| Southwestern Athletic Conference |
Article Index for Southwestern |
Website Links For Southwestern Athletic Conference |
Information AboutSouthwestern Athletic Conference |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SOUTHWESTERN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE | |
| college athletics conferencescollege athletics conferences | |
| college athletics conferences | |
|
The Southwestern Athletic Conference ('''SWAC''') is a College Athletic Conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama , which is made up of Historically Black Universities in the southern United States . It participates in the NCAA 's Division I for all sports; in Football , it participates in the second-tier Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), still frequently referred to by its former designation of Division I-AA. The SWAC is one of four conferences (the others being the Ivy League , Northeast Conference , and the Pioneer Football League ) which do not participate in postseason play in the FCS football tournament—and is the only one of the four whose members offer a full complement of scholarships for football.The Ivy League does not award athletic scholarships at all. Northeast Conference members are limited to 30 football scholarships, less than half the FCS scholarship limit of 63. Pioneer League members may offer scholarships in other sports, but do not award football scholarships, and do not allow athletes receiving scholarships in other sports to play football. The SWAC splits its schools into two divisions, and instead plays a conference championship game. Furthermore, one SWAC match — the Southern (BR) Vs Grambling State Game — is positioned on the schedule after the NCAA tournament has begun. In addition to the Bayou Classic being played after the start of the NCAA Tournament, Alabama State University plays non-conference foe Tuskegee University (SIAC) annually on Thanksgiving Day (The Turkey Day Classic). These moves have been criticized by other conferences containing historically black universities, especially the only other Division I conference made up entirely of such schools, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference , which annually places its champion into the FCS tournament. HISTORY In 1920, eight men representing six colleges from the state of Texas met to discuss collegiate athletics and the many challenges that face their respective institutions. By the time the session in Houston had concluded, they had founded an athletic league that went on to become one of the leading sports associations in the world of collegiate athletics, the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The founding fathers of the original “Super Six” were C.H. Fuller of '''Bishop College''', Red Randolph and C.H. Patterson of '''Paul Quinn''', E.G. Evans, H.J. Evans and H.J. Starns of '''Prairie View A&M''', D.C. Fuller of '''Texas College''' and G. Whitte Jordan of '''Wiley College'''. Paul Quinn became the first of the original members to withdraw from the league when it did so in 1929. When Langston University of Oklahoma was admitted into the conference two years later, it began the migration of state-supported institutions into the SWAC. Southern University entered the ranks in 1934, followed by Arkansas AM&N in 1936 and Texas Southern in 1954. Rapid growth in enrollment of the state-supported schools made it difficult for the church-supported schools to finance their athletics programs and one by one they fell victim to the growing prowess of the tax-supported colleges. Bishop withdrew from the conference in 1956, Langston in 1957 and Sam Houston in 1959, one year after the admittance of two more state-supported schools – Grambling College and Jackson College. The enter-exit cycle continued in 1961 when Texas College withdrew, followed by the admittance of Alcorn A&M in 1962. Wiley left in 1968, the same year Mississippi Valley State entered. Arkansas AM&N exited in 1970 and Alabama State entered in 1982. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (formerly Arkansas AM&N) rejoined the SWAC on July 1, 1997, regaining full-member status one year later. Alabama A&M became the conference’s tenth member when it became a full member in September, 1999 after a one year period as an affiliate SWAC member. Today, the SWAC ranks among the elite in the nation in terms of alumni playing with professional sports teams, particularly in the sport of football. On the gridiron, the conference as been the biggest draw on the Division I-AA level of the NCAA, leading the nation in average home attendance for 19 of the 20 years division I-AA has been in existence. In fact, in 1994, the SWAC fell just 40,000 fans short of becoming the first non-Division I-A conference to attract one million fans to it’s home games. Current championship competition offered by the SWAC includes competition for men in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, indoor track, outdoor track & field and tennis. Women’s competition is offered in the sports of basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, indoor track, outdoor track & field, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball. http://www.swac.org/conference/history.htm CURRENT MEMBER SCHOOLS ;Teams
FORMER MEMBERS (AND YEARS OF MEMBERSHIP)
CONFERENCE FACILITIES NOTES AND REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS |
|
|