1.
National League South
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The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, taking its place immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North it is at the level of the National League System. It was introduced in 2004 as part of a restructuring of the National League System. The champion team each year is promoted to the National League. A second promotion place goes to the winners of play-offs of the finishing in second place to fifth place. The three bottom clubs are relegated to Step 3 leagues, from the start of the 2015–16 season, the league is known as the National League South. The current champions are Sutton United, who finished 6 points ahead of second place, the current member club for the 2016–17 season are as follows, The stadiums of all teams in the league for the 2016–17 season are listed below in capacity order, ** Not promoted. In 2004–05 only three places were available to the Conference National. The third place was decided in a Playoff at Stokes Britannia Stadium, which Eastbourne lost 2–1 to the Conference North Playoff winners, Altrincham
2.
Big South Conference
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The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAAs Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 and its football teams are part of the Football Championship Subdivision. Charter members included Armstrong State, Augusta, Campbell University, Baptist College, Coastal Carolina University, Radford University, the expansion of membership occurred during the 1980s and 90s. In that same year, VMI also joined the conference for all sports. Presbyterian College joined the conference in 2007, moving up from Division II, gardner–Webb, which had been a football-only member since 2002, joined the conference for all sports on July 1,2008. Campbell rejoined the Big South for all sports except football in the 2011–12 athletic year, in 2014, following the departure of VMI, the conference returned to a single-division structure. On September 1,2015, Coastal Carolina announced they would leave the following the 2015–16 school year to transition to FBS-level football. On June 30,2016, the day before the joined the Sun Belt. This was the first time in history that a team won an NCAA championship in any sport. In September 2016, the Big South and the ASUN Conference announced a partnership that will effectively combine the two conferences in that sport. At the time of announcement, the only ASUN member that played scholarship football, the partnership will provide a guaranteed football home to the leagues current three non-scholarship football programs should they upgrade to scholarship status. In November 2016, Campbell announced that it would begin offering scholarships, UNA has won three Division II NCAA national championships in football and has won at least a share of the Gulf South Conference football championship for four consecutive seasons through 2016. Three months later, Liberty announced that it would begin a transition to FBS football in July 2017, presumably, the school will remain a Big South member in non-football sports, barring an invitation to an FBS conference in the interim. He also said the Big South Basketball Tournaments will be held at a single, the divisional setup was as follows, In mens and womens basketball, teams played the five other divisional opponents twice, one home and one away. They played teams outside of the division once each and this cut the number of conference games to 16, as opposed to 18 both before and after the realignment. Following the departure of VMI for the Southern Conference in 2014, the returned to a single-division structure. Augusta State was merged into Georgia Regents University in January 2013, the Big South sponsors championship competition in nine mens and ten womens NCAA sanctioned sports. Davidson has competed as a member in womens lacrosse
3.
Conference League South
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The Conference League South is a British rugby league division in the RFLs tier 4. It is the highest level of rugby league in the South of England. It is one of the leagues that replaced the now defunct Rugby League Conference, some RLC sides joined a newly formed National Conference League Division 3 for a single season and applied for full membership of the NCL the following season. Northampton Demons and St Albans Centurions were replaced with Oxford Cavaliers, Rugby League Conference Leagues National Conference League
4.
National Collegiate Athletic Association
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The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a non-profit association which regulates athletes of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations, and individuals. It also organizes the programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The organization is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2014, the NCAA generated almost a billion dollars in revenue. 80 to 90% of this revenue was due to the Division I Mens Basketball Tournament and this revenue is then distributed back into various organizations and institutions across the United States. In August 1973, the current three-division setup of Division I, Division II, under NCAA rules, Division I and Division II schools can offer scholarships to athletes for playing a sport. Division III schools may not offer any athletic scholarships, generally, larger schools compete in Division I and smaller schools in II and III. Division I football was divided into I-A and I-AA in 1978. Subsequently, the term Division I-AAA was briefly added to delineate Division I schools which do not field a football program at all, in 2006, Divisions I-A and I-AA were respectively renamed the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision. Inter-collegiate sports began in the US in 1852 when crews from Harvard University, as other sports emerged, notably football and basketball, many of these same concepts and standards were adopted. Football, in particular, began to emerge as a marquee sport, the IAAUS was officially established on March 31,1906, and took its present name, the NCAA, in 1910. For several years, the NCAA was a group and rules-making body, but in 1921, the first NCAA national championship was conducted. Gradually, more rules committees were formed and more championships were created, a series of crises brought the NCAA to a crossroads after World War II. The Sanity Code – adopted to establish guidelines for recruiting and financial aid – failed to curb abuses, postseason football games were multiplying with little control, and member schools were increasingly concerned about how the new medium of television would affect football attendance. The complexity of problems and the growth in membership and championships demonstrated the need for full-time professional leadership. Walter Byers, previously an executive assistant, was named executive director in 1951. Byers wasted no time placing his stamp on the Association, as college athletics grew, the scope of the nations athletics programs diverged, forcing the NCAA to create a structure that recognized varying levels of emphasis. In 1973, the Associations membership was divided into three legislative and competitive divisions – I, II, and III, five years later in 1978, Division I members voted to create subdivisions I-A and I-AA in football. Until the 1980s, the association did not offer womens athletics, instead, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, with nearly 1000 member schools, governed womens collegiate sports in the United States
5.
NCAA Division I
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Division I is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in the United States. This level was called the University Division of the NCAA, in contrast to the lower level College Division. For football only, Division I was further subdivided in 1978 into Division I-A, Division I-AA, in 2006, Division I-A and I-AA were renamed Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision, respectively. FCS teams are allowed to award scholarships, a practice technically allowed. FBS teams also have to meet attendance requirements, while FCS teams do not need to meet minimum attendance requirements. Another difference is post season play, starting with the 2014 postseason, a four-team playoff called the College Football Playoff, replaced the previous one game championship format. Even so, Division I FBS football is still the only NCAA sport in which a champion is not determined by an NCAA-sanctioned championship event. All D-I schools must field teams in at least seven sports for men and seven for women or six for men and eight for women, with at least two team sports for each gender. Division I schools must meet minimum financial aid awards for their athletics program, Several other NCAA sanctioned minimums and differences that distinguish Division I from Divisions II and III. Each playing season has to be represented by each gender as well, there are contest and participant minimums for each sport, as well as scheduling criteria. Mens and womens teams have to play all but two games against Division I teams, for men, they must play one-third of all their contests in the home arena. The NCAA has limits on the financial aid each Division I member may award in each sport that the school sponsors. Equivalency sports, in which the NCAA limits the total financial aid that a school can offer in a sport to the equivalent of a set number of full scholarships. Roster limitations may or may not apply, depending on the sport, the term counter is also key to this concept. The NCAA defines a counter as an individual who is receiving financial aid that is countable against the aid limitations in a sport. The number of scholarships that Division I members may award in sport is listed below. In this table, scholarship numbers for head-count sports are indicated without a point, for equivalency sports, they are listed with a decimal point. An exception exists for players at non-scholarship FCS programs who receive aid in another sport, participants in basketball are counted in that sport, unless they also play football
6.
Southeastern United States
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The Southeastern United States is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, and the southern portion of the Eastern United States. It comprises 15 states in the southern United States, there is no official Census Bureau definition of the southeastern United States. The OSBO uses the same states, but includes Arkansas and Louisiana, the most populous state in the region is Florida, followed by Georgia, and North Carolina. With tropical air masses influencing the region precipitation is high throughout the year, the tropical air masses do however cause significant hurricanes such as Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Katrina wreaking havoc and causing significant damage to coastal areas. The winters highly vary depending on latitude and elevation, the Southeast has changed dramatically in the last two generations. Since 1980, there has been a boom in its economy, manufacturing base, high technology industries. Fortune 500 companies having headquarters in the region included 20 in Virginia,16 in Florida,15 in North Carolina and this economic expansion has enabled parts of the South to have of some of the lowest unemployment rates in the United States. In Alabama, there is a manufacturing project owned by the German steel megacorporation Thyssen-Krupp. The Cummings Research Park in the Huntsville, Alabama area is the second largest research complex in the nation, located in Huntsville is the Redstone Arsenal, United States Army Missile Command, the U. S. Space and Rocket Center, NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center and many key government, military. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida is the largest laboratory in the devoted to the study of magnetism. There are a number of universities, with several large research universities which exert influence beyond the region. These include the oldest public universities in the country, the University of Alabama, the region is home to the most historically black colleges and universities in the nation. The three largest in the region are North Carolina A&T University, Florida A&M University, and Jackson State University, on this list New Orleans Refers to the Orleans Parish Population. Therefore the population given is for the entire city excluding other incorporated places lying within the county limits, five Major League Baseball teams play in the Southeast, Washington Nationals, Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles. The Braves, Nationals and Marlins play in the NL East,4 Major League Lacrosse teams play in the southeast, Chesapeake Bayhawks, Florida Launch, Charlotte Hounds, and the Atlanta Blaze. Seven National Basketball Association teams play in the Southeast, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and New Orleans Pelicans. The Wizards, Heat, Hornets, Magic and Hawks are in the Eastern Conference, the Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, and Citrus Bowl are notable college football bowls held in Southeastern cities
7.
Spartanburg, South Carolina
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Spartanburg is the largest city in and the county seat of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, United States, and the twelfth largest city by population in the state. Spartanburg has a population of 37,013 and an urban population of 180,786 as of the 2010 census. The Spartanburg Metropolitan Statistical Area, corresponding to Spartanburg County and Union County, had a population of 317,057 as of the 2010-2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Spartanburg is the second-largest city in the greater Greenville–Spartanburg–Anderson Combined Statistical Area which has a population of 1,385,045 as of 2014, Spartanburg was formed in 1785 and was named after a local militia called the Spartan Regiment in the American Revolutionary War. The Spartan Regiment, commanded by Andrew Pickens, participated in the nearby Battle of Cowpens, in 1831, Spartanburg was incorporated, later becoming known as the Hub City due to the railroad lines forming wheel hub shapes in the area. Around 40 textile mills were established in the late 1800s and early 1900s, during World War I Camp Wadsworth was used to train 100,000 soldiers for the war. Camp Croft also trained soldiers during World War II and is now called Croft State Park, by the 1950s, mills began to decline as wages and the automobile industry increased. BMW US Manufacturing Company, BMWs only North American manufacturing plant, was established in 1992. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 19.2 square miles, of which 19.1 square miles is land and 0.1 square miles. The city of Spartanburg has a subtropical climate with long, hot and humid summers. The average annual temperature is 61.6 °F, in the summer season from June through September, average highs are in the 80s to low 90s F, while in the winter months average highs are in the mid 50s F. Annual rainfall is fairly evenly throughout the whole year. Spartanburg sees very little snowfall, with the average being only 1.4 inches. Average precipitation is 51.3 inches and the growing season is 231 days. Lawson’s Fork Creek, a tributary of the Pacolet River, was known for its plentiful wildlife. Parks and woodlands line much of its banks, and rocky shoals and it stretches from the northern end of the county to the eastern end, where it empties into the Pacolet. The Cottonwood Trail is a trail located in the Edwin M. Griffin Nature Preserve that runs along part of Lawson’s Fork Creek. The trail includes picnic areas, a path over an extensive wetlands area
8.
College football
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It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. No minor league farm organizations exist in American football and it is in college football where a players performance directly impacts his chances of playing professional football. The best collegiate players will declare for the professional draft after 3 to 4 years of collegiate competition. Those not selected can still attempt to land an NFL roster spot as a free agent. Even after the emergence of the professional National Football League, college football remained extremely popular throughout the U. S, in many cases, college stadiums employ bench-style seating, as opposed to individual seats with backs and arm rests. This allows them to more fans in a given amount of space than the typical professional stadium. College athletes, unlike players in the NFL, are not permitted by the NCAA to be paid salaries, colleges are only allowed to provide non-monetary compensation such as athletic scholarships that provide for tuition, housing, and books. Modern North American football has its origins in various games, all known as football, by the 1840s, students at Rugby School were playing a game in which players were able to pick up the ball and run with it, a sport later known as Rugby football. The game was taken to Canada by British soldiers stationed there and was soon being played at Canadian colleges, the first documented gridiron football match was a game played at University College, a college of the University of Toronto, November 9,1861. One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was William Mulock, a football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear. In 1864, at Trinity College, also a college of the University of Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional mob football played in England. The games remained largely unorganized until the 19th century, when games of football began to be played on college campuses. Each school played its own variety of football, Princeton University students played a game called ballown as early as 1820. A Harvard tradition known as Bloody Monday began in 1827, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes, in 1860, both the town police and the college authorities agreed the Bloody Monday had to go. The Harvard students responded by going into mourning for a figure called Football Fightum. The authorities held firm and it was a dozen years before football was again played at Harvard. Dartmouth played its own version called Old division football, the rules of which were first published in 1871, all of these games, and others, shared certain commonalities
9.
Alabama
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Alabama is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Alabama is the 30th-most extensive and the 24th-most populous of the U. S. states. At nearly 1,500 miles, Alabama has one of the nations longest navigable inland waterways, Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is also known as the Heart of Dixie and the Cotton State, the state tree is the longleaf pine, and the state flower is the camellia. The largest city by population is Birmingham, which has long been the most industrialized city, the oldest city is Mobile, founded by French colonists in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana. From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many states in the southern U. S. suffered economic hardship, like other southern states, Alabama legislators disenfranchised African Americans and many poor whites at the turn of the century. Following World War II, Alabama grew as the economy changed from one primarily based on agriculture to one with diversified interests. The state economy in the 21st century is based on management, automotive, finance, manufacturing, aerospace, mineral extraction, healthcare, education, retail, in the Alabama language, the word for a person of Alabama lineage is Albaamo. The word Alabama is believed to have come from the Alabama language, the words spelling varies significantly among historical sources. As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the Alibamon, other spellings of the name have included Alibamu, Alabamo, Albama, Alebamon, Alibama, Alibamou, Alabamu, Allibamou. Sources disagree on the words meaning, some scholars suggest the word comes from the Choctaw alba and amo. The meaning may have been clearers of the thicket or herb gatherers, the state has numerous place names of Native American origin. However, there are no correspondingly similar words in the Alabama language, an 1842 article in the Jacksonville Republican proposed it meant Here We Rest. This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek, experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before the advent of European colonization, trade with the northeastern tribes by the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period and continued until European contact. The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 AD, with one of its major centers built at what is now the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama. This is the second-largest complex of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in present-day Illinois, Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no links to Mesoamerican culture
10.
Georgia (U.S. state)
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Georgia is a state in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1733, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies, named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2,1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 19,1861 and it was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15,1870. Georgia is the 24th largest and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, from 2007 to 2008,14 of Georgias counties ranked among the nations 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South, Atlanta is the states capital, its most populous city and has been named a global city. Georgia is bordered to the south by Florida, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina, to the west by Alabama, the states northern part is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains system. Georgias highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet above sea level, Georgia is the largest state entirely east of the Mississippi River in land area. Before settlement by Europeans, Georgia was inhabited by the mound building cultures, the British colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe on February 12,1733. The colony was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by King George II. The Trustees implemented a plan for the colonys settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan. In 1742 the colony was invaded by the Spanish during the War of Jenkins Ear, in 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown. Georgia became a colony, with a governor appointed by the king. The Province of Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution by signing the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the State of Georgias first constitution was ratified in February 1777. Georgia was the 10th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on July 24,1778, in 1829, gold was discovered in the North Georgia mountains, which led to the Georgia Gold Rush and an established federal mint in Dahlonega, which continued its operation until 1861. The subsequent influx of white settlers put pressure on the government to land from the Cherokee Nation. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law, sending many eastern Native American nations to reservations in present-day Oklahoma, including all of Georgias tribes. Despite the Supreme Courts ruling in Worcester v. Georgia that ruled U. S. states were not permitted to redraw the Indian boundaries, President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling. In 1838, his successor, Martin Van Buren, dispatched troops to gather the Cherokee
11.
North Carolina
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North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the U. S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties, the most populous municipality is Charlotte, which is the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City. The state has a range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet at Mount Mitchell. The climate of the plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a highland climate. North Carolina is bordered by South Carolina on the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west, Virginia on the north, the United States Census Bureau places North Carolina in the South Atlantic division of the southern region. So many ships have been lost off Cape Hatteras that the area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, the most famous of these is the Queen Annes Revenge, which went aground in Beaufort Inlet in 1718. The coastal plain transitions to the Piedmont region along the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, the Piedmont region of central North Carolina is the states most populous region, containing the six largest cities in the state by population. It consists of rolling countryside frequently broken by hills or low mountain ridges. The Piedmont ranges from about 300 feet in elevation in the east to about 1,500 feet in the west, the western section of the state is part of the Appalachian Mountain range. Among the subranges of the Appalachians located in the state are the Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, the Black Mountains are the highest in the eastern United States, and culminate in Mount Mitchell at 6,684 feet, the highest point east of the Mississippi River. North Carolina has 17 major river basins, the five basins west of the Blue Ridge Mountains flow to the Gulf of Mexico, while the remainder flow to the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 17 basins,11 originate within the state of North Carolina, but only four are contained entirely within the states border – the Cape Fear, the Neuse, the White Oak, and the Tar-Pamlico basin. Elevation above sea level is most responsible for temperature change across the state, the climate is also influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream, especially in the coastal plain. These influences tend to cause warmer winter temperatures along the coast, the coastal plain averages around 1 inch of snow or ice annually, and in many years, there may be no snow or ice at all. North Carolina experiences severe weather in summer and winter, with summer bringing threat of hurricanes, tropical storms, heavy rain
12.
South Carolina
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South Carolina /ˌsaʊθ kærəˈlaɪnə/ is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. The state is bordered to the north by North Carolina, to the south and west by Georgia across the Savannah River, South Carolina became the eighth state to ratify the U. S. Constitution, doing so on May 23,1788. South Carolina became the first state to vote to secede from the Union on December 20,1860, after the American Civil War, it was readmitted into the United States on June 25,1868. South Carolina is the 40th most extensive and the 23rd most populous U. S. state and its GDP as of 2013 was $183.6 billion, with an annual growth rate of 3. 13%. The capital and largest city is Columbia with a 2013 population of 133,358, South Carolina is named in honor of King Charles I of England, under whose reign the English colony was first formed, with Carolus being Latin for Charles. There is evidence of activity in the area about 12000 years ago. Along the Savannah River were the Apalachee, Yuchi, and the Yamasee, further west were the Cherokee, and along the Catawba River, the Catawba. These tribes were village-dwellers, relying on agriculture as their food source. The Cherokee lived in wattle and daub houses made with wood and clay, about a dozen separate small tribes summered on the coast harvesting oysters and fish, and cultivating corn, peas and beans. Travelling inland as much as 50 miles mostly by canoe, they wintered on the plain, hunting deer and gathering nuts. The names of these survive in place names like Edisto Island, Kiawah Island. The Spanish were the first Europeans in the area, in 1521, founding San Miguel de Gualdape, established with 500 settlers, it was abandoned within a year by 150 survivors. In 1562 French settlers established a settlement at what is now the Charlesfort-Santa Elena archaeological site on Parris Island, three years later the Spanish built a fort on the same site, but withdrew following hostilities with the English navy. In 1629, King Charles I of England established the Province of Carolina an area covering what is now South and North Carolina, Georgia, in the 1670s, English planters from the Barbados established themselves near what is now Charleston. Settlers built rice plantations in the South Carolina Lowcountry, east of the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, settlers came from all over Europe. Plantation labor was done by African slaves who formed the majority of the population by 1720, another cash crop was the Indigo plant, a plant source of blue dye, developed by Eliza Lucas. Meanwhile, in Upstate South Carolina, west of the Fall Line, was settled by farmers and traders. Colonists overthrew the rule, seeing more direct representation
13.
Tennessee
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Tennessee is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th largest and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States, Tennessee is bordered by Kentucky and Virginia to the north, North Carolina to the east, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi to the south, and Arkansas and Missouri to the west. The Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern part of the state, Tennessees capital and second largest city is Nashville, which has a population of 654,610. Memphis is the states largest city, with a population of 655,770, the state of Tennessee is rooted in the Watauga Association, a 1772 frontier pact generally regarded as the first constitutional government west of the Appalachians. What is now Tennessee was initially part of North Carolina, Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state on June 1,1796. Tennessee was the last state to leave the Union and join the Confederacy at the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, occupied by Union forces from 1862, it was the first state to be readmitted to the Union at the end of the war. Tennessee furnished more soldiers for the Confederate Army than any other state besides Virginia and this sharply reduced competition in politics in the state until after passage of civil rights legislation in the mid-20th century. This city was established to house the Manhattan Projects uranium enrichment facilities, helping to build the worlds first atomic bomb, Tennessees major industries include agriculture, manufacturing, and tourism. Poultry, soybeans, and cattle are the primary agricultural products, and major manufacturing exports include chemicals, transportation equipment. In the early 18th century, British traders encountered a Cherokee town named Tanasi in present-day Monroe County, the town was located on a river of the same name, and appears on maps as early as 1725. The meaning and origin of the word are uncertain, some accounts suggest it is a Cherokee modification of an earlier Yuchi word. It has been said to mean meeting place, winding river, according to ethnographer James Mooney, the name can not be analyzed and its meaning is lost. The modern spelling, Tennessee, is attributed to James Glen, the governor of South Carolina, the spelling was popularized by the publication of Henry Timberlakes Draught of the Cherokee Country in 1765. In 1788, North Carolina created Tennessee County, the county to be established in what is now Middle Tennessee. When a constitutional convention met in 1796 to organize a new out of the Southwest Territory. Other sources differ on the origin of the nickname, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia. Tennessee ties Missouri as the state bordering the most other states, the state is trisected by the Tennessee River. The highest point in the state is Clingmans Dome at 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome, which lies on Tennessees eastern border, is the highest point on the Appalachian Trail, and is the third highest peak in the United States east of the Mississippi River
14.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
15.
Big Ten Conference
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The Big Ten Conference, formerly Western Conference and Big Nine Conference, is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference includes the public university in each of 11 states stretching from New Jersey to Nebraska. The Big Ten Conference was established in 1895 when Purdue University president James H, in 1905, the conference was officially incorporated as the Intercollegiate Conference Athletic Association. Big Ten member institutions are predominantly major flagship research universities with large financial endowments, large student enrollment is also a hallmark of Big Ten universities, as 12 of the 14 members feature enrollments of 30,000 or more students. Northwestern University, one of just two members with a total enrollment of fewer than 30,000 students, is the lone private university among Big Ten membership. Collectively, Big Ten universities educate more than 520,000 total students and have 5.7 million living alumni, Big Ten universities engage in $9.3 billion in funded research each year. Big Ten universities are members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance. In 2014–2015, members generated more than $10 billion in research expenditures, Johns Hopkins University was invited in 2012 to join the Big Ten as an associate member participating in mens lacrosse only. In 2015, it was accepted as an associate member in womens lacrosse. Notre Dame is scheduled to join the Big Ten in 2017 as a member in mens ice hockey. Notes Notes Notes The University of Chicago was a co-founder of the conference, lake Forest College attended the original 1895 meeting that led to the formation of the conference, but did not join it. Full members Full members Sport Affiliate Other Conference Other Conference The Big Ten Conference sponsors championship competition in 14 mens and 14 womens NCAA sanctioned sports, Notes, * Notre Dame will join the Big Ten in the 2017–18 school year as an affiliate member in mens ice hockey. It continues to field its other sports in the ACC except in football where it will continue to compete as an independent, ° Johns Hopkins joined the Big Ten in 2014 as an affiliate member in mens lacrosse, with womens lacrosse to follow in 2016. Ohio State and Penn State, like most NCAA fencing schools, have coed teams,2, Mens rowing, whether heavyweight or lightweight, is not governed by the NCAA, but instead by the Intercollegiate Rowing Association. Rutgers Mens Rowing was downgraded to Club status in 2008,3, Unlike rifle, pistol is not an NCAA-governed sport. 4, Rifle is technically a mens sport, but mens, womens, Ohio State fields a coed team. The eligibility of student-athletes was one of the topics of discussion. The Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives was founded at a meeting on February 8,1896
16.
Missouri Valley Conference
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The Missouri Valley Conference is the second-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Currently, its members are located in the midwestern United States, the conference participates in the NCAAs Division I. The MVC was founded in 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association,12 years after the Big Ten, however, some consider the MVC to have been formed from a split of the MVIAA in 1928. Most of the schools formed a conference that retained the MVIAA name. The smaller schools, plus Oklahoma A&M, formed the MVC, during the Big Eights existence, both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date, as well as the same history through 1927. During the 2006–07 college basketball season, MVC teams held a 74–27 non-conference record, including a record of 44–1 at home. The Valley finished in the top six of the RPI and ahead of a BCS conference for the second year, while also garnering multiple NCAA bids for the ninth straight year. The MVC has not sponsored football since 1985, when it was a hybrid I-A/I-AA, however, five members have football programs in the Missouri Valley Football Conference of Division I FCS, and a sixth competes in another FCS conference, the Pioneer Football League. The Missouri Valley Conference shares its name with the Missouri Valley Football Conference, however, the two are separate administratively. It has been reported that Wichita State will likely be leaving the conference to join the American Athletic Conference as soon as 2017–18 season, Bradley returned to the MVC for non-football sports in the 1955–56 school year, with Drake doing the same a year later. However, Bradley never returned to MVC football, dropping the sport in 1970, note, In the case of spring sports, the year of joining is the calendar year before the start of competition. Notes Notes Full members Assoc. members Assoc. member C. E. McClung Arthur E. Eilers Norvell Neve DeWitt T. Weaver Mickey Holmes David Price Richard D. Martin James A. Haney Doug Elgin The Missouri Valley Conference sponsors championship competition in eight mens, Central Arkansas and SIU Edwardsville are Affiliate members for mens soccer, Dallas Baptist is an Affiliate member for baseball, and Little Rock is an Affiliate member for swimming and diving. * = Baseball associate Dallas Baptist ** = Soccer associates Central Arkansas and SIU Edwardsville *** = Tennis associates Stony Brook, mens varsity sports not sponsored by the Missouri Valley Conference which are played by Valley schools, * = Affiliate Little Rock. † = To be added in 2017–18, NB, Missouri State was known as Southwest Missouri State until August 2005. One member sold out every game for the 2006–07 season. In 2010–11, 2011–12, and 2012–13, the Valley maintained its position as the eighth ranked conference in average attendance. The Valley made history in March 2007 with record attendance for four days at St. Louis Scottrade Center as 85,074 fans turned out to watch the five sessions of the tournament, Missouri Valley Conference Hall of Fame Official website
17.
Pac-12 Conference
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The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that operates in the Western United States. It participates in 22 NCAA sports in the NCAAs Division I, its teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision. The conferences 12 members are located in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Utah and they include each states flagship public university, four additional public universities, and two private research universities. It became the Pac-12 in 2011 with the addition of the University of Colorado, with Arizona States softball title in 2011, the conference won its 400th NCAA Championship. The current commissioner of the conference is Larry Scott, Scott replaced Thomas C, hansen, who retired in July 2009 after 26 years in that position. Prior to joining the Pac-10, Scott was Chairman and CEO of the Womens Tennis Association, the Pac-12 has twelve full member institutions. Football currently is the sport where the conference is divided evenly into two geographic divisions, the North Division and the South Division. The Pac-12 spans six states in the Western United States, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. Unusual for a conference, the Pac-12s members are spread evenly between 3 regions, with 4 schools each in California, the Pacific Northwest, and the Four Corners region. The Pac-12 has four affiliate member institutions, three in California and Boise State University in Idaho, the school will maintain its Pac-12 affiliation in wrestling, which the WAC does not sponsor. No school has left the Pac-12 since its founding as the AAWU in 1959, two members of the PCC were not invited to join the AAWU or its successors. As private schools, Stanford and USC are not obligated to publish employees salaries, Eight of the twelve member schools are members of the Association of American Universities, including all of the conferences California schools. The only FBS conference with more AAU members is the Big Ten with 13 out of 14 member institutions having AAU membership, in 2014, of the twelve member schools, nine were ranked in the top 100 universities in the world. Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights/licensing, student fees, school funds and all sources including TV income, camp income, food. Updated to show institutional reporting to the Department of Education as shown on the DOE Equity in Athletics website for the 2013-14 academic year, the national ranking of revenue is based on 2075 institutions reporting to the Department of Education that year. The roots of the Pac-12 Conference go back to December 2,1915, charter members were the University of California, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and Oregon Agricultural College. The conference began play in 1916, one year later, Washington State College joined the league, followed by Stanford University in 1918. In 1922, the PCC expanded to eight teams with the admission of USC, Montana joined the Conference in 1924, and in 1928, the PCC grew to 10 members with the addition of UCLA
18.
Pacific Coast Conference
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The Pacific Coast Conference was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. The name Pacific Coast Conference is now used by a San Diego area community college established in 1982. Established on December 2,1915, its four members were the University of California, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon. Among other complaints, he disdained the quality of education in the Oregon schools, pauley felt that University of California campuses deserved to play against colleges with comparably high academic standards. The PCC had a commissioner, an elaborate constitution, a formal code of conduct. Following the submission of his report, Atherton was promptly hired as commissioner in 1940, the conference was wracked by scandal in 1951. Charges were made and confirmed that University of Oregon football coach Jim Aiken had violated the code for financial aid. After Aiken was compelled to resign, Oregon urged the PCC to look at similar abuses by UCLA football coach Red Sanders, the conference spent five years attempting to reform itself. In 1956, the scandal became public, the scandal first broke in Washington, when in January 1956, several discontented players staged a mutiny against their coach, John Cherberg. After the coach was fired, the PCC followed up on charges of a slush fund, the PCC found evidence of the prohibited activities of the Greater Washington Advertising Fund run by Roscoe C. Torchy Torrance, and in May imposed sanctions, in March, allegations of prohibited payments made by two booster clubs associated with UCLA, the Bruin Bench and the Young Mens Club of Westwood, were published in Los Angeles newspapers. UCLA refused for ten weeks to allow PCC officials to proceed in their investigation and this same alumnus also blew the whistle on Cals phony work program for athletes known as the San Francisco Gridiron Club, with an extension in the Los Angeles area known as the South Seas Fund. The first major reaction came from the University of California system, for Sproul the PCC dispute was not just about athletics, at stake was the ideal of a unified University of California that enjoyed statewide support. This ideal collided with aspirations of UCLA alumni who believed that Sprouls vision would always favor the Berkeley campus at the expense of the younger UCLA campus. Oregon State College president August Leroy Strand wrote, The reasons for California and UCLA dropping out are as different as night, the significance of the whole affair was the union of Berkeley and UCLA. Admissions and scholarship had nothing to do with the withdrawals, the PCC was falling apart, leading to the decision to dissolve after the 1958-59 season. Soon after the PCC was dissolved, five of its nine members created the Athletic Association of Western Universities for the 1959 season, after initially being blocked from admission, three of the four remaining schools would eventually join, but members were not required to play other members. Tensions were high between UCLA and Stanford, as Stanford had voted for UCLAs expulsion from the PCC, Idaho was not involved in the scandals but had become noncompetitive in the PCC
19.
Southwest Conference
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The Southwest Conference was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at times the conference included schools from Oklahoma. After a long period of stability, Arkansas left in 1991 to join the Southeastern Conference, by March 1,1914 a number of schools had responded favorably to the idea. The first organizational meeting of the conference was set to be held on April 30,1914, the date was changed because representatives from every school could not make it then. It was ultimately held on May 5 and 7,1914 at the Oriental Hotel in Dallas, Texas and it was chaired by L. Theo Bellmont. Originally, Bellmont wanted Louisiana State University and the University of Mississippi to join the conference as well, the Southwest Intercollegiate Athletic Conference became an official body on December 8,1914, at a formal meeting at the Rice Hotel in Houston. Rice University left the conference in 1916, only to re-join in 1918, phillips University was a conference member for one year. Oklahoma left in 1919 to join the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, however, the series between Texas and Oklahoma would continue as a non-conference matchup in the annual Red River Rivalry game held in Dallas. From 1925 until 1991, the University of Arkansas would be the only member not located within the state of Texas. By 1925, the name was shortened to simply Southwest Conference. After its organizational years, the conference settled into regularly scheduled meetings among its members, the SWC would be guided by seven commissioners, the first of whom, P. W. St. Clair, was appointed in 1938. In 1940, the conference took control of the then five-year-old Cotton Bowl Classic, Texas Technological College joined the SWC in 1958, followed by the University of Houston for the 1976 season. The conference celebrated its glory years in the 1960s, dominated by two teams, Texas and Arkansas. Texas won the 1963 National Championship, and Arkansas won a National Championship in 1964 in the Football Writers Association of America, in 1969, Texas won another National Championship by beating #2-ranked Arkansas 15-14 in the regular seasons final game. The 1969 Arkansas-Texas game in Fayetteville, Arkansas, attended by President Richard Nixon, is counted among the greatest college football games ever played. Texas also won the 1970 United Press International National Championship, which until 1974 was awarded prior to the bowl games, opponents usually were the runners-up from the Big 8 Conference or the Southeastern Conference, although independents Penn State and Notre Dame were also often featured. From the 1940s onward, the Cotton Bowl Classic was counted among the four bowl games. However, in the 1990s, the game declined in importance, in 1977, Notre Dame became the last team to win a national championship in the Cotton Bowl Classic by beating Texas in the January 1978 game
20.
Big Eight Conference
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The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association -affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. Additionally, the University of Iowa was an member of the MVIAA. The conference was dissolved in 1996, the Big Eight kept its headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri. In February 1995, the Big Eight and the Southwest Conference announced that the two leagues had reached an agreement to form a new conference. The eight members of the Big Eight joined with SWC schools Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Texas Tech to form the Big 12 Conference the following year. A vote was conducted on whether to keep the new headquarters in Kansas City. The two Oklahoma schools, all four Texas schools, and Colorado voted for the move while both Kansas schools, Nebraska, Missouri, and Iowa State voted for Kansas City. The University of Iowa who was also a member of the Western Conference was also a joint member of the conference, Iowa only participated in football and outdoor mens track and field. In 1908, Drake University and Iowa Agricultural College joined the MVIAA, Iowa who was a joint member departed in 1911 to only compete in the Western Conference, but Kansas State University joined the conference in 1913. Nebraska left in 1918 to play as an independent for two seasons before returning in 1920, in 1919, the University of Oklahoma and Saint Louis University applied for membership, but were disapproved due to deficient management of their athletic programs. The conference then added Grinnell College in 1919, with the University of Oklahoma applying again, Oklahoma A&M University joined in 1925, bringing conference membership to ten, an all-time high. At a meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska, on May 19,1928, Six of the seven state schools formed a conference that was initially known as the Big Six Conference. Just before the start of practice, the six schools announced they would retain the MVIAA name for formal purposes. However, fans and media continued to call it the Big Six, the three private schools – Drake, Grinnell, and Washington University – joined with Oklahoma A&M, becoming known as the Missouri Valley Conference. For the remainder of the Big Eights run, both conferences claimed 1907 as their date, as well as the same history through 1927. To this day, it has never been established which conference was the original. Conference membership grew with the addition of the University of Colorado on December 1,1947, later that month, Reaves E. Peters was hired as Commissioner of Officials and Assistant Secretary and set up the first conference offices in Kansas City, Missouri. With the addition of Colorado, the unofficial name became the Big Seven Conference, coincidentally
21.
Big 12 Conference
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The Big 12 Conference is a ten-school collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas. Its ten members, located in Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, additionally, the Big 12 has ten affiliate members, six for the sport of wrestling, one for womens gymnastics, and 3 for womens rowing. The Big 12 Conference is a 501 nonprofit organization incorporated in Delaware, the Big 12 was formerly composed of 12 schools, hence its name, it was formed in 1996 when four schools from the collapsing Southwest Conference joined with the pre-existing Big Eight Conference. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were grouped with the four newcomers in the Big 12 South, TCU and West Virginia joined from the Mountain West and Big East Conferences respectively to offset two of the departing schools, bringing the conference to its current strength. Attempts to rename the Big 12 to reflect its current strength would lead to confusion with the current Big Ten Conference, the Big 12 Conference commissioner is Bob Bowlsby. Full members Assoc. member Other Conference The Big 12 Conference sponsors championship competition in ten mens, nonetheless, it is an open coed sport in NCAA college athletics, with mens, womens, and coed teams in all NCAA divisions competing against each other. TCU and West Virginia both field coed teams, through 2017, West Virginia with 19 national titles and TCU with two, together have won over half of the NCAA titles awarded since the inaugural NCAA championship in 1980. West Virginia also won four national titles. The Big 12 began athletic play in the fall of 1996, from its formation until 2011, its 12 members competed in two divisions. Between 2011 and 2012 four charter members left the conference while two joined in 2013. The Big 12 is unique among the current Power Five conferences in that it only has 10 members, despite the name, causing some confusion. From 1987 to 2015,12 or more members were required for a championship game. Former Texas Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds and former football coach Mack Brown, along with Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops, critics argued it was a competitive advantage over other contract conferences. Conferences with a game have their division champions typically play one of their toughest games of the year in the last week of the regular season. Unlike the other Power 5 conferences in which a team plays a portion of the other teams in the conference each season. This theoretically allows for the declaration of a de facto champion without the need for a rematch between the top two teams in the conference. On June 3,2016, the conference announced it would reinstate the football game in the 2017 season. This followed the passage of a new NCAA rule allowing all FBS conferences to hold football championship games regardless of their membership numbers, the Big 12 population base is centered on the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, West Virginia and Iowa
22.
Ivy League
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The Ivy League is a collegiate athletic conference comprising sports teams from eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group beyond the sports context. The eight institutions are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, the term Ivy League has connotations of academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism. While the term was in use as early as 1933, it became official after the formation of the NCAA Division I athletic conference in 1954. Seven of the eight schools were founded during the United States colonial period, Ivy League institutions account for seven of the nine Colonial Colleges chartered before the American Revolution, the other two are Rutgers University and College of William & Mary. Ivy League schools are generally viewed as some of the most prestigious, all eight universities place in the top fifteen of the U. S. News & World Report 2017 nation university rankings, including the top four schools and five of the top eight. Undergraduate enrollments range from about 4,000 to 14,000, making them larger than those of a private liberal arts college. Total enrollments, including students, range from approximately 6,400 at Dartmouth to over 20,000 at Columbia, Cornell, Harvard. Ivy League financial endowments range from Browns $3 billion to Harvards $36.4 billion, as of 2014, Harvard University has an endowment of $36.4 billion. Additionally, each university receives millions of dollars in grants and other subsidies from federal. Harvard University uses the date that the legislature of the Massachusetts Bay Colony formally allocated funds for the creation of a college, Harvard was chartered in 1650, although classes had been conducted for approximately a decade by then. The University of Pennsylvania initially considered its founding date to be 1750, later in Penns early history, the university changed its officially recognized founding date to 1749, which was used for all of the nineteenth century, including a centennial celebration in 1849. In 1899, Penns board of trustees adopted a third founding date of 1740. Penn was chartered in 1755, the same year classes began. Religious affiliation refers to financial sponsorship, formal association with, and promotion by, all of the schools in the Ivy League are private and not currently associated with any religion. Students have long revered the ivied walls of older colleges, planting the ivy was a customary class day ceremony at many colleges in the 1800s. In 1893 an alumnus told The Harvard Crimson, In 1850, the custom of planting the ivy, while the ivy oration was delivered, arose about this time. At Penn, graduating seniors started the custom of planting ivy at a university building each spring in 1873, Ivy planting ceremonies are reported for Yale, Simmons, Bryn Mawr and many others
23.
Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League
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The Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League was an athletic conference for men’s college basketball, beginning with the 1901–02 season and ending with the 1954–55 season. The EIBL/Ivy is the oldest basketball conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the next oldest, the league was founded in the 1901–02 season by five schools, Columbia University, Cornell University, Harvard University, Princeton University, and Yale University. Yale won the championship with a 5–3 record. The University of Pennsylvania was admitted to the league for the 1903–04 season, the championships during the first few years were evenly divided between Yale, Columbia, and Penn, with the Bulldogs winning three times, and the other two schools winning twice each. Harvard had particular difficulties due to limitations placed upon them by the school’s faculty and these factors led to the collapse of the league, with no competition being held in 1908–09 or 1909–10. The league was reorganized in 1910–11 under the leadership of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Ralph Morgan, with Columbia, Cornell, Penn, Princeton, Dartmouth College joined the conference in 1911–12, Yale dropped out in 1912–13, but returned the following year. The conference remained stable at six teams from 1913–14 until 1932–33, Columbia and Cornell were successful early in this period, with the Lions winning two championships, the Big Red one, and both sharing a fourth. This string was interrupted by Princeton, who finished first in 1922 and 1923, the late 20s and early 30s were mostly divided between Columbia and Penn. Harvard finally rejoined the league in 1933–34, bringing membership to seven teams, the late 30s and early 40s saw the rise of a long-lived dynasty at Dartmouth, which won seven straight championships and made two trips to the finals of the new NCAA national championship tournament. By contrast, the period produced a high degree of parity. During these years, the movement to form the Ivy League was gathering momentum, as part of this process, Brown University joined the league for its final two seasons, and it was decided that the EIBL would be absorbed into the Ivy League beginning in 1955–56. The EIBL went out with a bang in 1954–55, with Princeton emerging as the final champion from a three-way playoff with Columbia
24.
Three-point field goal
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A three-point field goal is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two points awarded for field goals made within the three-point line and the one point for each made free throw. In international FIBA and WNBA play, the three-point line is 6.75 m away from the basket on the arc part and 6.6 m from the straight parts. In both mens and womens National Collegiate Athletics Association basketball, the three-point line is simply a 180° circular arc centered on the basket,20 ft 9 in in radius. The three-point line was first tested at the level in a 1945 NCAA game between Columbia and Fordham but it was not kept as a rule. At the direction of Abe Saperstein, the American Basketball League became the first basketball league to institute the rule in 1961 and its three-point line was a radius of 25 feet from the baskets, except along the sides. The Eastern Professional Basketball League followed in its 1963–64 season, the three-point shot later became popularized by the American Basketball Association after its introduction in the 1967–68 season. Then commissioner of the ABA George Mikan stated the three-pointer would give the player a chance to score. During the 1970s, the ABA used the three-point shot, along with the slam dunk, in the 1979–80 season, the NBA adopted the three-point line despite the view of many that it was a gimmick. Chris Ford of the Boston Celtics is widely credited with making the first three-point shot in NBA history on October 12,1979, kevin Grevey of the Washington Bullets also made one on the same day. The sports international governing body, FIBA, introduced the three-point line in 1984, the NCAAs Southern Conference became the first collegiate conference to use the three-point rule, adopting a 22-foot line for the 1980–81 season. Ronnie Carr of Western Carolina University was the first to score a three-point field goal in basketball history on November 29,1980. Over the following five years, NCAA conferences differed in their use of the rule, used in conference play, it was adopted by the NCAA for the 1986–87 season at 19 ft 9 in, and was first used in the NCAA Tournament in 1987. In 2007, the NCAA lengthened the mens three point distance to 20 ft 9 in, with the coming into effect at the beginning of the 2008–09 season. American high schools, along with elementary and middle schools, adopted a 19 ft 9 in line nationally in 1987, a year after the NCAA. During the 1994–95, 1995–96, and 1996–97 seasons, the NBA attempted to address decreased scoring by shortening the distance of the line from 23 ft 9 in to a uniform 22 ft around the basket. From the 1997–98 season on, the NBA reverted the line to its distance of 23 ft 9 in. Ray Allen is currently the NBA all-time leader in career made three-pointers with 2,973, in 2008, FIBA announced that the distance would be increased by 50 cm to 6.75 m, with the change being phased in beginning in October 2010
25.
Western Carolina Catamounts men's basketball
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The Western Carolina Catamounts mens basketball team is the basketball team that represents Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina, United States. The schools team competes in the Southern Conference. One of the most notable moments in the programs history occurred on December 9,2012, in the second half of that game, with 11,07 to go, the Mountaineers were leading 49–40. A Western Carolina TV analyst commentating on the game soon reacted, in a surprised manner, eventually, the Catamounts would go on to win 70–64. The incident has gone viral on YouTube, reaching over 18 million views, the Catamounts have appeared in one NCAA Tournament. The Catamounts have appeared in one CollegeInsider. com Postseason Tournament, the Catamounts have appeared in one College Basketball Invitational
26.
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball
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The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders mens basketball team is the basketball team that represents Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States. The schools team competes in Conference USA. The Blue Raiders have appeared in the NCAA Tournament nine times, the 2015–16 was most notable after MTSU became just the eighth #15 seed to win a game. The Blue Raiders have appeared in the NAIA Tournament one time, the Blue Raiders have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament three times. The Blue Raiders have appeared in the CollegeInsider. com Postseason Tournament two times
27.
NCAA Division I Football Championship
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The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an American college football tournament played each year to determine the champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Prior to 2006, the game was known as the NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship, the FCS is the highest division in college football to hold a playoff tournament sanctioned by the NCAA to determine its champion. The four-team playoff system used by the Bowl Subdivision is not sanctioned by the NCAA, the reigning national champions are the James Madison Dukes, who had previously won in 2004. When Division I-AA was formed for football in 1978, the playoffs included just four teams, in 1982 the I-AA playoffs were expanded to 12 teams, with each of the top four seeds receiving a first-round bye and a home game in the quarterfinals. In its ninth season of 1986, the I-AA playoffs were expanded again to a 16-team format, eight conference champions received automatic bids, with the remaining eight bids available on an at-large basis. The field is set the Sunday before Thanksgiving and play begins that weekend. The top four teams are seeded, however, the matchups are not strictly set up by these seedings as geographic considerations are taken into account to minimize travel. In April 2008 the NCAA announced that the field would again expand to include 20 teams beginning in 2010. At the same time, it announced that the number of conferences receiving automatic bids would increase to 10, the structure then adopted included eight teams playing in four first round games. The four first round advance to the second Round of Sixteen where they play the top four seeds. The playoffs expanded to 24 teams beginning with the 2013 season, the tournament has historically been played in November and December, with the 2010 expansion to a 20-team field, the championship game moved from December to January. The title game is now played in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas at Toyota Stadium, the original contract with Frisco began in the 2010 season and ran through the 2012 season. The contract has since been extended twice, first through the 2015 season, three Football Championship Subdivision conferences usually do not participate in the tournament. The teams that make the playoffs are determined by the FCS Playoff Selection Committee, the current committee chairman is Mark Wilson. The others who serve on the committee are Chuck Burch, Troy Dannen, Brian Hutchinson, Richard Johnson, Nathan Pine, Marty Scarano, Paul Schlickmann, Dr. Brad Teague. ++ The MEAC Champion, since 2015, forgoes its automatic bid to allow its champion to participate in the Celebration Bowl, non-champions are eligible for at-large bids. % The SWAC abstains from the tournament to allow for a longer regular season, an in-conference championship game. † Known as University of Louisiana at Monroe since 1999, ‡ Now Toyota Stadium * Toyota Stadium capacity reduced due to construction ^ Now a member of the Football Bowl Subdivision
28.
Appalachian State Mountaineers football
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The Appalachian State Mountaineers football team is the college football team at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. The Mountaineers have competed in the Sun Belt Conference since 2014, Appalachian plays its home games in Kidd Brewer Stadium, formerly known as Conrad stadium, which is named after Kidd Brewer, whose 1937 squad was unbeaten and unscored upon during the regular season. The Mountaineers were the first FCS team to win three national championships since the playoffs began in 1978. Appalachian became the first FCS team to receive votes in the final Associated Press college football poll on January 8,2008, the Mountaineers received five points in the poll. Through its storied history, the App State football program has won over 550 games, the Mountainers have 18 Conference championships and boast one of the nations best home field advantages. The program also has one Walter Payton Award winner, Appalachian State began playing organized football in 1928. The coach that first year was Graydon Eggers, the Mountaineers competed as an independent before joining the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics North State Conference as a charter member in 1931. Kidd Brewer was the coach of the Mountaineers from 1935–38. Brewers 1937 squad is best remembered for going unbeaten and unscored upon during the season, outscoring opponents 206–0 before losing a postseason game to the Golden Eagles. Appalachian found continued success under coach E. C, during Duggins eight years as coach, the Mountaineers claimed three more North State Conference championships and played in seven bowl games. The Mountaineers again competed as an independent from 1968–71 before joining the Southern Conference, Jim Duncan served as Appalachian States head coach from 1960-1964, compiling a 31–15–2 record. Duncan was succeeded by Carl Messere, who compiled a 34–26–1 record from 1965-1970, wofford head coach Jim Brakefield was hired as Appalachian States head football coach in 1971. He led the Mountaineers into the Southern Conference in his first season, Brakefield led the Mountaineers to three losing seasons in four years en route to a 47–48–4 record at Appalachian State, however, a 3–8 campaign in 1979 resulted in his dismissal. Mike Working served as the 16th head football coach in Appalachian State football history from 1980-1982, under Working, the Mountaineers compiled a record of 13–18–2 and never were able to sustain consistency. Working was fired following back to back seasons in 1981 and 1982. Legendary coach Mack Brown was hired as Appalachian States head coach in 1983, Brown, who had previously served as LSUs quarterbacks coach, led Appalachian State to a 6–5 record in what would be his only season. However, Brown chose to leave Appalachian State to accept the position of offensive coordinator at Oklahoma under head coach Barry Switzer, following Browns departure, Appalachian State promoted assistant coach Sparky Woods to head coach. Appalachian State won the first of nine Southern Conference championships in 1986 under Woods, another conference championship and playoff appearance followed in 1987
29.
Michigan Wolverines football
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The Michigan Wolverines football program represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins and the highest winning percentage in college football history, Michigan began competing in intercollegiate football in 1879. The Wolverines joined the Big Ten Conference at its inception in 1896, Michigan has won or shared 42 league titles, and, since the inception of the AP Poll in 1936, has finished in the top 10 a total of 37 times. The Wolverines claim 11 national championships, most recently that of the 1997 squad voted atop the final AP Poll. From 1900 to 1989, Michigan was led by a series of nine head coaches, Fielding H. Fritz Crisler brought his winged helmet from Princeton University in 1938 and led the 1947 Wolverines to a national title and Michigans second Rose Bowl win. Bo Schembechler coached the team for 21 seasons in which he won 13 Big Ten titles and 194 games, a program record. Following Schembechlers retirement, the program was coached by two of his assistants, Gary Moeller and then Lloyd Carr, who maintained the programs overall success over the next 18 years. However, the programs fortunes declined under the two coaches, Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke, who were both fired after relatively short tenures. Following Hokes dismissal, Michigan hired Jim Harbaugh on December 30,2014, Harbaugh is a former quarterback of the team, having played for Michigan between 1982 and 1986 under Schembechler. The Michigan Wolverines have featured 78 players that have garnered consensus selection to the College Football All-America Team, Three Wolverines have won the Heisman Trophy, Tom Harmon in 1940, Desmond Howard in 1991, and Charles Woodson in 1997. Gerald Ford, who would become the 38th President of the United States. On May 30,1879, Michigan played its first intercollegiate game against Racine College at White Stocking Park in Chicago. The Chicago Tribune called it the first rugby-football game to be played west of the Alleghenies, midway through the first inning, Irving Kane Pond scored the first touchdown for Michigan. According to Will Perrys history of Michigan football, the crowd responded to Ponds plays with cheers of Pond Forever, in 1881, Michigan played against Harvard in Boston. The game that marked the birth of inter-sectional football, on their way to a game in Chicago in 1887, Michigan players stopped in South Bend, Indiana and introduced football to students at the University of Notre Dame. A November 23 contest marked the inception of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program, in 1894, Michigan defeated Cornell, which was the first time in collegiate football history that a western school defeated an established power from the east. By 1898 Amos Alonzo Stagg was fast at work at turning the University of Chicago football program into a powerhouse. Before the final game of the 1898 season, Chicago was 9–1–1 and Michigan was 9–0, Michigan won, 12–11, capturing the programs first conference championship in a game that inspired The Victors, which later became the schools fight song
30.
2007 Appalachian State vs. Michigan football game
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Michigan football game was a regular season college football game between the Appalachian State Mountaineers and Michigan Wolverines. It was held at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on September 1,2007, the Wolverines entered the game ranked No.1 in The Sports Networks Football Championship Subdivision poll and were preseason favorites to win their third consecutive FCS national championship. Games between FBS and FCS teams typically result in lopsided victories for the FBS team, and the Appalachian State–Michigan game was not expected to be an exception, the predicted outcome was a lopsided victory for Michigan, and Las Vegas sportsbooks did not give a betting line. The game was the first to be broadcast on the then-new Big Ten Network, and began with a strong first half for Appalachian State, who held a 28–17 lead at the end of the half. Michigan regained the lead at 32–31 in the quarter. The Mountaineers blocked a field goal attempt from Michigan at the end of regulation to secure a 34–32 win. In the aftermath of the game, the Associated Press amended their policy to make FCS teams eligible for the AP Poll. The Appalachian State Mountaineers finished the 2007 season with a 13–2 record and they also became the first FCS team to receive votes in the final AP Poll, tying South Florida for the 34th overall ranking. Michigan finished their season 9–4, winning the Capital One Bowl, a rematch in 2014 at Michigan Stadium was won decisively by the Wolverines, 52–14. The 2014 rematch was the Mountaineers first game as an FBS school, the National Collegiate Athletic Association is split into three divisions, Division I, Division II, and Division III. According to the NCAA, Division I consists of the largest programs that provide the most athletically related financial aid for student-athletes, Division I football is split into two subdivisions, the Football Bowl Subdivision and the Football Championship Subdivision. USA Today notes that the FBS is considered the tier at which major Division I universities play, FBS member teams are allowed to have up to 85 scholarship players, while FCS member teams are allowed to award 63 scholarships. However, FCS teams can divide their 63 scholarships by giving some players partial scholarships, FBS teams vie to play in bowl games, while FCS teams aim to qualify for a postseason tournament. The two subdivisions were created in 1978, and no other Division I sports are split in such a manner, FCS teams are often paid upwards of USD $500,000 for participating in games against FBS teams. Appalachian State had routinely scheduled FBS teams, playing against schools such as LSU, Auburn, Kansas and they also had games against Wake Forest in every season from 1979 to 1996, as well as in 1998,2000, and 2001. Appalachian State had won six of these games, all of them against Wake Forest, the Mountaineers had not beaten an FBS team since 2000. Michigan, a college football power with a large fan base, had never played an FCS team. While attempting to determine the amount of money Appalachian State would be paid for playing Michigan, Moore went to school officials and urged them to accept any offer Michigan gave them, he recalled telling them that Its an opportunity game
31.
Davidson Wildcats men's basketball
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The Davidson Wildcats basketball team is the basketball team that represents Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, in the NCAA Division I. The schools team competes in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The team last played in the NCAA Division I Mens Basketball Tournament in 2015, the Wildcats are currently coached by Bob McKillop. Davidson plays its games at the Belk Arena in Baker Sports Complex on the schools campus. The Wildcats have appeared in 13 NCAA Tournaments, in 2008, Davidson defeated the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Georgetown Hoyas, and Wisconsin Badgers to advance to the Elite Eight. The Wildcats nearly made the Final Four, but lost to the eventual champion Kansas Jayhawks 59–57, prior to their Sweet Sixteen matchup, the colleges board of trustees supplied students with tickets, transportation and lodging for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games. Following the tournament, the Wildcats earned a number 9 ranking in the ESPN/USA Today poll, much of this run was due to the play of guard Stephen Curry, who now plays for the Golden State Warriors. The Wildcats have appeared in seven National Invitation Tournaments, the Wildcats have appeared in one College Basketball Invitational. In a system ranked by ESPN, Davidson was listed as the #44 Basketball Program of the last 50 years based on its on the accomplishments during that period. Positives, Under Lefty Driesell, the Wildcats were a powerhouse in the 1960s, the ’64–65 team was AP preseason No.4 and boasted future NBA No.1 pick Fred Hetzel. Nine combined conference titles since 2005, jake Cohen Fred Hetzel 1st overall pick in 1965 NBA Draft Rod Knowles Mike Maloy Dick Snyder Brandon Williams Stephen Curry 7th overall pick in 2009 NBA Draft, NBA champion, two time NBA MVP
32.
2008 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament
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It began on March 18,2008, and concluded on April 7 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. For the first time since seeding began, all four of the top seeds advanced to the Final Four. Memphis and Kansas advanced to the championship game, with Memphiss victory in the semifinals giving them a record-setting 38 for the season. Kansas, however, spoiled their national championship hopes by handing the Tigers their second loss of the season, winning the game in overtime, Memphiss entire season was later vacated by the NCAA due to eligibility concerns surrounding freshman guard Derrick Rose. Entering the tournament on March 18, the top ranked team was North Carolina in both the AP Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls, followed by Memphis, UCLA and Kansas. American University, UMBC, Texas-Arlington, and Portland State all entered the tournament for the first time in their schools history, another school, Coppin State won the MEAC Tournament to become the first 20-loss school ever to make the field. Georgia, a team that otherwise would not have advanced to the tournament, won the SEC tournament to qualify, and were awarded a #14 seed, whereas the 2007 tournament did not see many upsets, the 2008 tournament was full of them. The sub-regional pod played at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa, #5 seeds Drake and Clemson fell to #12 seeds Western Kentucky and Villanova while the #4 seeds in that same pod, Vanderbilt and Connecticut, were defeated by #13 seeds Siena and San Diego. Western Kentucky advanced to the West regional in Phoenix where they lost to UCLA while Villanova was one of two double digit seeds to advance to the Midwest regional. The other was #10 seed Davidson, who rode the hot shooting of Stephen Curry to defeat Gonzaga, Georgetown, and Wisconsin before nearly upsetting Kansas in the regional final. The Midwest region alone saw four of its double digit seeds advance, as in addition to Villanova, Siena, the total tournament attendance of 763,607 set a record for highest total tournament attendance, breaking the record set during the 1999 tournament. The NCAA Mens Division I Basketball Championship is an annual tournament featuring 65 teams representing all Division I Conferences in the nation. A play-in game determined which of the two lowest seeds would play in the first round of 64 against a top seed team. The Selection Committee seeded the entire field from 1 to 65 within four regionals of 16 teams, Mount St. Marys, as the winner of the play-in game, between 2004 and 2006, the regionals were named for their host cities. April 5 and 7 Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas A total of 31 teams received bids for winning their conference tournament championship. Since the Ivy League does not hold a tournament, its regular season received the automatic bid. This left 34 at-large bids to be decided from the rest of the field by the NCAA Selection Committee, the at-large bids, along with the seeding for each team in the tournament, were announced on Sunday, March 16. Coppin State was the first team to make the tournament with 20 losses, maryland-Baltimore County, American, Texas-Arlington, and Portland State all received their first tournament bids in school history
33.
Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball
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The Gonzaga Bulldogs are the intercollegiate mens basketball program representing Gonzaga University. The school competes in the West Coast Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the Gonzaga Bulldogs play home basketball games at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Washington on the university campus. Adam Morrison was named the Co-National Player of the year for the 2005–06 season, since the mid-1990s, Gonzaga has established itself as one of the closest things to a major basketball power in a mid-major conference. They have been to every NCAA Tournament since 1999--a year in which made a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight--and have appeared in every final AP poll since the 2008-09 season. They have also appeared in all but one WCC conference title game since 1995 and this culminated in 2016-17, when the Bulldogs went to their first Final Four in school history, advancing all the way to the national championship game. Gonzaga introduced a program during the 1907–08 basketball season. During that season, they had no coach, but managed to achieve a record of 9–2, in the 1908/09 season, George Varnell became the first official coach for Gonzaga, earning a 10–2 record during his only season with Gonzaga. Varnell was replaced by William Mulligan the following season, who acquired an 11–3 record, frank McKevitt took over for Mulligan during the 1910–11 basketball season, acquiring an 8–1 record. From 1944 to 1994 the Bulldogs compiled a record of 628–531, earning regular season titles in 1965–66, 1966–67, 1993–94 also saw the team qualify for its first postseason tournament, the NIT. A year later, the 1994–95 team would make the schools first appearance into the NCAA tournament, during his first season, Monson led the Zags to a 24–10 record and a WCC regular-season title, which was not enough to land Gonzaga an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. However, the Bulldogs would earn a bid into the 1998 National Invitation Tournament, during the 1998–99 season, the Bulldogs finished with a 28–7 record and the conference tournament championship, which gave Gonzaga a 10-seed into the 1999 NCAA Tournament. The Zags would go on to beat Florida 73–72 to advance to the finals after Casey Calvary tipped in the winning basket with four seconds remaining. They trailed eventual national champion UConn by one point with a minute remaining before losing 67–62 in the regional finals, after Dan Monson took the head coaching position at Minnesota, assistant coach Mark Few was named the new head coach on July 26,1999. In the 2000–01 season, the Bulldogs faced a tough schedule highlighted by games against Arizona, Washington, Florida, despite starting the season 5–1, the Zags dropped four of their next five games. Gonzaga rebounded and finished the regular season 15–6 before winning their third consecutive WCC Tournament title, the win gave the Bulldogs an automatic bid into the 2001 NCAA Tournament, where they were given a 12-seed. In the first round game against fifth-seeded Virginia, Casey Calvary put back a shot with nine seconds left to give the Zags an 86–85 victory. Gonzaga would go on to beat 13th-seeded Indiana State 85–68 in the round to advance to their third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance. The Zags would go on to lose to defending national champion Michigan State 77–62, before the 2001–02 season started, the Bulldogs were unanimously favored to win the WCC title in the 2001–02 WCC preseason coaches poll
34.
Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball
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Georgetowns first intercollegiate mens basketball team was formed in 1907. Patrick Ewing, who succeeded John Thompson III upon his firing, is the current head coach, the team won the National Championship in 1984 and has reached the NCAA Tournament Final Four on five occasions. Their most recent trip to the Final Four was in 2007 and they have won the Big East Mens Basketball Tournament seven times, and has also won or shared the Big East regular season title ten times. They have been appeared in the NCAA Tournament thirty times and in the National Invitation Tournament twelve times, the Hoyas under Thompson III were known for employing a variant of the Princeton offense, a style of play that emphasizes ball movement. Coach Thompson learned the style while serving under then-Coach Pete Carril of the Princeton University Tigers, using this system, Georgetown had been lauded for excelling by emphasizing offensive efficiency rather than speed of play. Founded in the fall of 1906, the Georgetown mens basketball played its first game on February 9,1907. In its first 60-some years, the program displayed only sporadic success, the downtown locations of these venues was also influenced by the number of Law School students who played on the team in this era. From 1918 through 1923, while on campus at Ryan Gymnasium, a large on-campus arena was proposed in 1927, but shelved during the Great Depression. The team recruited its first All-American, Ed Hargaden, in 1931, from 1932 until 1939, the Hoyas played in the Eastern Intercollegiate Conference, and were regular-season conference co-champions in 1939. In 1942, a Hoya went pro for the first time, the next year the team, led by future congressman Henry Hyde, reached new heights by going all the way to the 1943 NCAA championship game, where they lost to Wyoming. The Hoyas coach, Elmer Ripley, would be inducted into the hall of fame in 1973. The program was suspended from 1943 to 1945 because of World War II, however, in 1953, former Baltimore Bullets player Buddy Jeannette coached the team to its first National Invitation Tournament invitation, but it lost in the first round to Louisville. OKeefe would later return to coach the team from 1960 until 1966, when the school hired John Magee, Magee led the team to the 1970 NIT, just its third post-season appearance, but a dismal three-win season in 1971–72 led to his dismissal. John Thompson, Jr. played two seasons with the Boston Celtics before he achieved local notability coaching St. Anthonys High School in Washington, D. C. to several very successful seasons. Thompson was hired to coach Georgetown in 1972, and with several recruits from St. Anthonys like Merlin Wilson, derrick Jacksons buzzer beater won Georgetown its first tournament championship, and a bid to the 1975 NCAA Tournament. The Big East Conference provided Georgetown increased competition, and several of its longest rivalries and they faced Syracuse again three weeks later in the first Big East Tournament Finals, winning 87–81. In the 1980 NCAA Tournament, the team advanced to the Elite Eight, the team moved its home arena in the 1981-82 season to the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland to accommodate its growing fan base. That season, sparked by star freshman Patrick Ewing, the Hoyas reached the 1982 national championship finals, in a highly regarded and closely fought contest the Hoyas Fred Brown threw an errant pass to Tar Heels forward James Worthy that sealed the title for UNC
35.
Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball
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The Wisconsin Badgers mens basketball team is a NCAA Division I college basketball team competing in the Big Ten Conference. The Badgers home games are played at the Kohl Center, located on the University of Wisconsin–Madison campus in Madison, Wisconsin Badger basketball began in December,1898 with the formation of its first team coached by Dr. James C. The Badgers played their first game on January 21,1899, losing to the Milwaukee Normal Alumni 25–15 in Milwaukee, in 1905, Christian Steinmetz became the first Wisconsin Badger basketball player to be named All-American. In the 1906–07 season, Wisconsin won its first share of the Big Ten Championship and they won it again the next year in 1908. Walter Meanwell began coaching the Badgers in 1911, in his first season, he led Wisconsin to an undefeated season, and then led them to another 15–0 season in 1913–14. Meanwells teams would win eight Big Ten Championships during his tenure, in 1912,1913,1914,1916,1921,1923,1924, and 1929. Between the 1917–18 and 1919–20 seasons, Guy Lowman coached the Badgers, Meanwell would also coach two All-Americans during his Wisconsin career, George Levis in 1916 and Harold Bud Foster in 1930. On December 18,1930, the first game was played in the new Wisconsin Field House, starting with the 1934–35 season, former UW basketball player Bud Foster began coaching the Wisconsin Badgers. In his first season as coach, he led the Badgers to their 12th Big Ten Conference Championship in 28 years. In 1941, Foster led the Badgers to their only NCAA Championship in history, with the help of tournament MOP John Kotz and All-American Gene Englund, the Badgers beat Washington State 39–34 in the final game of the NCAA Tournament. It was their first ever invitation to the NCAA Tournament, after winning the Big Ten Championship in that year, Foster coached three All-Americans during his tenure – Gene Englund in 1941, John Kotz in 1942 and Don Rehfeldt in 1950. The Badgers won one more Big Ten championship in 1947 and attended their second NCAA Tournament and it would be their last postseason appearance of any sort for 42 years, and their last NCAA appearance for 47 years. The mediocre records of the last decade of Fosters tenure would remain largely the norm for the Badgers for the four decades. From 1954 to 1995, the Badgers would only have eight winning seasons and they also only notched two winning records in Big Ten play, and only finished as high as fourth four times. In 1994, the Badgers returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1947, the revival of Wisconsin basketball began in 1995, when Dick Bennett took over after leading Wisconsin-Green Bay to mid-major prominence. In 1997, he led the Badgers to their first winning Big Ten record in 23 years, in 2000, the Badgers entered the NCAA tournament seeded #8 in the West bracket. Beyond most expectations, they defeated #9 Fresno St, #1 Arizona, #4 LSU, however, the Badgers then lost to #1 and eventual national champion Michigan State, 53–41. After three games into the 2000–01 season, Bennett abruptly retired due to burnout and his final game was a 78–75 win over eventual Final Four participant Maryland
36.
Georgia Southern Eagles football
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The Georgia Southern Eagles represent Georgia Southern University in football as part of the Sun Belt Conference under head coach Tyson Summers. The Eagles have won six FCS national championships and have produced two Walter Payton Award winners, the Eagles first continuously fielded a football team in 1924, however, play was suspended for World War II and revived in 1981. Georgia Southern joined the Sun Belt Conference upon transitioning to the FBS level in 2014, the Eagles won the Sun Belt Conference championship outright in its first year as an FBS member. As First District A&M, the school began organizing football teams as early as 1909, however, the college first continuously fielded a team in 1924. Crook Smith, a standout from Mercer University, was hired as football coach and athletics director. Football was suspended in 1941 at the outset of World War II, in 1978, President Dale Lick decided that football should be revived at Georgia Southern College. Despite a faculty senate vote against renewing the sport, Lick worked to support for the endeavor. In 1982, the school hired Erk Russell, the popular and charismatic defensive coordinator at the University of Georgia, on the hire, humorist Lewis Grizzard said, When they landed Erk Russell, they got themselves a franchise. The Eagles fielded a team in 1982 and 1983 and began official NCAA Division I-AA play in 1984. The Eagles would return to Tacoma the next year and win the championship vs. Arkansas State, in 1989, the Eagles became the first college team to go 15–0 in the 20th century, winning the national championship on their home field vs. Stephen F. Austin. Soon after the game, Russell retired, tim Stowers was hired to succeed Russell after Georgia Southerns 1989 national title. Stowers was the 1989 offensive coordinator, one of two coordinators since 1900 to direct an offense of a team with a 15–0 record. Stowers had a record of 51–23 vs. FCS/I-AA opponents. FBS/D-IA losses-Miami Hurricanes twice, Georgia Bulldogs, Auburn Tigers, and Bobby Bowden, Stowers had a 6–2 playoff record and a 51–18 overall record vs. I-AA/FCS opponents and lower. Stowers won the 1990 I-AA national championship and was named AFCA Kodak National Coach of the Year and he also won Georgia Southerns first Southern Conference Title in 1993 and was named 1993 Southern Conference Coach of the Year. He was succeeded by interim coach Frank Ellwood for one year, the 1996 season was the first losing season in the modern era as the Eagles fell to 4–7. The next coach for the Eagles was Paul Johnson, Johnson found instant success, taking the Eagles to the playoffs in his first season. He, along with Eagle legend Adrian N. Peterson, reached the 1998 national championship, however, the Eagles lost the game to the University of Massachusetts 55–43 in Chattanooga, Tennessee
37.
Southeastern Conference
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The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the Southern part of the United States. Its fourteen members include the public universities of ten states. The conference is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, the SEC participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I in sports competitions, for football, it is part of the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-A. The SEC was also the first NCAA Division I conference to hold a game for college football and was one of the founding members of the Bowl Championship Series. The current SEC commissioner is Greg Sankey, the conference sponsors team championships in nine mens sports and twelve womens sports. The SEC consists of 14 member institutions located within the borders of 11 contiguous states and these divisional groupings are applied exclusively to football and baseball as well as their scheduling and standings. The other charter members were, The University of the South left the SEC on December 13,1940 and it is currently a member of the Division III Southern Athletic Association. Georgia Institute of Technology left the SEC in 1964, in 1975, it became a founding member of the Metro Conference, one of the predecessors to todays Conference USA. Georgia Tech competed in the Metro Conference in all sports except football, in 1978, Georgia Tech joined another Southern Conference offshoot, the Atlantic Coast Conference, for all sports, where it has remained ever since. Tulane University left the SEC in 1966, along with Georgia Tech, it was a charter member of the Metro Conference. Unlike Tech, however, Tulane remained in the Metro Conference until it merged with the Great Midwest Conference in 1995 to form Conference USA, Tulane remained an independent in football until C-USA began football competition in 1996. Tulane left C-USA in 2014 for the American Athletic Conference, in 1990, the SEC expanded from ten to twelve member universities with the addition of the Arkansas Razorbacks and the South Carolina Gamecocks. The two new members began SEC competition with the 1991–1992 basketball season, at the same time, the SEC organized competition for some sports into two divisions. Initially, the format was used in football, baseball. The divisional format was dropped for mens basketball following the 2011–2012 season, the 1992 and 1993 championship games were held at Legion Field in Birmingham, and all championship games from 1994 onward have been held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. On November 6,2011 the SEC commissioner announced that the University of Missouri would also join the SEC on July 1,2012, for football, Texas A&M was scheduled to compete in the Western Division, and Missouri in the Eastern Division. Texas A&M and Missouri both left the Big 12 Conference, the office of Commissioner was created in 1940. Under the leadership of Michael F, the SECU rebranded its mission to better serve as a means through which the collaborative academic endeavors and achievements of Southeastern Conference universities would be promoted and advanced
38.
Florida Gators football
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The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and they play their home games in Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the universitys Gainesville campus. The Gators have won three championships and eight SEC titles in the 108-season history of Floridas varsity football program. The Florida football program has evolved from its beginnings and achieved notable successes. Florida has had a home field since the beginning of their football program. Since 1930, their home field has been Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the stadium was known as Florida Field until 1989 when its name was extended to honor alumnus and sports benefactor Ben Hill Griffin. During the 1990s, football coach Steve Spurrier called the stadium the Swamp, the quickly became popular. Since 1906 Florida has had twenty-five head coaches, including three who were inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame for their coaching success and their first head coach was Pee Wee Forsythe in 1906, the 2015 season was the first for their twenty-fifth head coach, Jim McElwain. During the programs early years, Florida was a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, in 1932 the University of Florida was a founding member of the Southeastern Conference, and it is currently one of fourteen member institutions. The Gators have competed in the SEC Eastern Division since the league began play in 1992. Florida plays an eight-game SEC schedule, with six games against the other Eastern Division teams, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, the schedule is filled out with an annual game against Louisiana State and a rotating SEC Western Division team. Until 2003, the Gators also played Auburn every season, Florida has also played in-state rival Florida State every year since 1958, usually facing off in the last game of the regular season. The two teams emergence as perennial football powers during the 1980s and 1990s helped build the Florida–Florida State rivalry into a game often has national-title implications. The remaining dates on Floridas regular schedule are filled by non-conference opponents which vary from year to year, previously known as the worlds largest outdoor cocktail party, it is most commonly called the Florida–Georgia game by Gator fans. The game is held at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida, the designated home team alternates, with ticket distribution split evenly between the schools. In the rivalrys early years, games rotated among locations in Savannah, Georgia, Tampa, Florida, Jacksonville and, occasionally, Gainesville, since 1933 the game has been played in Jacksonville, except for 1994 and 1995. Georgia had early success in the rivalry, winning the first six games, after the 2014 game Florida had won 21 out of the most-recent 27 games, and holds a 38–28–1 advantage in the series since 1950. The Bulldogs lead the overall, 49–43–2
39.
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
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Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, popularly known as The Swamp, is the football stadium for the University of Florida and the home field of the universitys Florida Gators football team. It is located on the universitys Gainesville, Florida campus, the stadium was originally built in 1930, and has been regularly expanded, renovated and improved since then. It is the 12th largest stadium in American college football, as measured by its seating capacity of 88,548 – though it has often held in excess of 90,000 for the Gators home football games. The stadium is located on the edge of the University of Florida campus near the center of Gainesville. The stadium and its approach are bordered by West University Avenue on the side, Gale Lemerand Drive on the west. Just west of the stadium across Gale Lemerand Drive is the Stephen C, OConnell Center, which is the home arena for the Florida Gators mens basketball, womens basketball, gymnastics, volleyball, and swimming and diving teams. Just beyond the OConnell Center are the teams practice facilities and Alfred A. McKethan Stadium. Prior to the 2015 Season a new practice facility was added just north of the baseball field. However, the surface remained Florida Field, and the facilitys full name was Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at Florida Field from 1990 until 2016. On September 3,2016, the surface was renamed in honor of former Florida quarterback. As UF athletic director Jeremy Foley explained, Coach Spurrier did more than win a Heisman Trophy, a championship. Coach Spurrier changed the culture of Florida athletics, as a result, the facilitys official name is now Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The facility may be best known as simply The Swamp, a nickname which was coined by Spurrier in the early 1990s, in describing Floridas home-field advantage, Spurrier noted that a swamp is where Gators live. We feel comfortable there, but we hope our opponents feel tentative, a swamp is hot and sticky and can be dangerous. Both the nickname and the only Gators get out alive tagline quickly became popular and have commonly used ever since. The university built a field in the summer of 1911. A grove of trees along University Avenue was cleared and leveled, a single bank of low wooden bleachers were built. Larger bleachers were installed by 1915, when the facility was rechristened Fleming Field in honor of former Florida governor Francis P. Fleming
40.
Furman Paladins football
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The Furman Paladins football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the Furman University located in the state of South Carolina. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision and are members of the Southern Conference, the schools first football team was fielded in 1889. The team plays its games at the 16,000 seat Paladin Stadium. They are coached by Clay Hendrix, the Furman Paladins have won 13 Southern Conference Championships,1978,1980,1981,1982,1983,1985,1988,1989,1990,1999,2001,2004, and 2013. They were National Champions in 1988 and National Runner–Up in 1985 and 2001
41.
UCF Knights football
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The UCF Knights football team represents The University of Central Florida in the sport of American football. The Knights compete in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and their current head coach is Scott Frost, who began his tenure at the start of the 2016 season. The Knights play their games at the 45,000 seat Bright House Networks Stadium. As a Division I–AA program, the Knights made the 1990 and 1993 playoffs, as of the 2015 regular season, UCF has 225 official victories, and has won four division championships and four conference championships. The Knights have made seven postseason appearances since joining FBS, including winning one BCS bowl game, the program has produced one Consensus All-American, Kevin Smith in 2007, and two Heisman Trophy candidates, Daunte Culpepper in 1998 and Kevin Smith in 2007. UCF has had three picks in the NFL Draft and produced a long-line of NFL players. The Knights main rivals are the East Carolina Pirates, and South Florida Bulls, UCF has had eight head coaches since organized football began in 1979. The Knights have played nearly 400 games in their 34 seasons, in that time,2 coaches have led the Knights to the postseason, Gene McDowell and George OLeary. McDowell in 1987,1990, and 1993, and OLeary in 2005,2007,2009,2010, OLeary is the only coach to win a division or conference championship at the school. Before leading UCF in 1983 and 1984, Lou Saban was a coach in both the American Football League and the National Football League. OLeary also coached in the NFL between 2002 and 2004, the UCF football program can be traced back to a speech given by the universitys second president, Dr. Trevor Colbourn, in January 1979. Colbourn believed that a successful athletics program would bring the university greater renown, in addition, Colbourn changed the name of the school to the University of Central Florida, to express the universitys expanded academic scope. This would be the first football tryouts for prospective players, OLeary had previously served as an assistant coach at the University of Alabama under Paul Bear Bryant. He would spearhead the effort to more than $40,000 to start the program. Without a budget to hire a staff, OLeary reached out to six UCF graduate students as volunteer assistants, from there, OLeary was able to lure Don Jonas, a former NFL quarterback and Orlando dignitary, to become UCFs first head football coach on a voluntary basis. One day during a practice, OLeary pulled the team aside and he would reveal a template that would follow the team into the 21st century, black jerseys, gold pants and gold helmets. Less than one year after Colbourn had envisioned a football program for the university, the Knights would prove victorious with a 21–0 shutout, and less than a week later, the Knights would win their first home game by defeating Ft. Benning, 7–6. Jonas led the Knights to a 6–2 inaugural season, behind an average attendance of 11,240, following the season, in March 1980, Jonas was offered the Knights head coaching as a full-time position
42.
The Citadel Bulldogs football
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The Citadel Bulldogs Football represent The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I FCS. The Bulldogs play in the Southern Conference, as they have since 1936, the Bulldogs are coached by Brent Thompson, who was hired on January 19,2016 to replace Mike Houston, who departed on January 18,2016 for James Madison. The Bulldogs first recorded stadium was College Park, located in the northeast corner of Hampton Park in Charleston and this field predated the current College Park at the same site, which is used as a practice facility for The Citadel Bulldogs baseball. Due to increasing attendance and the state of the stadium. This stadium was replaced with the current Johnson Hagood Stadium in 1948, the Bulldogs play their home games in Johnson Hagood Stadium, which lies just to the south of The Citadels gates in Charleston. Johnson Hagood is a 21,000 seat stadium, in which The Citadel routinely ranks in the top 25 in attendance at the FCS level. In 2001, the Altman Athletic Center opened in the end zone, complete with new home and visitors locker rooms, officials locker rooms. In 2008, The Citadel completed a re-construction of the west stands, the stands contain reserved premium seats and bleacher seats, while the tower, shared with the South Carolina National Guard, contains twelve suites, a club level, and state of the art press box. During preparation for construction, workers discovered the remains of sailors from failed test runs of the H. L. Hunley and these remains were reinterred in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston. Beginning in 2012, The Citadel implemented a system for parking and seat selection in Johnson Hagood Stadium. The program is designed to reward long-time and large donors to The Citadel athletics by giving them preference in selecting seat, in 2016, The Citadel determined that lead paint needed remediation on the east side of the stadium. The work resulted in the entire east side being closed for the first game of the 2016 season, the capacity was thus 10,500 for the first game and about 15,000 for later games. The Board of Visitors decided to renovate the east side of the stadium. Practices are held at the Maybank Triplets Practice Facility, a turf field at the north edge of campus. The Bulldogs utilize Seignious Hall, located across from McAlister Field House for weightlifting, locker rooms, team meeting and video space, the Citadel Sports Medicine Department also utilizes Seignious Hall. Coaches from The Citadel have often targeted for larger programs. Notable former head and assistant coaches at The Citadel include Bobby Ross, Charlie Taaffe, Ellis Johnson, Frank Beamer, Al Davis, head Coaches The current coaching staff at the Citadel is, The Citadel has claimed 4 championships in the Southern Conference. The 2015 title was the first co-championship in school history,1961199220152016 Following the 1960 season, the Bulldogs played in the 1960 Tangerine Bowl defeating Tennessee Tech 27-0
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South Carolina Gamecocks football
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The South Carolina Gamecocks football program represents the University of South Carolina in the sport of American football. The Gamecocks compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, will Muschamp currently serves as the teams head coach. They play their games at Williams-Brice Stadium. Currently, it is the 20th largest stadium in college football, USCs SEC tenure has been highlighted by an SEC East title in 2010, Final Top-25 rankings in 2000,2001,2010,2011,2012 and 2013, and four wins over Top-5 SEC opponents. From 1953 through 1970, the Gamecocks played in the Atlantic Coast Conference, winning the 1969 ACC championship and finishing No.15 in the 1958 final AP poll. From 1971 through 1991, they competed as a independent, producing 1980 Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers, six bowl appearances. The Gamecocks have produced a National Coach of the Year in Joe Morrison and they also have four members of the College Football Hall of Fame in former players George Rogers and Sterling Sharpe, and former coaches Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier. Carolina fielded its first football team on Christmas Eve, in Charleston, South Carolina, at that time the football team was not sanctioned by the University. They provided their own uniforms and paid their own train fare in order to participate in the game and they were nicknamed the College Boys by The News and Courier and their supporters wore garnet and black. USC won its first game in its season, on November 2,1895 against Columbia AA. The squad designated their first head coach, W. H. Dixie Whaley, the 1896 season also saw the inaugural game against arch-rival Clemson on November 12, which Carolina won 12–6. From 1902 to 1903, coach Bob Williams led the Gamecocks to a 14–3 record, in 1902, South Carolina beat Clemson, coached by John Heisman, for the first time since 1896, the first year of the rivalry. After the game on Thursday, the Clemson guys frankly told the Carolina students that if you bring this poster, and naturally, of course, the Carolina students brought the poster to the parade. If you give someone an ultimatum and they’re your rival, they’re going to do exactly what you told them not to do, as expected, another brawl broke out before both sides agreed to mutually burn the poster in an effort to defuse tensions. The immediate aftermath resulted in the stoppage of the rivalry until 1909,1903 also heralded the programs first 8-win season with an overall record of 8–2. Future senator and former player for South Carolina and UVA. 1904s captain Gene Oliver played against Georgia with a broken jaw, within months The Board of Trustees reversed their decision after hearing pleas, and receiving petitions, from students and alumni alike. Play was allowed to resume in 1907, a hastily assembled football team, coached by Board of Trustees member Douglas McKay, competed in an abbreviated season that same year, and the squad won all three games
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Wallace Wade
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William Wallace Wade was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. His tenure at Duke was interrupted by service during World War II. Wade won a total of ten Southern Conference football titles, four with Alabama and he coached in five Rose Bowls including the 1942 game, which was relocated from Pasadena, California to Durham, North Carolina after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Wade served as the basketball and baseball coach at Vanderbilt University for two seasons, tallying a mark of 24–16, while he was an assistant football coach there. He was also the baseball coach at Vanderbilt from 1922 to 1923 and at Alabama from 1924 to 1927. Wade played football at Brown University, after retiring from coaching, Wade served as the commissioner of the Southern Conference from 1951 to 1960. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1955, Dukes football stadium was renamed in his honor as Wallace Wade Stadium in 1967. Wade was born in Trenton, Tennessee and he first played football under Tuck Faucett at Peabody High School in Trenton. Wade also attended Chicagos Morgan Park Academy and he went on in 1913 to play football at Brown University. Wade played guard on the Brown football team, which went to the 1916 Rose Bowl, one of his teammates at Brown was Fritz Pollard, who went on to become the first African American coach in the National Football League. After spending time in the Army and rising to the rank of captain, W. S. Fitzgerald hired him as head coach at the Fitzgerald and Clarke Military School in Tullahoma. He went 15–2 in football, winning a state championship in 1920. Among his players were future consensus All-Americans Lynn Bomar and Hek Wakefield and he also posted successful basketball teams at Fitzgerald–Clarke. In 1921 Wade was hired as an assistant and line coach at Vanderbilt University under Dan McGugin, soon after, on March 14,1922, Fitzgerald & Clarke burned to the ground and was never rebuilt. Vanderbilt posted an undefeated 15–0–2 with Wade, and shared conference titles both years he was there, defending Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association champion Georgia was undefeated, having not allowed a score through its powerful line all year. Its line was composed of four All-Southerns, Joe Bennett, Bum Day, Owen Reynolds, Vanderbilt, too, was undefeated, and so the game was figured to decide the conference champion. It was described by the New York Times as an important clash, the Bulldogs were the favorite to win this meeting of the two schools, first since 1912, in part because the Bulldogs may have outplayed Harvard and defeated Auburn earlier in the season. Lynn Bomar starred at the linebacker position, Georgia would have trampled Vanderbilt to atoms but for Lynn Bomar, observed Nashville Tennessean sportswriter Blinkey Horn
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Dave Hart
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David R. Hart was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the football coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 1966 to 1968. Hart was the director at the University of Louisville from 1973 to 1978. He served in the capacity at the University of Missouri from 1978 to 1986. Hart was a native of Connellsville, Pennsylvania and he coached high school football in Pennsylvania for 11 years before moving to the college ranks in 1962, when he became an assistant coach at the University of Kentucky. After two seasons at Kentucky, Hart moved to the United States Naval Academy, where he coached the backfield in 1964 and 1965. Hart died on March 14,2009 at the age of 83 and his son, Dave Hart Jr. was the Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics at the University of Tennessee. Before, he was the director of athletics at his alma mater. Previously he spent 12 years as Florida States athletic director and at East Carolina University in the same role and his grandson, Rick Hart, is the athletic director at Southern Methodist University. Rick was previously athletic director at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Dave Hart at the College Football Data Warehouse
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Atlanta
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Atlanta is the capital of and the most populous city in the U. S. state of Georgia, with an estimated 2015 population of 463,878. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5,710,795 people, Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County. In 1837, Atlanta was founded at the intersection of two lines, and the city rose from the ashes of the American Civil War to become a national center of commerce. Atlantas economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors that include logistics, professional and business services, media operations, Atlanta has topographic features that include rolling hills and dense tree coverage. Revitalization of Atlantas neighborhoods, initially spurred by the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, has intensified in the 21st century, altering the demographics, politics. Prior to the arrival of European settlers in north Georgia, Creek Indians inhabited the area, standing Peachtree, a Creek village located where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River, was the closest Indian settlement to what is now Atlanta. As part of the removal of Native Americans from northern Georgia from 1802 to 1825, the Creek ceded the area in 1821. In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western, the initial route was to run southward from Chattanooga to a terminus east of the Chattahoochee River, which would then be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the zero milepost was driven into the ground in what is now Five Points. A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as Terminus, and later as Thrasherville after a merchant who built homes. By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed Marthasville to honor the Governors daughter, later, J. Edgar Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, suggested the town be renamed Atlantica-Pacifica, which was shortened to Atlanta. The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29,1847, by 1860, Atlantas population had grown to 9,554. During the American Civil War, the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city a hub for the distribution of military supplies, in 1864, the Union Army moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its invasion of north Georgia. On the next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, on November 11,1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Armys March to the Sea by ordering Atlanta to be burned to the ground, sparing only the citys churches and hospitals. After the Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt, due to the citys superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868. In the 1880 Census, Atlanta surpassed Savannah as Georgias largest city, by 1885, the founding of the Georgia School of Technology and the citys black colleges had established Atlanta as a center for higher education. In 1895, Atlanta hosted the Cotton States and International Exposition, during the first decades of the 20th century, Atlanta experienced a period of unprecedented growth. In three decades time, Atlantas population tripled as the city expanded to include nearby streetcar suburbs
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Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
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The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS football programs were members of this conference at some point, the SIAA was founded on December 21,1894, by Dr. William Dudley, a chemistry professor at Vanderbilt, at the Kimball House in Atlanta. Dudley was a member of the Vanderbilt Athletic Association, formed in 1886 with Dr. W. M. Baskerville as president, most students at Vanderbilt were members. The early sports played on the Vanderbilt campus were baseball, bicycling, Dudley was primarily responsible for the formation of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Sewanees opposition stopped it from occurring, the original members were Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Sewanee, Vanderbilt, and Virginia. Virginia and North Carolina soon dropped before the inaugural 1895 season, the conference was originally formed for the development and purification of college athletics throughout the South. In 1903, a single-game football playoff occurred, but it seems to have been coordinated more so by the two competing schools than the conference itself, several other efforts over the years by individual schools to hold a conference title game fell through. Most SIAA titles claimed by schools in sports were actually more mythical in nature than officially sanctioned by the league. In 1915, a disagreement arose within the conference regarding the eligibility of freshman athletes, generally, the larger universities opposed the eligibility of freshman players, while the smaller schools favored it. As a result, some of the universities formed the Southern Intercollegiate Conference. At the conferences annual meeting on December 10,1920, the SIAA rejected proposals to ban freshman athletes, in protest, some schools that had voted in favor of the propositions immediately announced they would seek to form a new conference. In 1922, the Southern Conference underwent an expansion and added six more members, all at the expense of the SIAA, Florida, Louisiana State, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane, and Vanderbilt. With the departure of most of the colleges, the SIAA became a de facto small college conference in 1923. In the 1920s and 1930s, the SIAA increased its membership with the addition of additional small universities. The conference eventually disbanded in 1942 with the onset of American involvement in World War II, original charter members are denoted in boldface. Invited charter members are denoted with an asterisk, in the era in which the SIAA operated, teams tended to join in December, therefore, the first year of conference play in a given sport was often the following calendar year. Conference affiliations reflect those for the 2016–17 school year
