Great Northern UP Conference
{{Short description|Sports organization}}
{{about|the Michigan athletics conference|the Wisconsin conference|Great Northern Conference}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
The Great Northern UP Conference, is an athletic conference for high schools in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was formed in 1965 as the Great Northern Conference and changed its name to the A-B-C Conference in 1984, and again to its current name in 1990. The football conference was disbanded in 2023, but all other sports continue.{{cite web |last1=Kochanny |first1=Drew |title=Change Coming to Big North |url=https://www.petoskeynews.com/story/sports/2022/09/29/change-coming-to-big-north-in-2023-with-addition-of-three-u-p-programs/69526429007/ |website=Petoskey News}}
Member schools
=Current members=
| class="wikitable sortable" | |||||||
| Team
!Location !Colors !Enrollment !Class !Joined !Previous Conference | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Escanaba Eskymos | Escanaba
|{{Color box|FF6600 | |border=darkgray}} {{Color box|black | |border=darkgray}} | 690 | B | 1965 | Great Lakes Conference (Independent from 1986 to 1988) |
| Gladstone Braves | Gladstone
|{{Color box|purple | |border=darkgray}} {{Color box|white|border=darkgray}} | 428 | B | 2018 | Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference | |
| Kingsford Flivvers | Kingsford
|{{Color box|blue | |border=darkgray}} {{Color box|gold | |border=darkgray}} | 548 | B | 1965 | Menominee Range Conference |
| Marquette Redmen | Marquette
|{{Color box|red | |border=darkgray}} {{Color box|white | |border=darkgray}} | 896 | A | 1973 | Great Lakes Conference |
| Menominee Maroons | Menominee
|{{Color box|maroon | |border=darkgray}} {{Color box|gold | |border=darkgray}} | 391 | C | 1965 | Independent |
=Former members=
| class="wikitable sortable" | |||||
| Team
!Location !Joined !Previous Conference !Departed !Successive Conference | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Escanaba Holy Name Crusaders
|Escanaba |1965 |Independent |1970 |N/A (football team abolished) | |||||
| Iron Mountain Mountaineers | Iron Mountain | 1965 | Menominee Range Conference | 1978 | Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference |
| Luther L. Wright Red Devils
|1971 |Menominee Range Conference |1987 |Independent | |||||
| West Iron County Wykons | Iron River | 1968 | None (School opened) | 1988 (Independent from 1982 to 1986) | Independent |
| Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils | Sault Ste. Marie | 2016 | Independent | 2017 | Independent |
| Stephenson Eagles
|1965 |Great Lakes Conference |1966 |Land-O-Lakes Conference |
= Membership timeline =
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1965 till:2026
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:gray(0.7)
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:powderblue from:1965 till:1986 text: Escanaba Eskymos (1965-1986; 1988-present)
bar:1 color:powderblue from:1987 till:end text:
bar:2 color:powderblue from:1965 till:1970 text: Escanaba Holy Name Crusaders (1965-1970)
bar:3 color:powderblue from:1974 till:2016 text: Gladstone Braves (1974-2016; 2018-present)
bar:3 color:powderblue from:2018 till:end text:
bar:4 color:powderblue from:1965 till:1977 text: Iron Mountain Mountaineers (1965-1977)
bar:5 color:powderblue from:1971 till:1977 text: Ironwood Red Devils (1971-1977; 1986-1987)
bar:5 color:powderblue from:1986 till:1987 text:
bar:6 color:powderblue from:1965 till:end text: Kingsford Flivvers (1965-present)
bar:7 color:powderblue from:1973 till:end text: Marquette Redmen (1973-present)
bar:8 color:powderblue from:1965 till:end text: Menominee Maroons (1965-present)
bar:9 color:powderblue from:2016 till:2018 text: Sault Area Blue Devils (2016-2018)
bar:10 color:powderblue from:1965 till:1966 text: Stephenson Eagles (1965-1966)
bar:11 color:powderblue from:1968 till:1981 text: West Iron County Wykons (1968-1981; 1986-1987)
bar:11 color:powderblue from:1986 till:1987 text:
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1972
TextData =
fontsize:L
textcolor:black
pos:(250,30) # tabs:(0-center)
text:"Great Northern U.P. Conference Membership History"
Football
This list of conference champions goes through the 2022 season. 2022 is the last year that the GNC had a football conference, it will be disbanded for 2023.
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" | ||||
| # | Team | GNC (1965–1984) | ABC (1984–1990) | GNC (1990–present) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Menominee | 1969, 1971, 1982, 1983 | 1986-1988 | 1994, 1997–1999, 2003, 2005–2007, 2011, 2013–2016, 2021 |
| 2 | Kingsford | 1965, 1969 | 1990–1996, 2000–2002, 2004, 2008–2010, 2012, 2017, 2021 | |
| 3 | Escanaba | 1966–1968, 1972, 1973, 1978-1982 | 1984, 1988, 1989 | 1994, 1998, 2018 |
| 4 | Marquette | 1975, 1976 | 2011, 2018–2021 | |
| rowspan=2|5 | Gladstone | 1982 | 1985 | 1998, 2022 |
| West Iron County | 1970, 1974, 1977 | {{n/a}} |
References
{{Reflist}}{{Great Northern UP Conference}}
Category:Michigan high school sports conferences
{{Michigan-stub}}