The CIAA sponsors 14 annual championships and divides into north and south divisions for some sports. The most notable CIAA sponsored championship is the CIAA Basketball Tournament having become one of the largest college basketball events in the nation.[3]
History
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association
150km 100miles
Bowie State
Bluefield State
Winston-Salem State
Virginia Union
Virginia State
St. Augustine's
Shaw
Livingstone
Lincoln
Johnson C. Smith
Fayetteville State
Elizabeth City State
Claflin
Location of CIAA members: current, north division current, south division
The CIAA, founded on the campus of Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in 1912, is the oldest African-American athletic conference in the United States. It was originally known as the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association and adopted its current name in December 1950. The conference composes predominantly of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) spanning the east coast from Pennsylvania to South Carolina.
Football experiences a major resurgence after going through a period of decline at several member universities. Football was absent from the campus of Saint Augustine's University for nearly three decades, before the administration reinstated it in 2002. Shaw University then brought back its football program in 2003, following a hiatus of 24 years.[5]
Lincoln University, a charter member, added varsity football in 2008 and was readmitted to the CIAA after nearly three decades in Division III. Chowan University joined the CIAA in 2008 for football only. On October 14, 2008, the CIAA Board of Directors admitted Chowan as a full member effective July 1, 2009, the first non-HBCU to play in the conference.[6]
On August 27, 2012, the CIAA announced the appointment of Jacqie Carpenter, the first African-American female commissioner to hold the position.[7]
In 2014, a collection of records, including the original 1912 documents leading to the formation of the CIAA and meeting minutes from 1913 to 1922, were sold at auction after being discovered in a storage locker. The lot sold for $11,500 to an unnamed bidder.[8]
On May 22, 2018, Chowan University announced its athletic department will realign with the Conference Carolinas as a full member while maintaining an associate relationship with the CIAA for both football and women's bowling.[9]
1923 – Saint Paul's Normal and Industrial School (later Saint Paul's Polytechnic Institute and then Saint Paul's College) joined the CIAA in the 1923–24 academic year.
1960 – Lincoln (Pa.) left the CIAA after the 1959–60 academic year.
1962 – Norfolk Polytechnic College (now Norfolk State University) joined the CIAA in the 1962–63 academic year.
1970 – Delaware State, Howard, Maryland–Eastern Shore (UMES), Morgan State, North Carolina A&T and North Carolina Central left the CIAA to form the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) after the 1969–70 academic year.
1979 – Bowie State College (now Bowie State University) joined the CIAA in the 1979–80 academic year.
1980 – North Carolina Central re-joined the CIAA in the 1980–81 academic year.
1995 – Hampton left the CIAA to join the MEAC after the 1994–95 academic year.
1996 – Norfolk State left the CIAA to join the MEAC after the 1995–96 academic year.
2006 – Winston-Salem State left the CIAA to join the MEAC after the 2005–06 academic year.
2007 – North Carolina Central left the CIAA for a second time to re-join back to the MEAC after the 2006–07 academic year.
2008 – Lincoln (Pa.) re-joined the CIAA in the 2008–09 academic year.
2008 – Chowan University joined the CIAA as an associate member for football in the 2008 fall season (2008–09 academic year).
2009 – Chowan upgraded to join the CIAA for all sports in the 2009–10 academic year.
2010 – Winston-Salem State re-joined the CIAA in the 2010–11 academic year.
2011 – Saint Paul's left the CIAA after the school announced that it was closing after the 2010–11 academic year.
2019 – Chowan left the CIAA to join the Conference Carolinas (CC) after the 2018–19 academic year; while it remained in the conference as an associate member for football and women's bowling, beginning the 2019–20 academic year.
2021 – Chowan left the CIAA as an associate member for women's bowling after the 2021 spring season (2020–21 academic year).
2022 – Chowan left the CIAA as an associate member for football after the 2022 fall season (2022–23 academic year).
2023 – Bluefield State re-joined the CIAA in the 2023–24 academic year.
2024 – St. Augustine's suspended football for at least one season due to financial crisis.
Member schools
Current members
The CIAA currently has 13 full members, seven are public schools and six are private schools:
^Bluefield State left the CIAA after the 1954–55 school year before re-joining in the 2023–24 school year.
^Lincoln (Pa.) left the CIAA after the 1959–60 school year before re-joining in the 2008–09 school year.
^Winston-Salem State left the CIAA after the 2005–06 school year to join the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, before re-joining in the 2010–11 school year.
Former members
The CIAA had 12 former full members, all but 5 were public schools:
^Chowan was a full member of the CIAA from 2009–10 to 2018–19, before joining the Conference Carolinas (CC); but had prior to that competed for football only during the 2008 fall season (2008–09 school year).
Membership timeline
Full member (all sports) Full member (non-football) Associate member (football-only) Associate member (sport)
Sports
A divisional format is used for basketball (M / W), bowling, football, softball, tennis (W), and volleyball.
^Saint Augustine's will not be fielding a football team in 2024 due to financial issues.[10]
^Joining Conference Carolinas as an associate member and will become part of the new "South Atlantic Conference Carolinas" women's wrestling league in 2023–24.
The CIAA is the first NCAA Division II conference to have its tournament televised as part of Championship Week on ESPN. Over 100,000 fans and spectators are in attendance annually and it has become one of the largest college basketball events in the nation. During the week of the tournament, there are many high-profile social and celebratory events associated with the event.[11][12] The last day of the tournament is known as "Super Saturday" in which the men's and women's tournament champions are crowned. For 15 years, the tournament had an annual $55 million economic impact on Charlotte, North Carolina and was consistently the largest event held in the city every year.[13] The conference was offered better incentives to move it to Baltimore, Maryland, in 2021,[14][15] where it will remain at least through 2025.[16]
One of the signature events of "Super Saturday" at the CIAA Basketball Tournament is the Cheer Exhibition. At the exhibition, CIAA cheer squads showcase elaborate routines to entertain spectators and display their talents.[19][20] Excluding Bluefield State's cheerleaders, every cheerleading team in the CIAA is a "Stomp-N-Shake" squad which is a unique style of cheer that is most common among historically Black colleges and schools located in the East Coast region.
The CIAA is one of the only conferences in the country that has an annual All-Conference Cheerleading Team. The All-Conference Cheerleading Team is a recognition bestowed on select cheerleaders in the conference that exemplify the epitome of school spirit, leadership, athleticism, and academic excellence.[21]