History

Formed in 1964 by William Vogel, Lakeland High School quickly moved into the upper echelon of programs both in New York and the nation. In the early 1970s, Walter Panas, under the direction of Ted Belch, quickly became one of the nation’s premier teams. Greg Varley became the Director of Debate at Lakeland High School in 1982, and became the director of the Unified Lakeland District debate program in 1986. Peter Kruppenbacher, Tom Peters, and Kevin Hamrick directed the program from 1999-2005. Stefan Bauschard took over the program in the Fall of 2005.

Competitive Program Highlights

· 2500+ Individual team and District awards
· 30 Trips to the NFL Championships
· 23 Trips to the Tournament of Champions
· 24 Trips to the NCFL National Championships
· 12 New York State Debate Championships
(more than any other school or
District in the state of New York)
· 3 National Championships
· 3 Emory University Gold Key Coaches
· Participation in over 100 different tournaments
· A member of the NFL Coaches Hall of Fame
· Over 700 students qualified to the NY State Debate Championships
· 18 NFL District Championships