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 will be disbanded in 2023, but all other sports will continue.[1]
| Team | Location | Colors | Enrollment | Class | Joined | Previous Conference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 690 | B | 1965 | Great Lakes Conference (Independent from 1986 to 1988) | |||
| 428 | B | 2018 | Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference | |||
| 548 | B | 1965 | Menominee Range Conference | |||
| 896 | A | 1973 | Great Lakes Conference | |||
| 391 | C | 1965 | Independent | |||
| Team | Location | Joined | Previous Conference | Departed | Successive Conference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Escanaba Holy Name Crusaders | Escanaba | 1965 | Independent | 1970 | N/A (football team abolished) | |
| 1965 | Menominee Range Conference | 1978 | Mid-Peninsula Athletic Conference | |||
| Luther L. Wright Red Devils | Ironwood | 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 | Stephenson | 1965 | Great Lakes Conference | 1966 | Land-O-Lakes Conference |
Colors = id:barcolor value:gray(0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white
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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"
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, 2018–2021 | |
| 5 | Gladstone | 1982 | 1985 | 1998, 2022 |
| West Iron County | 1970, 1974, 1977 | |||