The Mason–Dixon Conference is a defunct

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 an ...

Division II (former ''NCAA College Division'') athletics conference, formed in 1936 and disbanded in October 1978. A track championship bearing the conference's name continued for several years after the demise of the all-sports league. Its members were predominantly from states bordering the eponymous

Mason–Dixon line The Mason–Dixon line, also called the Mason and Dixon line or Mason's and Dixon's line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia (part of Virginia ...

. A similarly named Mason-Dixon Athletic Conference began play in NCAA Division II men's basketball in 1983–84 with three of the previous members ( Mount St. Mary's University,

Randolph–Macon College Randolph–Macon College is a private liberal arts college in Ashland, Virginia. Founded in 1830, the college has an enrollment of more than 1,500 students. It is the second-oldest Methodist-run college in the country, and the oldest in continu ...

, University of Maryland–Baltimore County) plus

Longwood University Longwood University is a public university in Farmville, Virginia. Founded in 1839, it is the third-oldest public university in Virginia and one of the hundred oldest institutions of higher education in the United States. Previously a college, Lo ...

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...

and the

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown (UPJ or Pitt-Johnstown) is a state-related college in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It is a baccalaureate degree-granting regional campus of the University of Pittsburgh. The university is located in Richland T ...

. Originally for

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 events ...

only, it was established in 1936 by Waldo Hamilton and Dorsey Griffith who both coached the sport at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

and

The Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private university, private Catholic church, Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution ...

respectively. Its main purpose was to provide an annual championship meet for smaller colleges. The circuit began with nine member schools. Besides the institutions for which the founders represented, the others were

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

Gallaudet University Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first sc ...

, Randolph–Macon College,

University of Baltimore The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt's schools and colleges provide education in business, law, public affairs, and the applied arts and sc ...

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

Washington College Washington College is a private liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" name ...

and

Western Maryland College McDaniel College is a private college in Westminster, Maryland. Established in 1867, it was known as Western Maryland College until 2002 when it was renamed McDaniel College in honor of an alumnus who gave a lifetime of service to the college. ...

. Within four years it began to include other sports. Men'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 ...

was added in 1940.McManes, Chris. "Flight of the Cardinals: A 100-year history of CUA men's basketball," The Catholic University of America Athletics, Monday, November 1, 2010.
/ref> The Mason–Dixon Conference sought to "solidify small college athletics and to stimulate a competitive spirit."

Member schools

Founding members

;Notes:

Other members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1936 till:1978 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:Full from:1936 till:1966 text:

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

(1936–1966) bar:2 color:Full from:1936 till:end text:

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

(1936–1978) bar:3 color:Full from:1936 till:1976 text: Catholic (D.C.) (1936–1976) bar:4 color:Full from:1936 till:1947 text:

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

(1936–1947) bar:5 color:Full from:1936 till:1974 text:

Gallaudet Gallaudet University ( ) is a private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the Hearing loss, deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a gramma ...

(1936–1974) bar:6 color:Full from:1936 till:1974 text:

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland where he remained for most ...

(1936–1974) bar:7 color:Full from:1936 till:1975 text: Randolph–Macon (1936–1975) bar:8 color:Full from:1936 till:1972 text: Washington (Md.) (1936–1972) bar:9 color:Full from:1936 till:1974 text:

Western Maryland upright=1.2, An enlargeable map of Maryland's 23 counties and one independent city Western Maryland, also known as the Maryland Panhandle, is the portion of the U.S. state of Maryland that typically consists of Washington, Allegany, and Garret ...

(1936–1974) bar:10 color:Full from:1936 till:1939 text: St. John's (Md.) (1936–1939?) bar:11 color:Full from:1939 till:end text: Towson State (1939–1978) bar:12 color:Full from:1940 till:end text: Loyola (Md.) (1940–1978) bar:13 color:Full from:1940 till:end text: Mount St. Mary's (1940–1978) bar:14 color:Full from:1941 till:1976 text: Bridgewater (1941–1976) bar:15 color:Full from:1947 till:1976 text: Hampden–Sydney (1947–1976) bar:16 color:Full from:1948 till:1969 text: Lynchburg (1948–1969) bar:17 color:Full from:1962 till:1969 text:

Old Dominion Old Dominion most commonly refers to: *The Old Dominion, a nickname for the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia ** Colony of Virginia *Old Dominion University, a public university in Norfolk, Virginia **Old Dominion Monarchs, the athletic teams represe ...

(1962–1969) bar:18 color:Full from:1964 till:1968 text:

Shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

(1964–1968) bar:19 color:Full from:1972 till:end text:

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of the three delegates present who refused to sign the Constitution. His writings, including s ...

(1972–1978) bar:20 color:Full from:1972 till:end text:

UMBC The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a public research university in Baltimore County, Maryland. It has a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 undergraduate majors, over 92 graduate programs (38 master, 25 doctoral, ...

(1972–1978) bar:21 shift:(-40) color:Full from:1974 till:1976 text: Salisbury State (1974–1976) bar:22 shift:(-40) color:Full from:1974 till:1976 text: Emory & Henry (1974–1976) bar:23 shift:(-80) color:Full from:1975 till:1976 text:

Washington & Lee , mottoeng = "Not Unmindful of the Future" , established = , type = Private liberal arts university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.092 billion (2021) , president = William C. Dudley , provost = Lena Hill , city = Lexingto ...

(1975–1976) bar:24 shift:(-110) color:Full from:1977 till:end text: Frostburg State (1977–1978) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1936

Champions by sport

Men's basketball

*1941 – Western Maryland *1942 – Loyola *1943 – Gallaudet *1944 – Mount Saint Mary's *1945 – American *1946 – American *1947 – Loyola *1948 – Loyola *1949 – Loyola *1950 – American *1951 – American *1952 – Baltimore *1953 – Loyola *1954 – Mount Saint Mary's *1955 – Mount Saint Mary's *1956 – Mount Saint Mary's *1957 – Mount Saint Mary's *1958 – American *1959 – American *1960 – American and Mount Saint Mary's *1961 – Catholic and Mount Saint Mary's *1962 – Mount Saint Mary's *1963 – Mount Saint Mary's *1964 – Catholic *1965 – Randolph–Macon *1966 – Randolph–Macon *1967 – Mount Saint Mary's *1968 – Roanoke *1969 – Old Dominion *1970 – Roanoke *1971 – Loyola *1972 – Roanoke *1973 – Loyola *1974 – Randolph–Macon *1975 – Randolph–Macon *1976 – Baltimore *1977 – Towson State *1978 – Towson State

Football

*1946 –

*1947 – *1948 – *1949 – *1950 – *1951 – *1952 – *1953 – *1954 – *1955 – *1956 – *1957 – *1958 – *1959 – *1960 – and *1961 – *1962 – *1963 – *1964 – *1965 – *1966 – *1967 – *1968 – *1969 – *1970 – *1971 – *1972 – *1973 – *1974 –

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason-Dixon Conference 1936 establishments in the United States 1974 disestablishments in the United States