The Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) was a men's college athletic conference in the United States, in existence from 1950 to 1978. It consisted solely of schools in Indiana.
The charter members of the conference were Indiana State University, Butler University, Valparaiso University, the University of Evansville, Ball State University, and Saint Joseph's College (Indiana), joined in 1953 by DePauw University.
History
The conference was an offshoot of the older, larger Indiana Intercollegiate Conference (IIC), which dated from 1922. Preliminary discussions leading to its creation began after eight smaller IIC members broke away to form the Hoosier College Conference (HCC) in 1947. Finally, on February 17, 1950, the presidents of the original six ICC members authorized the creation of the conference, with details finalized that October and November. These included plans to crown a basketball champion in 1950-51 and champions in football, basketball, track, golf, and tennis in 1951-52, with a balanced round-robin schedule in football and double round-robin in basketball.
Prior to forming the ICC, three of its founding members had reacted to the crumbling of the IIC by pursuing concurrent membership in other conferences: Butler in the Mid-American Conference (MAC), Evansville in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC), and St. Joseph's in the Midlands Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). Initially, it was unclear how these commitments would affect the new league. Evansville ultimately did not play enough ICC games to be eligible for the first basketball title, and was not integrated into the league in football until 1952. Fortunately, Butler (which quit the MAC in 1950) and St. Joseph's (which remained in the MIAC until 1954) had no such issues. The belated addition of DePauw, admitted in January 1953, further delayed the scheduling ideal, as the Tigers were not fully integrated into ICC football until 1955.
While the founding members included two public universities (Indiana State and Ball State), they were the only public institutions ever to belong to the ICC. They also eventually grew to be, by far, the largest schools in the conference, but as of the early 1950s they saw themselves as having a great deal in common athletically with the private schools of the league, sharing with them a middle ground between the state's traditional "big three" major-college programs--Indiana, Purdue, and Notre Dame--and the smaller schools that had formed the HCC.
Despite their similarities, ICC members did not always compete in the same division or association. After the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) subdivided into a University Division and a College Division in 1956-57, Butler competed in University Division while the rest of the ICC opted for College Division. Some ICC members also held dual membership in the NCAA and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), most notably Indiana State, Ball State, and St. Joseph's. Butler routinely played a major-college non-conference basketball schedule and in 1961-62 qualified for the NCAA basketball tournament. Meanwhile, Evansville won the NCAA College Division tournament five times, and Indiana State was College Division tournament runner-up once. The Sycamores also participated in five NAIA national basketball tournaments, posting one third-place national finish, and St. Joseph's was crowned NAIA football co-champion in 1956.
The ICC was guided by various commissioners during its early years. The first full-time commissioner, Jim Hinga, was not hired until 1968; prior to his selection, the position was filled by part-time commissioners, including LeRoy Heminger of Franklin College. In addition, the conference maintained a rotating presidency, filled by long-time educational administrators including Dr. Joseph Nygaard of Indianapolis and S.T. "Cy" Proffitt of Terre Haute.
Individual sports
Football
The conference celebrated its football glory years in the 1950s and 1960s. Butler led the way with fourteen conference titles. Valparaiso played in the 1951 Cigar Bowl (against Wisconsin-La Crosse) following an undefeated regular season. Saint Joseph's won a share of the 1956 NAIA Football National Championship by playing to a 0-0 tie with Montana State in the Aluminum Bowl following an undefeated regular season. Ball State played in the NCAA College Division's Mideast regional postseason game, the Grantland Rice Bowl, in 1965 (against Tennessee State) and in 1967 (against Eastern Kentucky).