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.
Member schools Current members TeamLocationColorsEnrollmentClassJoinedPrevious ConferenceEscanaba Eskymos Escanaba 690 B 1965 Great Lakes Conference (Independent from 1986 to 1988)Gladstone Braves Gladstone 428 B 2018 Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference Kingsford Flivvers Kingsford 548 B 1965 Menominee Range ConferenceMarquette Sentinels Marquette 896 A 1973 Great Lakes ConferenceMenominee Maroons Menominee 391 C 1965 Independent
Former members TeamLocationJoinedPrevious ConferenceDepartedSuccessive ConferenceEscanaba Holy Name CrusadersEscanaba1965Independent1970N/A (football team abolished)Iron Mountain Mountaineers Iron Mountain 1965 Menominee Range Conference 1978 Mid-Peninsula Athletic ConferenceLuther L. Wright Red DevilsIronwood1971Menominee Range Conference1987IndependentWest Iron County WykonsIron River 1968 None (School opened) 1988 (Independent from 1982 to 1986) IndependentSault Ste. Marie Blue DevilsSault Ste. Marie 2016 Independent 2017 IndependentStephenson EaglesStephenson1965Great Lakes Conference1966Land-O-Lakes Conference
Membership timeline
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. # 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, 2018–20215 Gladstone 1982 1985 1998, 2022 West Iron County 1970, 1974, 1977
References