conference

The Porter County Conference (PCC) is an athletic conference made up of eight Indiana high schools. Five of the eight schools are within Porter County, Indiana. Of the remaining schools, the three remaining are in LaPorte County.

The Calumet Region is the geographic area drained by the Grand Calumet River and the Little Calumet River of northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana in the United States. It is part of the Great Lakes Basin, which eventually reaches the Atlantic Ocean. It is a sub-region of the greater Northwest Indiana region and the even larger Great Lakes region.

Three Rivers Conference (Indiana)

The Three Rivers Conference is a high school athletic conference in northeast Indiana, consisting of schools in Fulton, Kosciusko, Miami, Wabash, and Whitley counties.

Northern Lakes Conference of Indiana

The Northern Lakes Conference of Indiana (NLC) is an IHSAA-sanctioned athletic conference of high schools located within Elkhart, Kosciusko and Marshall counties in Indiana, United States.

Ohio River Valley Conference

The Ohio River Valley Conference is an Indiana High School Athletic Association-sanctioned conference located in Jefferson, Ohio, Ripley, and Switzerland counties. Formed in 1952, the conference has been fairly stable throughout its history, as five of the current seven members are original members.

Greater South Shore Athletic Conference (IHSAA)

The Greater South Shore Conference is an eight-member Indiana High School Athletic Association athletic conference spanning Lake and Porter counties in Northwest Indiana. Two other members, Boone Grove and South Central, participate only in football, otherwise participating in the Porter County Conference.

Mid-Southern Conference of Indiana

A ten-member IHSAA-Sanctioned Athletic Conference within the South Central Indiana counties of Clark, Harrison, Jackson, Scott, and Washington.

The Northwestern Conference was an IHSAA-sanctioned athletic conference involving schools from Gary, Indiana.

White River Conference (Indiana)

The White River Conference was an IHSAA-sanctioned conference located within rural areas of East Central Indiana, that existed twice, once from 1954 to 1977, and from 1989 to 2010. The first version of the conference was founded as a home for high schools in Madison County who weren't in the Central Indiana Athletic Conference. The conference would expand quickly from six to nine schools, as two new high schools in Anderson and Middletown, a school in Henry County, were added within two years. Membership was generally not stable until 1969, as Madison Heights left, Highland was forced out and eventually added back into the conference, St. Mary's closed, member schools consolidated, and schools from neighboring Delaware and Hancock counties were added. Eventually, large disparities in enrollment causing the conference to disband, as city and consolidated schools outgrew their rural counterparts.. Schools would move into the Big Blue River Conference, Classic Athletic Conference, and Mid-Eastern Conference.

There were numerous conferences within the IHSAA that were made up of schools based entirely in one county. Many of these "County Conferences" also contained schools from neighboring counties that were either geographically closer or smaller than the other schools in their home county. These conferences would fold when schools would consolidate and seek out other, more expansive conferences that included similar-sized schools. The starting date of many of these conferences is hard to confirm, so the listing for many of these leagues uses the earliest date that can be confirmed.

The Lake-Porter County Conference was an IHSAA-sanctioned conference in Northwest Indiana. The conference formed by 1929 at latest, consisting of smaller schools in Lake and Porter counties. The much smaller rural Porter County schools split off in 1933, though Portage and Wheeler would compete in both the LPCC and Porter County Conference. The conference ended in 1949, as almost every school would form the Calumet Athletic Conference.