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.
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.
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 became 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 afterward 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.
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 Swimming (8): 1973-Munster, 1974-Munster, 1975-Munster, 1976-Munster, 1977-Munster, 1979-Munster, 1980-Munster, 1987-Lake Central Tennis (1): 1971-Crown Point
Girls State Champions Basketball (2): 1984-Crown Point, 1985-Crown Point Softball (1): 1992-Lake Central Swimming (3): 1976-Munster, 1977-Munster, 1978-Munster
Related links Northern Indiana Football History Indiana High School Athletic Association