Lake Superior Conference

The Lake Superior Conference is a high school athletic conference with its membership centered around the Twin Ports region at the mouth of the Saint Louis River in Lake Superior. It was founded in 1939 and its member schools belong to the Minnesota State High School League and Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

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Location of Original Big Six Conference Members:

The Lake Superior Conference was formed in 1939, and it was originally known as the Big Six Conference to reflect the number of its original member schools (Cloquet, Denfeld, Duluth Central, Morgan Park, Proctor and Two Harbors).^[1] At the time of the Big Six Conference's formation, all of its members also belonged to the Head of the Lakes Conference, which included Duluth Cathedral and three high schools across the Saint Louis River in Wisconsin (Superior Cathedral, Superior Central and Superior East). After a short hiatus from 1946^[2] to 1948,^[3] the Big Six resumed competition and changed its name as the conference grew; becoming the Big Seven in 1951 (Duluth East),^[4] the Big Eight in 1954 (Grand Marais),^[5] the Big Nine in 1958 (Silver Bay)^[6] and finally, the Big Ten in 1962 (Hermantown).^[7] The Big Ten Conference maintained its member roster until 1974, when Duluth Cathedral joined the conference, and the conference changed its name to the Lake Superior Conference due to there being more than ten member schools.^[8]

After the conference's name change, the Lake Superior Conference stayed at eleven schools until 1982, when Morgan Park closed its doors^[9] and merged into Denfeld.^[10] The school became known as Denfeld-Morgan Park for one school year before reverting to the original Denfeld name in 1983. The next year, the Lake Superior Conference accepted its first ever Wisconsin-based member in Superior High School.^[11] Membership in the Lake Superior Conference remained stable for sixteen years until in 1999, four schools (Duluth Central, Duluth East, Silver Bay and Superior) left the conference; Silver Bay joined the Polar League and the other three schools became independents.^[12] Prior to the exit of these four schools, the members of the conference voted to disband following the 1999-2000 season, citing disparities in enrollment and competition levels.^[13] In 2000, the members of the Lake Superior Conference decided not to disband and two schools made their return: Duluth Central and Superior.^[14] Their entry into the Lake Superior Conference offset the loss of Cook County to independent status. In 2006, Two Harbors left to join the Polar League and were replaced by Ashland, who had just left the WIAA's Lumberjack Conference.^[15] In preparation for the closing of Duluth Central High School, the athletic programs at Central and Denfeld merged in 2010, initially competing under the Central banner before reverting to Denfield after the two schools merged in 2011.^[16] Ashland left the Lake Superior Conference to compete as an independent for the 2020-21 school year prior to joining the WIAA's Heart O'North Conference.^[17] They were replaced by Grand Rapids, who previously competed as an independent after leaving the Iron Range Conference in 2019.^[18] They were followed by Hibbing in 2021, who left the Iron Range in 2020 and brought the Lake Superior Conference to its current tally of eight member schools.^[19]

Football was sponsored for the first time with Silver Bay's entry into the Big Nine in 1958, and all nine schools participated with the conference's first season. Membership was split into two divisions: the four Duluth schools were placed in the City Division and the other five became the Seaway Division.^[20] Hermantown joined the Seaway Division for football when it entered the conference for all other sports in 1962.^[21] For the 1966 season, Cloquet was shifted over to join with the Duluth schools, and the City Division was renamed the Zenith Division.^[22] Duluth Cathedral joined the football roster in 1974, competing in the Zenith Division for the final four seasons of football sponsorship.^[23] The Lake Superior Conference discontinued sponsorship of football after the 1977 season as part of a larger realignment of football schools in the Iron Range. All six Zenith Division schools joined with Grand Rapids and Hibbing to form the Northern Lakes Conference,^[24] four schools in the Seaway Division (Hermantown, Proctor, Silver Bay and Two Harbors) partnered with five former Iron Range Conference schools (Aurora-Hoyt Lakes, Eveleth, Greenway, International Falls and Virginia) in the new Sea-Range Conference,^[25] and Grand Marais became members of the Arrowhead Conference.^[26]

 City/Zenith Division  Seaway Division

Lake Superior Conference

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Location of Lake Superior Conference full members:

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Cloquet

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Denfeld

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Grand Rapids

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Hermantown

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Hibbing

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Marshall School

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Proctor

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Superior

• Lake Superior Conference (official website)