Southwestern Athletic Conference Totally Explained

Everything about Southwestern Athletic Conference totally explained

ť "Southwestern Conference" redirects here. For the former major conference in Texas and Arkansas, see Southwest Conference; for the Ohio High School Conference abbreviated as the SWC, see Southwestern Conference (Ohio)

Southwestern Athletic Conference

Data
Classification	NCAA Division I FCS
Established	1920
Members	10
Sports fielded	18 (8 men's, 10 women's)
Region	Southern United States
States	5 - Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas
Headquarters	Birmingham, Alabama
Locations

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 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 don't 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 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'd 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 College, 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 University 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 Huston-Tillotson (formerly Samuel Huston) in 1959, one year after the admittance of two more state-supported schools – Grambling College and Jackson State 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 College entered. Arkansas AM&N exited in 1970 and Alabama State University 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 University 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 Football Championship Subdivision level of the NCAA, leading the nation in average home attendance for 19 of the 20 years the FCS has been in existence. In fact, in 1994, the SWAC fell just 40,000 fans short of becoming the first non-Football Bowl Subdivision conference to attract one million fans to its 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.

Current member schools

Institution	Location	Founded	Affiliation	Enrollment
Alabama A&M University	Normal, Alabama	1875	Public	6,323
Alabama State University	Montgomery, Alabama	1867	Public	7,134
Alcorn State University	Lorman, Mississippi	1871	Public	2,705
University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff	Pine Bluff, Arkansas	1873	Public	3,303
Grambling State University	Grambling, Louisiana	1901	Public	4,999
Jackson State University	Jackson, Mississippi	1877	Public	8,351
Mississippi Valley State University	Itta Bena, Mississippi	1950	Public	3,621
Prairie View A&M University	Prairie View, Texas	1876	Public	8,100
Southern University	Baton Rouge, Louisiana	1880	Public	9,438
Texas Southern University	Houston, Texas	1947	Public	11,365

Former members (and years of membership)

Arkansas AM&N (from 1936 to 1970; returned as Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 1997)

Bishop College (from 1920 to 1956)

Langston University (from 1931 to 1957)

Paul Quinn College (from 1920 to 1929)

Samuel Huston College (later Huston-Tillotson College) (from 1920 to 1959)

Texas College (from 1920 to 1961)

Wiley College (from 1920 to 1968)

Conference facilities

School	Football stadium	Capacity	Basketball arena	Capacity
Alabama A&M	Louis Crews Stadium	21,000	Elmore Gymnasium	6,000
Alabama State	Cramton Bowl	21,800	Joe L. Reed Acadome	8,000
Alcorn State	Jack Spinks Stadium	22,500	Davey Whitney Complex	7,000
Arkansas Pine Bluff	Lion Stadium	12,500	K.L. Johnson Complex	4,500
Grambling State	Eddie Robinson Stadium	19,800	Health & Physical Educational Building Memorial Gymnasium	7,500 2,200
Jackson State	Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium	62,000	Williams Assembly Center	8,000
Mississippi Valley State	Rice-Totten Field	10,000	Harrison HPER Complex	5,000
Prairie View A&M	Blackshear Stadium	6,000	William Nicks Building	5,520
Southern	Ace W. Mumford Stadium	28,400	F.G. Clark Center	7,500
Texas Southern	Alexander Durley Sports Complex (primary) Reliant Stadium (secondary)	5,600 68,000	Health and Physical Education Arena	8,100

SWAC football championship games

All games at Birmingham, Alabama

1999 Southern 31-30 Jackson State

2000 Grambling State 14-6 Alabama A&M

2001 Grambling State 38-31 Alabama State

2002 Grambling State 31-19 Alabama A&M

2003 Southern 20-9 Alabama State

2004 Alabama State 40-35 Southern

2005 Grambling State 45-6 Alabama A&M

2006 Alabama A&M 22-13 Arkansas-Pine Bluff

2007 Jackson State 42-31 Grambling State

SWAC Divisions

Eastern Division

Alabama A&M

Alabama State

Alcorn State

Mississippi Valley State

Jackson State

Western Division

Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Grambling State

Prairie View A&M

Southern

Texas Southern

Notes and references

Further Information

Get more info on 'Southwestern Athletic Conference'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://southwestern_athletic_conference.totallyexplained.com">Southwestern Athletic Conference Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.