The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

's Division III. Member institutions are located in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

and

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. Founded as the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference (ICAC) in 1987, it reincorporated under its current name in 1998 with the addition of several schools from Ohio. Original members of the HCAC included Anderson, Bluffton, Franklin, Hanover, Manchester, Mount St. Joseph, Wabash, and Wilmington. Of the ten current members, six were founding members of the former ICAC. Former members include DePauw (1987-1998), Taylor (1988-1991), Wabash (1987-1999), and Wilmington (1998-2000).

Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT) is a private university in Terre Haute, Indiana. Founded in 1874 in Terre Haute, Rose-Hulman is one of the United States' few undergraduate focused engineering and technology universities. Though it st ...

(1988-1998) re-joined as of July 1, 2006.

History

The Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference (ICAC) was formed in June 1987, with 1990–91 being the first full season of competition (all eight teams competing in eight varsity sports). Charter members in 1987 included Anderson University,

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the ...

, Franklin College, Hanover College,

Manchester College Manchester College might refer to: England * Manchester College, a former name of Harris Manchester College, Oxford *Manchester Metropolitan University, formerly Manchester Polytechnic, formed in 1977 by a merger between Manchester College of Art ...

, and

Wabash College Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832 by several Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, it enrolls nearly 900 students. The college offers an undergraduate liberal arts cu ...

. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and

Taylor University Taylor University is a Private university, private, Interdenominationalism, interdenominational, evangelical Christian university in Upland, Indiana. Founded in 1846, it is one of the oldest evangelical Christian universities in the country. T ...

later joined in 1988. Taylor left the conference after the 1990–91 season. The addition of three Ohio schools ( Bluffton College, the College of Mount St. Joseph, and Wilmington College) and the departure of two Indiana schools (DePauw and Rose-Hulman) during the 1998–99 season prompted a change in name to Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Wabash and Wilmington later departed in the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 seasons respectively. Defiance College and

Transylvania University Transylvania University is a private university in Lexington, Kentucky. It was founded in 1780 and was the first university in Kentucky. It offers 46 major programs, as well as dual-degree engineering programs, and is accredited by the Southern ...

joined in 2000 and 2001 respectively. Rose-Hulman re-joined the HCAC, effective for the 2006–07 season. The most recent expansion was when Earlham College of

Richmond, Indiana Richmond is a city in eastern Wayne County, Indiana. Bordering the state of Ohio, it is the county seat of Wayne County and is part of the Dayton, OH Metropolitan Statistical Area In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 36,812. Situ ...

was accepted as the 10th member of the conference in October 2009 to begin competition in the fall of 2010.

Chronological timeline

* 1987 - On June 1987, the HCAC was founded as the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference (ICAC). Charter members included Anderson College (now Anderson University),

, Franklin College, Hanover College,

, and

, effective beginning the 1987-88 academic year. * 1988 -

and

joined the ICAC, effective in the 1988-89 academic year. * 1990 - The ICAC began their first full season on competition, competing in eight varsity sports, effective in the 1990-91 academic year. * 1991 - Taylor left the ICAC, effective after the 1990-91 academic year. * 1998 - DePauw and Rose–Hulman (or Rose–Hulman Tech or RHIT) left the ICAC to join the

Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), founded in 1962, is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in Colorado, Louisiana, and Texas. Difficulties related to travel dista ...

(SCAC), effective after the 1997-98 academic year. * 1998 - Bluffton College (now Bluffton University), the College of Mount St. Joseph (now Mount St. Joseph University) and Wilmington College joined the ICAC, effective in the 1998-99 academic year. * 1998 - The ICAC has rebranded as the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC), effective in the 1998-99 academic year. * 1999 - Wabash left the HCAC to join the

North Coast Athletic Conference The North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) is an NCAA Division III athletic conference composed of colleges located in Ohio and Indiana. When founded in 1984, the league was a pioneer in gender equality, offering competition in a then-unpreced ...

(NCAC), effective after the 1998-99 academic year. Its football program later left effective after the 1999 fall season (1999-2000 academic year). * 2000 - Wilmington left the HCAC to join the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), effective after the 1999-2000 academic year. * 2000 - Defiance College joined the HCAC, effective in the in 2000-01 academic year. * 2001 -

joined the HCAC, effective in the in 2001-02 academic year. * 2006 - Rose–Hulman re-joined back to the HCAC, effective in the 2006-07 academic year. * 2010 - Earlham College joined the HCAC, effective in the 2010-11 academic year.

Member schools

Current members

The HCAC currently has ten full members, all but one are

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

schools: ;Notes:

Former members

The HCAC has four former full members, all were

schools: ;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1987 till:2027 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) 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:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text: Anderson (Ind.) (1987–present) bar:1 color:Full from:1989 till:end bar:2 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text: DePauw (1987–1998) bar:2 color:Full from:1989 till:1998 bar:3 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text: Franklin (Ind.) (1987–present) bar:3 color:Full from:1989 till:end bar:4 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text:

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

(1987–present) bar:4 color:Full from:1989 till:end bar:5 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text: Manchester (Ind.) (1987–present) bar:5 color:Full from:1989 till:end bar:6 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text: Wabash (1987–1999) bar:6 color:Full from:1989 till:1999 bar:6 color:AssocF from:1999 till:2000 bar:7 color:FullxF from:1988 till:1989 text: Rose–Hulman Tech (RHIT) (1988–1998) bar:7 color:Full from:1989 till:1998 bar:7 color:Full from:2006 till:end text:(2006–present) bar:8 color:FullxF from:1988 till:1989 text: Taylor (1988–1991) bar:8 color:Full from:1989 till:1991 bar:9 color:Full from:1998 till:end text: Bluffton (1998–present) bar:10 color:Full from:1998 till:end text: Mount St. Joseph (1998–present) bar:11 color:Full from:1998 till:2000 text: Wilmington (Oh.) (1998–2000) bar:12 color:Full from:2000 till:end text:

Defiance Defiance may refer to: Film, television and theatre * ''Defiance'' (1952 film), a Swedish drama film directed by Gustaf Molander * ''Defiance'' (1980 film), an American crime drama starring Jan-Michael Vincent * ''Defiance'' (2002 film), a ...

(2000–present) bar:13 color:FullxF from:2001 till:end text:

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...

(2001–present) bar:14 color:Full from:2010 till:end text: Earlham (2010–present) bar:N color:green from:1987 till:1998 text:Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference bar:N color:blue from:1998 till:end text:Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1987 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,25) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference membership history"

Sports

Member teams compete in women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, cross country,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

and men's

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

, cross country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

and

References

External links

* {{NCAA Division III football conference navbox Sports in Indianapolis Organizations based in Indianapolis