Northern California Athletic Conference Explained

Northern California Athletic Conference
Dissolved:[1]
Conference:NCAA
Division:Division II
Teams:16 (total)
Region:West Coast
Formerly:Far Western Conference (1925–1982)

The Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC) was an NCAA Division II college athletic association that sponsored American football that was founded in 1925. It disbanded in 1998 after the majority of its member schools were forced to drop football.

History

The NCAC was founded as the Far Western Conference (FWC) in 1925 by its charter member schools: Fresno State, Saint Mary's, UC Davis, Nevada, San Jose State and College of the Pacific.[2]

Nevada's departure from the conference in 1940 left the conference with only four members: Chico State, Fresno State, College of the Pacific and UC Davis.[3] The conference looked to four nominees in Humboldt State (joined in 1940), San Francisco State, Santa Barbara State College (later UC Santa Barbara) and California Poly of San Luis Obispo.[4]

Shortly after World War II, the remaining members, with the exception of UC Davis, Chico State and Humboldt State, would leave for other conferences, to be replaced over the years by San Francisco State (joined in 1946), Southern Oregon (1947), Sacramento State (1953), Hayward State (1961) and Sonoma State (1966). During the 1990s, each of the universities associated with the California State system chose to disband their football teams in order to comply with Title IX, with the exception of Humboldt State, which added two women's sports to achieve compliance, Sacramento State,[1] and Cal Poly.

Members

InstitutionLocationFoundedNicknameJoinedLeft Current
conference
Cal State HaywardHayward, CA1956Pioneers19611998CCAA
Chico StateChico, CA1887Wildcats19281998CCAA
Fresno StateFresno, CA1911Bulldogs19251940Mountain West
Humboldt StateArcata, CA1913Lumberjacks19401998CCAA
NevadaReno, NV1874Wolf Pack1925
1953
1940
1969
Mountain West
Notre Dame (CA)Belmont, CA1851Argonauts19881998Discontinued athletics
Pacific (CA)Stockton, CA1911Tigers19251942West Coast
Sacramento StateSacramento, CA1947Hornets19531985Big Sky
St. IgnatiusSan Francisco, CA1855Dons19271929West Coast
Saint Mary'sMoraga, CA1863Gaels19251927West Coast
San Francisco StateSan Francisco, CA1899Gators1946
1953
1951
1998
CCAA
San Jose StateSan Jose, CA1857Spartans19291935Mountain West
Sonoma StateRohnert Park, CA1960Cossacks (now Seawolves)1966
1982
1974
1998
CCAA
Southern OregonAshland, OR1872Raiders19471953Cascade Collegiate
Stanislaus StateTurlock, CA1957Warriors19751998CCAA
UC DavisDavis, CA1905Aggies19251998Big West

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyyImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:25Period = from:1925 till:2000TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalPlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5

Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) 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:line value:black id:bg value:white

PlotData= width:20 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:Full from:1925 till:1993 text:UC Davis (1925–1998) bar:1 color:Fullxf from:1993 till:1998 bar:2 color:Full from:1925 till:1927 text:Saint Mary's (CA) (1925–1927) bar:2 color:AssocF from:1927 till:1929 bar:3 color:Full from:1925 till:1940 text:Nevada (1925–1940, 1953–1969) bar:3 color:FullxF from:1953 till:1954 text:Nevada bar:3 color:Full from:1954 till:1969 bar:4 color:Full from:1925 till:1942 text:Pacific (CA) (1925–1942) bar:4 color:AssocF from:1942 till:1943 bar:5 color:Full from:1925 till:1940 text:Fresno State (1925–1940) bar:6 color:Full from:1927 till:1929 text:St. Ignatius (1927–1929) bar:7 color:FullxF from:1928 till:1929 text:Chico State (1928–1998) bar:7 color:Full from:1929 till:1997 bar:7 color:Fullxf from:1997 till:1998 bar:8 color:Full from:1929 till:1935 text:San Jose State (1929–1935) bar:9 color:Full from:1940 till:1997 text:Humboldt State (1940–1998) bar:9 color:Fullxf from:1997 till:1998 bar:10 color:Full from:1946 till:1951 text:San Francisco State (1946–1951, 1953–1998) bar:10 color:AssocF from:1951 till:1953 bar:10 color:Full from:1953 till:1995 bar:10 color:Fullxf from:1995 till:1998 bar:11 color:Full from:1947 till:1953 text:Southern Oregon (1947–1953) bar:11 color:AssocF from:1953 till:1955 bar:12 color:FullxF from:1953 till:1954 text:Sacramento State (1953–1985) bar:12 color:Full from:1954 till:1985 bar:13 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1965 text:Cal State Hayward (1964–1998) bar:13 color:Full from:1965 till:1994 bar:13 color:Fullxf from:1994 till:1998 bar:14 color:FullxF from:1966 till:1970 text:Sonoma State (1966–1974, 1982–1998) bar:14 color:Full from:1970 till:1972 bar:14 color:FullxF from:1972 till:1974 bar:14 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1983 bar:14 color:Full from:1983 till:1997 bar:14 color:Fullxf from:1997 till:1998 bar:15 color:FullxF from:1975 till:1998 text:Stanislaus State (1975–1998) bar:16 color:FullxF from:1988 till:1998 text:Notre Dame (CA) (1988–1998)

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1925

Conference champions

Football

[2]

Baseball

Women's volleyball

Men's soccer

Women's soccer

Women's basketball

Softball

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Kroichick . Ron . A place where college sports are a grassroots movement . 1 April 2020 . SFGate . January 23, 2008.
  2. Web site: Conference Championships: Northern California Athletic Conference. College Football Data Warehouse. January 7, 2010. February 13, 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100213162012/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=146. dead.
  3. News: Nevada to Quit Far Western Loop. 5 May 2011. Eugene Register-Guard. Jan 7, 1940.
  4. News: Nevada Quits But List Grid Game With COP. 5 May 2011. Lodi News-Sentinel. Jan 8, 1940.