New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC)
From Hoopedia
The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is an athletic conference consisting of eleven highly selective liberal arts colleges located in New England and New York. Most of the colleges have been competing against each other since the 1800s. The colleges in this conference are often referred to as the "Little Ivies".
The formation of NESCAC originated with an agreement among Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Wesleyan University and Williams College first drafted in 1955. Along with these four institutions, Bates College, Colby College, Hamilton College, Middlebury College, Trinity College and Tufts University are sustaining charter members. Connecticut College was added in 1982, bringing the Conference's membership to its current total of 11 institutions.
NCAA Division III Competition
Prior to 1993, NESCAC generally did not allow its member schools to send teams to NCAA championships. Since then, all sports except football have had this freedom, and have excelled in the NCAA Division III championships. For example, the Division III NACDA Director's Cup, awarded since 1996 to the college or university that wins the most college championships, has been awarded to Williams College every year except 1998.
Middlebury College leads the conference in total number of National Championships, having won 27 individual titles since the NESCAC lifted its ban on NCAA play. Williams College is second, having won 14 in sports including Men's Basketball (1), Men's Soccer (1), Men's and Women's Tennis (3, 2), Men's and Women's Cross Country (2, 2), Women's Crew (2), and Women's Indoor Track & Field (1). One NESCAC member, Tufts University, holds the distinction of playing the first game of College Football between two American colleges, a contest between Tufts and Harvard University on June 4, 1875 in Cambridge, Mass. and played its second game in 1875 against Bates College in the first intercollegiate football game in Maine.
