Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
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The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, or SIAA was the first collegiate athletic conference formed in the United States. Twenty-seven (almost a quarter) of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs can claim membership in this conference, as can at least nineteen other schools. Every member of the current Southeastern Conference except for Arkansas, as well as eight of the twelve members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, can claim membership. (Duke and Wake Forest did not participate in the league; Boston College is a historically northern school; and Florida State did not sponsor football until after the league dissolved.)
It was founded in 1895 by Dr. William Dudley, Dean of the Vanderbilt University Medical College. The original members included Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Vanderbilt. Clemson, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Tulane would join a year later.
On February 25, 1921, fourteen of the thirty schools in the conference — Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Washington & Lee — left the conference to form the Southern Conference. In 1922, six more schools — Florida, LSU, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane and Vanderbilt — would join them, as would the University of the South (now known as Sewanee) in 1923 and VMI in 1925. With many of its members gone, it would have a renaissance of sorts, adding almost as many members as it had lost. Due to competition from the Southeastern and Southern Conferences, it would eventually disband after the 1941 season, as many of its teams would disband during World War II.
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[edit] Membership
(Please note; this is a partial list. For sake of convenience, current school names are used.)
[edit] Original Members
- University of Alabama 1895-1921
- Auburn University 1895-1921
- University of Georgia 1895-1921
- Georgia Tech 1895-1921
- University of North Carolina 1895-1902, 1907-1921
- Vanderbilt University 1895-1921
[edit] The First Expansion
- Clemson University 1896-1921
- University of Kentucky 1896-1921
- Louisiana State University 1896-1921
- Mississippi State University 1896-1921
- University of Tennessee 1896-1921
- Tulane University 1896-1921
[edit] Other teams which left by 1921
- North Carolina State University 1898-1906
- University of Mississippi 1899-1921
- Virginia Tech 1898, 1907-1921
- University of Virginia 1907-1921
- University of Florida 1912-1921
- University of Louisville 1914-1941
- University of South Carolina 1915-1921
- University of Maryland 1918-1921
[edit] Other current Division I FBS teams
- Louisiana Tech University 1925-1941
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette 1925-1941
- University of Miami 1929-1941
- University of Memphis 1935-1941
- Middle Tennessee State University 1931-1941
- The University of Southern Mississippi 1931-1941
- Troy University 1938-1941
[edit] Members not currently in Division I FBS
- Centenary College 1925-1941
- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (Chattanooga) 1914-1932
- The Citadel 1908-1935
- Davidson College 1898-1906
- Eastern Kentucky University 1930-1941
- Furman University 1900-1902, 1914-1929, 1932-1935
- Northwestern State University 1928-1941
- Samford University 1907-1938
- Tennessee Technological University 1933-1941
- Virginia Military Institute 1918-1921
- Western Kentucky University 1927-1941
[edit] Other Members
- Centre College
- Cumberland College (the loser in the infamous 222-0 game against John Heisman's Georgia Tech team in 1916) - was a member by 1903 because it was conference co-champion that year.
- Murray State University
- Oglethorpe University
- Presbyterian College
- Rollins College
- University of the South (Sewanee) - was a member by 1898 because it was conference champion in 1898, 1899, 1903 and 1909.
- Washington and Lee University
