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The Border Conference, officially known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was an NCAA-affiliated college athletic conference founded in 1931 that disbanded following the 1961–62 season. Centered in the southwestern United States, the conference included nine member institutions located in the states of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

History

Chronological timeline

* 1931 - The Border Conference (also known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association) was founded. Charter members included the University of Arizona, Arizona State Teachers College at Flagstaff (now Northern Arizona University), Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe (now Arizona State University), the University of New Mexico and New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (now New Mexico State University), effective beginning the 1931-32 academic year.
* 1932 - Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) joined the Border, effective the 1932-33 academic year.
* 1935 - The College of Mines and Metallurgy of the University of Texas (now the University of Texas at El Paso) joined the Border, effective the 1935-36 academic year.
* 1941 - Hardin–Simmons University and West Texas State Teachers College (now West Texas A&M University) joined the Border, effective the 1941-42 academic year.
* 1952 - New Mexico left the Border to join the Skyline Conference (a.k.a. the Mountain States Conference), effective after the 1951-52 academic year.
* 1953 - Northern Arizona left the Border to join the New Mexico Conference, effective after the 1952-53 academic year.
* 1957 - Texas Tech left the Border to join the Southwest Conference, effective after the 1956-57 academic year.
* 1962 - The Border ceased operations as an athletic conference, effective after the 1962-63 academic year; as many schools left to find new conference homes, effective beginning the 1963-64 academic year: Arizona and Arizona State to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC); while Hardin–Simmons, New Mexico State, UTEP and West Texas A&M began to compete as Independents.

Member schools

Final members

;Notes:

Former members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1931 till:2025
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5

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id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote)
id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two

PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:Full from:1931 till:1962 text: Arizona (1931–1962)
bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1962 till:1978 text: WAC
bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:1978 till:end text:Pac-12

bar:2 color:Full from:1931 till:1953 text: Arizona State Teachers–Flagstaff (1931–1953)
bar:2 shift:(20) color:OtherC1 from:1953 till:1962 text: New Mexico
bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:1962 till:1970 text: NAIA Indy
bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1970 till:end text: Big Sky

bar:3 color:Full from:1931 till:1962 text: Arizona State Teachers–Tempe (1931–1962)
bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1962 till:1978 text: WAC
bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:1978 till:end text:Pac-12

bar:4 color:Full from:1931 till:1951 text: University of New Mexico (1931–1951)
bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1951 till:1962 text: Skyline
bar:4 color:OtherC2 from:1962 till:1999 text: WAC
bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1999 till:end text: MWC

bar:5 color:Full from:1931 till:1962 text: New Mexico A&M (1931–1962)
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1962 till:1970 text: FBS Indy
bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:1970 till:1983 text: MVC
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1983 till:2005 text: Big West
bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2023 text: WAC
bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2023 till:end text: C-USA

bar:6 color:Full from:1932 till:1957 text: Texas Technological (1932–1957)
bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1957 till:1996 text: Southwest
bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:1996 till:end text: Big 12

bar:7 color:Full from:1935 till:1962 text: Texas Mines (1935–1962)
bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1962 till:1967 text: FBS Indy
bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:1967 till:2005 text: WAC
bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:end text: C-USA

bar:8 color:Full from:1941 till:1962 text: Hardin-Simmons (1941–1962)
bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1962 till:1990 text: D-III Indy
bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:1990 till:1996 text: TIAA
bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:end text: American Southwest

bar:9 color:Full from:1941 till:1962 text: West Texas Teachers' (1941–1962)
bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1962 till:1972 text: FBS Indy
bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:1972 till:1986 text: MVC
bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1986 till:1991 text: Lone Star
bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:1991 till:1993 text: D-II Indy
bar:9 shift:(30) color:OtherC1 from:1993 till:end text: Lone Star

bar:N color:red from:1931 till:1962 text:Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association
bar:N color:blue from:1962 till:end text:Post-Border

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:6 start:1932

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fontsize:M
textcolor:black
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text:"Border Conference membership history"

Football champions

Texas Tech holds the most conference championships at seven. Arizona State won six conference championships followed by Arizona (three), Hardin–Simmons (two) and both West Texas State and the Texas State School of Mines hold one each. From 1932 to 1934 and 1943 to 1945 no champion was named. There were only two seasons where the title was split and two co-champions were named; 1938, New Mexico and New Mexico A&M and in 1942 Hardin–Simmons and Texas Tech. The winner of the conference title generally received an invitation to serve as the host team for the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas.

Current conference affiliations of former members

The nine former football-playing members of the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association are currently affiliated with the following nine conferences (all NCAA Division I FBS unless indicated):

*Arizona State University and University of Arizona – Pac-12 Conference
* Hardin–Simmons University – American Southwest Conference (Division III)
* University of New Mexico – Mountain West Conference
* New Mexico State University – Independent (football), Western Athletic Conference (all other sports). Moving fully to Conference USA in 2023.
*Northern Arizona University – Big Sky Conference (Division I FCS)
* University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) – Conference USA
* Texas Tech University – Big 12 Conference
* West Texas A&M University – Lone Star Conference (Division II)

See also

* List of defunct college football conferences

References

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