The Skyline Conference was a

college athletic conference In college athletics in the United States, institutions typically join in conferences for regular play under different governing bodies. Varsity sports There are several national and regional associations governing the varsity teams of colleges ...

based in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

that was active from December 1937 to June 1962. The conference's formal name was the Mountain States Athletic Conference, although it was also known as the Mountain States Conference along with informal but popular nicknames. It is unrelated to the contemporary

Skyline Conference The Skyline Conference is a college athletic conference based in the New York City area that competes in the NCAA's Division III. The league was originally chartered on May 16, 1989, as a men's basketball conference and now sponsors 17 sports (ni ...

that is active in

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their stu ...

in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

area.

History

The conference began operating on December 3, 1937 when most of the larger schools in the

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N ...

left to form a new conference. The seven charter members of the conference were:

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, Colorado A&M (now

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

, and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

. At the time of formation, the formal name of Mountain States Athletic Conference was adopted, although newspapers were already calling it the Big Seven at that time. The conference became popularly known as the Skyline Conference or Skyline Six after Colorado left in 1947. Colorado joined the

Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) was a college athletic conference and the second college conference formed upon its foundation on January 12, 1907.David A. Campaigne and John R. Thelin, "Big Twelve Conference", in ...

(MVIAA), informally known as the Big Six Conference, which took over the Big Seven name and would later become the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

. The conference became known as the Skyline Eight after

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

joined in 1951. The conference officially dissolved as of July 1, 1962, after four of its members (BYU, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) departed to form the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(WAC). Montana operated as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

for one football season in 1962 until the formation of the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

in 1963. Colorado State became independent until it joined the WAC in 1968. Utah State operated as an independent for fifteen seasons, until it joined the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (later named the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

) in 1977. The conference first had a full-time commissioner in 1949, appointing

Dick Romney Ernest Lowell "Dick" Romney (February 12, 1895 – February 5, 1969) was an American football, basketball and baseball player and coach, track and field, track athlete, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach and ...

, who had led the

Utah State Aggies football The Utah State Aggies are a college football team that competes in the Mountain West Conference (MWC) of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of NCAA Division I, representing Utah State University. The Utah State college football program began in ...

program since 1919. He was succeeded in August 1960 by

Paul Brechler Paul W. Brechler (July 17, 1911 – September 13, 1997) was an athletic director for the University of Iowa for 13 years and the first commissioner of the Western Athletic Conference. Playing career Brechler graduated from Emmetsburg High School ...

, who had been

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. Brechler served as commissioner until the conference disbanded, and became the first commissioner of the WAC.

Member schools

Final members

;Notes:

Former members

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:25 Period = from:1937 till:1972 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white PlotData= width:20 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:powderblue from:1937 till:1947 text:

(1937–1947) bar:1 color:drabgreen from:1947 till:1964 text: Big Seven bar:1 color:yellowgreen from:1964 till:end text: Big Eight bar:2 color:powderblue from:1937 till:1962 text:

(1937–1962) bar:2 color:lavender from:1962 till:end text:Independent bar:3 color:powderblue from:1937 till:1962 text:

(1937–1962) bar:3 color:lavender from:1962 till:end text:Independent bar:4 color:powderblue from:1937 till:1962 text:

(1937–1962) bar:4 color:lavender from:1962 till:1968 text:Independent bar:4 color:dullyellow from:1968 till:end text: WAC bar:5 color:powderblue from:1937 till:1962 text:

(1937–1962) bar:5 color:dullyellow from:1962 till:end text: WAC bar:6 color:powderblue from:1937 till:1962 text:

(1937–1962) bar:6 color:dullyellow from:1962 till:end text: WAC bar:7 color:powderblue from:1937 till:1962 text:

(1938–1962) bar:7 color:dullyellow from:1962 till:end text: WAC bar:8 color:tan1 from:1937 till:1951 text:

Border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

bar:8 color:powderblue from:1951 till:1962 text:

(1951–1962) bar:8 color:dullyellow from:1962 till:end text: WAC bar:9 color:tan2 from:1937 till:1950 text:

Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas Countries on the western side of the Americas have a Pacific coast as their western or southwestern border, except for Panama, where the Pac ...

bar:9 color:lavender from:1950 till:1951 text: bar:9 color:powderblue from:1951 till:1962 text:

(1951–1962) bar:9 color:lavender from:1962 till:1963 text: bar:9 color:pink from:1963 till:end text: Big Sky ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:4 start:1938 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(300,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"Skyline Conference membership history"

Football champions

*1938

*1939

*1940

*1941

*1942

and

*1943

*1944

*1945

*1946

and

*1947

*1948

*1949

*1950

*1951

*1952

*1953

*1954

*1955

Colorado A&M Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

*1956

*1957

*1958

*1959

*1960

and

*1961

and

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skyline Conference (1938-1962) Sports in the Western United States 1938 establishments in the United States 1962 disestablishments in the United States