ORIGINAL PCC
BOYS BASKETBALL CONFERENCE 1953-54 TO 1957-58
Porter County High Schools Form 7-Team Loop
Will Begin Play Friday; Larger Schools Left Out
This headline and and subhead appeared in the Vidette Messenger newspaper on November 5th, 1953. The article goes on to say that the league was organized this week after more than a year's attempt by several schools. A move to organize the league was voted down a month prior at a county school meeting when the larger schools voiced their opinions against it. Shortly after the meeting the Vidette Messenger urged the 7 smaller schools to continue with the plan to form a league. Frank DeBruicker, Liberty Township coach, sent letters to the other schools suggesting the plan be followed and early this week the league materialized.
For context on the "larger" and "smaller" schools, the 1953-54 enrollments were as follows. Valparaiso (2107), which was already in a conference and never intended to be a part of the new league: Chesterton (652), Portage (628), Hebron (461) were referred to in the article as the "larger" schools. The "smaller" schools were Liberty twp (413), Kouts (403), Boone Grove (303), Wheeler (265), Washington twp (211), Morgan twp (191) and Jackson twp (154). Portage and Chesterton had started to pull away from the other schools by this point. The two schools had won 9 of the previous 12 Porter County Tourney championships and 4 out of 5 more during the 5 year existence of the original PCC. In my opinion, Hebron was left in the middle with a "larger" enrollment but fit in better with the "smaller" schools. The fact that they had a good team (53 and 54 sectional titles and 54 porter county tourney title) is the only reason I can come up with as to why they wouldn't want to participate in the new league.
The formation of the league was pretty seamless as all of the schools already played each other. Some schools played each other twice and one of the games was designated as the conference game. Carl Stevens, Liberty twp principal, was voted as the President of the league. A trophy was awarded to the round robin champion. November 6, 1953 was the first conference game when Jackson twp traveled to Kouts. Jackson twp won the game 55-44. Boone Grove would go on to finish 6-0 and claim the 1953-54 PCC championship. Liberty twp won in 1954-55, Boone Grove 1955-56 and 1956-57 and Kouts 1957-58.
The "Keg", a traveling trophy, was introduced before the 1957-58 season. The Keg would change hands whenever a PCC team beat another PCC team. Wheeler was chosen to have the Keg first and on November 15, 1957 the first Keg game was played. Boone Grove traveled to Wheeler and won the keg by a score of 52-42. Hebron was included to be a part of the Keg games despite not being in the conference. This was a significant step in what would follow the next year. In 1958-59, the 8 "smaller" porter county schools formed the Porter County Conference that is known today. The conference had boys cross country, boys baseball, boys basketball and boys track. Girls sports and additional sports would be added over the years.
The "Origianl PCC" is not that well known, but its formation was a big stepping stone in the creation of the current Porter County Conference.
The following links have game results, final standings, individual scoring by game and leading scorers for the 6 PCC games.
1953-54 1954-55 1955-56 1956-57 1957-58
FINAL ROUND ROBIN STANDINGS COACHING AND TEAM RECORDS INDIVIDUAL RECORDS
TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL RECORDS BY SCHOOL
BOONE GROVE JACKSON TWP KOUTS LIBERTY TWP MORGAN TWP WASHINGTON TWP WHEELER