The Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) was a college

athletic conference An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller Division (sport), divisions, with the best teams competing at successively ...

that existed from 1908 to 1970 in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. At one time the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, or IIAC, was a robust league that claimed most of the

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

institutions of higher education. It was nicknamed the "Little Nineteen," but in 1928 had a membership of 23 schools. Former

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...

track coach Joseph Cogdal, associated with the IIAC for 43 years of its 62-year history, noted that the league had roots in the 1870s when a number of schools banded together for oratorical contests. Their first intercollegiate

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

game was played in 1881 between Illinois State University and Knox College, and by 1894 a football association was established.

History

The IIAC was formed in April 1908 with eight charter members: Illinois State Normal University (now

Illinois Wesleyan University Illinois Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Bloomington, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1850, the central portion of the present campus was acquired in 1854 with the first building erected in 1856. History The in ...

, Bradley Polytechnic Institute (now

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,200 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in fiv ...

Millikin University Millikin University is a private university in Decatur, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1901 by prominent Decatur businessman James Millikin and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). History Millikin was initially esta ...

Monmouth College Monmouth College is a Private college, private Presbyterian Church (USA), Presbyterian Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Monmouth, Illinois. It enrolls 727 students in Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science de ...

, Knox College, Lombard College and

Illinois College Illinois College is a private liberal arts college in Jacksonville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church (USA). It was the second college founded in Illinois but the first to grant a degree (in ...

. The first track meet was held on May 22, 1908. The group quickly expanded. Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (now

Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University (EIU) is a public university in Charleston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradual ...

) and

Western Illinois University Western Illinois University (WIU) is a public university in Macomb, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1899 as Western Illinois State Normal School. As the normal school grew, it became Western Illinois State Teachers College. Once West ...

joined in 1912 and 1914 respectively. In 1920, the name "Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference" was adopted, providing the initials IIAC. Conference membership reached a peak of 23 member schools in 1928, when virtually all of the small colleges in Illinois were included. Private schools withdrew during much of the 1930s, until in 1942 only the five state schools remained:

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

Southern Illinois University Carbondale Southern Illinois University (SIU) is a public research university in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Chartered in 1869, SIU is the oldest and flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system. SIU enrolls students from all 50 sta ...

and

. In 1950, the league name became the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, when

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a Public university, public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1892 as a private normal school and became a state institution in 1895. CMU is one of the eigh ...

and

Eastern Michigan University Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public university, public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal ...

brought the membership to seven. In 1961-62,

and

withdrew;

followed in 1965-66. The conference disbanded at the end of the 1969–70 academic year.

Member schools

Final members

Former members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1908 till:1970 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:1908 till:end text: Illinois State (1908–1970) bar:2 color:Full from:1908 till:1937 text: Illinois Wesleyan (1908–1937) bar:3 color:Full from:1908 till:1937 text: Bradley (1908–1937) bar:4 color:Full from:1908 till:1937 text: Millikin (1908–1937) bar:5 color:Full from:1908 till:1937 text:

Monmouth Monmouth ( or ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales, situated on where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. The population in the 2011 census was 10,508, rising from 8 ...

(1908–1937) bar:6 color:Full from:1908 till:1937 text: Knox (1908–1937) bar:7 color:Full from:1908 till:1937 text:

(1908–1937) bar:8 color:Full from:1908 till:1929 text: Lombard (1908–1929) bar:9 color:Full from:1910 till:1942 text: Eureka (1910–1942) bar:10 color:Full from:1910 till:1937 text: Shurtleff (1910–1937) bar:11 color:Full from:1910 till:1928 text: Lincoln (1910–1928) bar:12 color:Full from:1910 till:1926 text: Hedding (1910–1926) bar:13 color:Full from:1910 till:1917 text: William & Vashti (1910–1917) bar:14 color:Full from:1912 till:1970 text: Eastern Illinois (1912–1970) bar:15 color:Full from:1912 till:1941 text:

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

(1912–1941) bar:16 color:Full from:1912 till:1938 text: McKendree (1912–1938) bar:17 color:Full from:1912 till:1937 text: Augustana (1912–1937) bar:18 color:Full from:1913 till:1962 text:

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois is a region of the U.S. state of Illinois comprising the southern third of the state, principally south of Interstate 70. Part of downstate Illinois, it is bordered by the two List of U.S. rivers by discharge, most voluminous ri ...

(1913–1962) bar:19 color:Full from:1914 till:1970 text: Western Illinois (1914–1970) bar:20 color:Full from:1914 till:1923 text:

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

(1914–1923) bar:21 color:Full from:1916 till:1938 text: St. Viator (1916–1938) bar:22 color:Full from:1919 till:1937 text: Wheaton (1919–1937) bar:23 color:Full from:1919 till:1937 text: Lake Forest (1919–1937) bar:24 color:Full from:1920 till:1966 text:

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois, with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by ...

(1920–1966) bar:25 color:Full from:1922 till:1931 text: Mount Morris (1922–1931) bar:26 color:Full from:1927 till:1937 text: North Central (1927–1937) bar:27 color:Full from:1929 till:1941 text: Elmhurst (1929–1941) bar:28 color:Full from:1950 till:1970 text:

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, Lower Peninsula of the United States, U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said t ...

(1950–1970) bar:29 color:Full from:1950 till:1962 text:

Eastern Michigan Eastern Michigan University (EMU, EMich, Eastern Michigan or simply Eastern) is a public research university in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1849 as the Michigan State Normal School, it was the fourth normal school (teachers' ...

(1950–1962) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:1910

Football champions

Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

*1910 – Illinois Wesleyan *1911 – *1912 – Eastern Illinois, Carthage, and William & Vashti *1913 – Eastern Illinois and William & Vashti *1914 – Eastern Illinois *1915 – Illinois College *1916 – *1917 – Lombard (IL) *1918 – ''No champion'' *1919 – *1920 – , North Central, and Wheaton *1921 – *1922 – *1923 – Lombard *1924 – and Lombard *1925 – Bradley and *1926 – Bradley and *1927 – Bradley *1928 – Eastern Illinois and *1929 – and *1930 – , , and

*1931 – *1932 – and *1933 – *1934 – and *1935 – and *1936 – and *1937 – , , and Illinois State Normal *1938 – Northern Illinois State *1939 – Western Illinois *1940 – Illinois State Normal *1941 – Illinois State Normal and Northern Illinois State *1942 – Western Illinois *1943 – ''No champion'' *1944 – Northern Illinois State *1945 – Illinois State Normal *1946 – Northern Illinois State *1947 –

*1948 – *1949 – Western Illinois

Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

*1950 – Illinois State Normal *1951 – Northern Illinois State *1952 –

*1953 –

*1954 –

and Michigan State Normal *1955 –

and Michigan State Normal *1956 –

*1957 –

*1958 – Western Illinois *1959 – Western Illinois *1960 –

*1961 –

*1962 –

*1963 –

*1964 –

and Western Illinois *1965 –

*1966 –

*1967 –

and Illinois State *1968 –

and Illinois State *1969 – Western Illinois

References

{{Reflist

External links

Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
College sports in Illinois College sports in Michigan Sports leagues established in 1908 Sports leagues disestablished in 1970