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The Suburban Lakes League may now be a thing of the past, but thanks to long time veteran Eastwood coach Mike Gardner we have a final analysis of the league’s champions dating back to its inaugural season, 1972-73.
Mike had some help from son Chris, who completed the project, which is in the form of a self-published book. Chris, 28, has been the first assistant golf professional at the U.S. Naval Academy Golf Club in Annapolis, Md., since the spring of 2008 and had to send the final analysis to Mike after the league folded at the end of last spring.
The entire “book” is over a half-inch thick and has more statistics than baseball historians would want to contend with.
Since 1972-73, 10 different schools have competed for SLL championships. Eastwood seems to be the clear all-time winner with 22 all-sports championships, followed by Lakota and Oak Harbor (6 each), Genoa and Otsego (2 each), and Lake and Woodmore (1 each).
In 39 years, Eastwood boys’ golf and volleyball never finished in the lower division of the standings as did Elmwood softball and Oak Harbor wrestling (minimum 10 seasons).
In boys’ all-sports, Eastwood had 16 titles, followed by Genoa and Lakota (6 each), Elmwood and Oak Harbor (4 each), Woodmore (2), and Otsego (1). In girls’ all-sports, Eastwood had 23 titles, Oak Harbor 5, Lakota 4, Otsego 2, and getting one each were Elmwood, Lake, and Woodmore.
The most boys’ championships were Eastwood (68), Genoa (54), Lakota (46), Elmwood (45), Woodmore (30), Oak Harbor (24), Otsego (20), Gibsonburg (15), Lake (6), and Northwood (2). It might be noted that Lakota was in the league 37 years, Lake 15 years, and Oak Harbor and Northwood 14 years each.
The most girls’ championships were Eastwood (69), Lakota and Woodmore (26 each), Elmwood (15), Gibsonburg (12), Genoa (11), Otsego (10), Oak Harbor (7), Lake (6), and Northwood (2).
The leading boys championships by sport were Elmwood baseball (17), Lakota cross country (16), Eastwood track (14), Eastwood golf, Genoa baseball, and Genoa golf (13 each), Genoa football and Lakota track (12 each), Elmwood wrestling and Oak Harbor wrestling (11 each), Lakota wrestling (10), and Eastwood basketball and Eastwood football (9).
Leading girls championships by sport were Eastwood volleyball (24), Eastwood basketball (22), Eastwood track (20), Woodmore cross country (14), Lakota cross country (11), Elmwood softball and Otsego volleyball (7 each), Lakota basketball and Oak Harbor track (6 each), and Genoa volleyball, Gibsonburg softball, Lakota track, and Woodmore track (5 each).
Gardner been keeping track and documenting which schools have won championships since the SLL began 48 years ago. He has been averaging the results and some are shown in an adjacent chart.
“There’s a lot there. Some of it is busy-work and stuff, but some of it is neat,” Gardner said. “It’s been fun. It’s one of the few things I have started and stayed at my entire career.”
“A lot of it I just did at season’s end, because most of the sports you can get because it is in the paper one way or another, whether it is golf, track, cross country, whatever. Those are all one-day shots and finding them in the papers is easy. Basketball and football are always easy. The only ones that I ever had trouble with were baseball, softball, and volleyball and I would just get those from the coach at the end of the season or the commissioner.”
For the first seven years only seven boys’ sports counted towards the All-Sports Award. They were baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, wrestling, and track.
Girls sports began in 1974-75, but they did not count toward the All-Sports Award until 1975-76. The sports were volleyball, basketball, and track.
Girls cross country was added and began counting toward the All-Sports Award in 1979-80. Only five schools had cross country in that first year. Genoa, Gibsonburg, and Oak Harbor did not. Oak Harbor added girls cross country in 1980-81. Genoa and Gibsonburg added girls cross country in 1987-88.
Oak Harbor’s last year in the league was 1985-86, leaving to rejoin the Sandusky Bay Conference. The next year, Northwood replaced Oak Harbor.
Girls’ softball was added and began counting toward the All-Sports Award in 1992-93. Only six schools had softball that first year. Gibsonburg and Lakota did not. Lakota added softball in 1994-95 and Gibsonburg added softball in 1995-96.
Lake was admitted to the league as a ninth member in 1996-97. Northwood’s last year was 1999-2000, leaving for the TAAC and bringing the SLL back to eight members.
Boys’ soccer was added and began counting toward the All-Sports Award in 2006-07. Only five schools had boys’ soccer in that first year. Elmwood, Gibsonburg, and Lakota did not.
Girls soccer was added and began counting in 2008-09. Only five schools had girls’ soccer that first year — Elmwood, Gibsonburg, and Lakota did not. Lakota’s last year in the league was 2007.
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