Lake Athletic Conference - History

History

The Lake Athletic Conference began as the Indiana Lake Shore Conference in 1969. The conference was formed by the non-Gary schools in the Northwestern Conference at that point. The eight founding schools were: Clark, Gavit, Hammond, Morton, and Tech from Hammond, Roosevelt and Washington from East Chicago, and Whiting High School. The conference would reach its largest size four years later, as Bishop Noll joined, putting the conference at eight football schools and nine total schools (Whiting would compete as an independent in football until 1993).

The conference would lose schools in the 1980s, eventually ending up with six members (five in football). Hammond Tech would close in 1981, and Roosevelt and Washington would combine to form East Chicago Central in 1986. ECC would leave after that year. These remaining schools would band together with four schools from the Lake Suburban Conference to form the Lake 10 Conference.

The Lake 10 was initially split into two enrollment divisions in football only. However, this would only last for five years before the conference would expand to 13 schools and rebrand itself as the LAC. The league added two schools from the Northwest Hoosier Conference and Andrean, who had been independent since leaving the Northwestern in 1975. Three more schools would join in 2003, giving the LAC 16 teams for its final four seasons.

In 2006 it was announced the LAC would disband following the 2006-'07 school year. The schools would split into three conferences. The Northwest Crossroads Conference comprises Andrean, Griffith, Highland, Hobart, Kankakee Valley, Lowell, and Munster. The Greater South Shore Conference is home to Bishop Noll, Calumet, Lake Station, Wheeler, and Whiting; joining these schools are Michigan City Marquette Catholic, North Newton, and River Forest; and South Central, a member of the Porter County Conference, joined in football only, as Marquette does not have a football team. The Hammond City Schools - Clark, Gavit, Hammond High, and Morton - formed the Great Lakes Athletic Conference, after failing to find acceptance in another conference.