Food LionSoCon Sponsorship
The History of the Southern Conference
The Southern Conference, which began its 88th season of intercollegiate competition in 2008, is a national leader in emphasizing the development of the student-athlete and in helping to build lifelong leaders and role models.
The Southern Conference has been on the forefront of innovation and originality in developing creative solutions to address issues facing intercollegiate athletics. From establishing the first conference basketball tournament (1921), tackling the issue of freshmen eligibility (1922), developing women’s championships (1984) and becoming the first conference to install the three-point goal in basketball (1980), the Southern Conference has been a pioneer.
The Southern Conference is the nation’s fifth-oldest NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association. Only the Big Ten (1896), the Missouri Valley (1907), the Pacific 10 (1915) and the Southwestern Athletic (1920) conferences are older in terms of origination.
Academic excellence has been a major part of the Southern Conference’s tradition. Hundreds of Southern Conference student-athletes have been recognized on ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America and all-district teams. A total of 19 Rhodes Scholarship winners have been selected from conference institutions.
The Conference currently consists of 12 members in five states throughout the Southeast and sponsors 19 varsity sports and championships that produce participants for NCAA Division I Championships.
The Southern Conference offices are located in the historic Beaumont Mill in Spartanburg, S.C. A textile mill that was in operation from 1880 until 1999, Beaumont Mill was renovated in 2004 and today offers the league first class meeting areas and offices as well as a spacious library for storage of the conference’s historical documents.
Membership History
On Feb. 25, 1921, representatives from 14 of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s (SIAA) 30 members met at Atlanta’s Piedmont Hotel to establish the Southern Intercollegiate Conference. On hand at the inaugural meeting were officials from Alabama, Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn), Clemson, Georgia, Georgia School of Technology (Georgia Tech), Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi A&M (Mississippi State), North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) and Washington & Lee.
Dr. S.V. Sanford of Georgia was chosen as acting chairman and N.W. Dougherty of Tennessee was named secretary. The decision to form a new athletic conference was motivated by the desire to have a workable number of conference games for each league member. With 30 schools in the SIAA by the early 1920s, it was impossible to play every school at least once during the regular season and many schools went several years between playing some conference members. In addition, in 1920, the SIAA voted down proposed rules that an athlete must be in a college a year before playing on its teams and refused to abolish a rule permitting athletes to play summer baseball for money.
Play began in the fall of 1921 and a year later, six more schools joined the fledgling league including Tulane (which had attended the inaugural meeting but had elected not to join), Florida, Louisiana (LSU), Mississippi, South Carolina and Vanderbilt. VMI joined in 1925 and Duke was added in 1929.
By the 1930s, membership in the Southern Conference had reached 23 schools. C.P. “Sally” Miles of Virginia Tech, president of the Southern Conference, called the annual league meeting to order on Dec. 9, 1932 at the Farragut Hotel in Knoxville, Tenn. Georgia’s Dr. Sanford announced that 13 institutions west and south of the Appalachian Mountains were reorganizing as the Southeastern Conference. Members of the new league included Alabama, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Florida, Georgia, Georgia School of Technology, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Mississippi A&M, University of the South, Tennessee, Tulane and Vanderbilt.
According to the minutes of the meeting, Dr. Sanford stated that the division was made along geographical lines. Florida’s Dr. J.J. Tigert, acting as spokesman for the withdrawing group, regretted the move but believed it was necessary as the Southern Conference had grown too large. The resignations were accepted and the withdrawing schools formed the new league which began play in 1932.
The Southern Conference continued with membership of 10 institutions including Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Virginia, VMI, Virginia Tech and Washington & Lee.
The second major shift occurred some 20 years later. By 1952, the Southern Conference included 17 colleges and universities. Another split occurred when seven schools including Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest departed to form the Atlantic Coast Conference which began play in 1953. The revamped Southern Conference included members The Citadel, Davidson, Furman, George Washington, Richmond, VMI, Virginia Tech, Washington & Lee, West Virginia and William & Mary.
Today, the league continues to thrive with a membership that includes 12 institutions and a footprint that spans five states: Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Georgia. Current league members are Appalachian State, College of Charleston, The Citadel, Davidson, Elon, Furman, Georgia Southern, UNC Greensboro, Samford, Chattanooga, Western Carolina and Wofford.
Click here to visit the official SoCon website.
