The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a college athletic conference based in Birmingham, Alabama. It is made up of historically black universities in the Southern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for most sports. In football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
The SWAC is one of two conferences (the other being the Ivy League) which do not take part in postseason play in the FCS football tournament. It is the only one of the two whose members offer a full range of scholarships for football. The SWAC instead splits its schools into two divisions, and plays a conference championship game. Furthermore, one SWAC game, the Bayou Classic between Southern and Grambling State, is positioned on the schedule after the NCAA tournament has begun. In addition, Alabama State plays Division II rival Tuskegee annually on Thanksgiving Day (The Turkey Day Classic).
History
In 1920, athletic officials from six Texas HBCUs – C.H. Fuller of Bishop College, Red Randolph and C.H. Patterson of Paul Quinn College, E.G. Evans, H.J. Evans and H.J. Starns of Prairie View A&M, D.C. Fuller of Texas College and G. Whitte Jordan of Wiley College – met in Houston, Texas, to discuss common interests. At this meeting, they agreed to form a new league, the SWAC.
Paul Quinn became the first of the original members to leave the league when it did so in 1929. When Langston University of Oklahoma was allowed into the conference two years later, it began the migration of state-supported institutions into the SWAC. Southern University entered the league in 1934. Arkansas AM&N entered in 1936 and Texas Southern University in 1954.
As the state-supported schools became bigger, it became difficult for the church-supported schools to pay for their sports teams. Soon the church-supported schools started to leave the conference. Bishop withdrew from the conference in 1956, Langston in 1957 and Huston-Tillotson (formerly Samuel Huston) in 1959. That happened one year after two more state-supported schools entered the league (Grambling College and Jackson State College). The enter-exit cycle continued in 1961 when Texas College withdrew, followed by the entrance of Alcorn A&M in 1962. Wiley left in 1968, the same year Mississippi Valley State College entered. Arkansas AM&N exited in 1970 and Alabama State University entered in 1982. Arkansas-Pine Bluff (formerly Arkansas AM&N) rejoined the SWAC on July 1, 1997, regaining full-member status one year later. Alabama A&M University became the conference’s tenth member when it became a full member in September, 1999 after a one year period as an affiliate SWAC member.
Current championship competition offered by the SWAC includes competition for men in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, indoor track, outdoor track & field and tennis. Women’s competition is offered in the sports of basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, indoor track, outdoor track & field, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball.
Membership
There are currently 10 members in the SWAC.
Membership timeline
Former members
Arkansas AM&N (1936 to 1970; returned as Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 1997) Bishop College (1920 to 1956) Langston University (1931 to 1957) Paul Quinn College (1920 to 1929) Samuel Huston College (later Huston-Tillotson College) (from 1920 to 1959) Texas College (1920 to 1961) Wiley College (1920 to 1968)
Conference facilities
SWAC Championships
Football
All games at were played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama.