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The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
In searching for the NAIA’s place
in the history of sports and higher
education, several consistencies
are revealed. Among them is the
dedication to academic achievement
above athletic excellence. Also
apparent is the organization’s role
as a trailblazer in providing equal
opportunities for all student-athletes.
Above all, there is an expectation of
ethical behavior and a commitment
to scholarship, sportsmanship and
leadership.
It is paradoxical that such a lasting,
dynamic contribution to collegiate
sports began with a mundane note
in the first recorded history of the
Association: “The first general session
of the ‘Organizing Convention’
of the National Association of
Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB)
was held in the Phillips Hotel, Kansas
City, Missouri, at 10 a.m., Sunday,
March 10, 1940.”
But the seed from which the NAIB sprouted
was planted two blocks away at Municipal
Auditorium. It was there in 1937 that a men’s
basketball tournament tipped off which has
become the longest continuous national
collegiate tournament in any sport. Further, out
of that small-college basketball tournament,
and the NAIB, grew an Association that
now includes more than 360 colleges and
universi ties and conducts two dozen national
championship events.
The tournament was the brainchild of Emil
S. Liston, Dr. James Naismith, Frank Cramer,
and a group of Kansas City business leaders
who wanted to provide Kansas City-area fans
with exciting amateur competition and to
provide a framework for small colleges and
universities to determine a national basketball
champion.
The original eight-team tournament expanded
to 32 teams in 1938 and suspended play only
for World War II in 1944 before 16 teams
were invited the following year and the field
got back to full strength by 1946. Qualifying
tournaments became mandatory at the district
level in 1951.
In 1948, the NAIB affirmed its commitment
to equality by becoming the first national
organization to offer intercollegiate postseason
opportunities to black student-athletes.
Unprecedented action was taken in 1953 when
historically black institutions were voted into
membership.
One year previous to the inclusion of
historically black institutions, another form of
THE NAIA: A PROUD PAST, A DYNAMIC FUTURE
expansion occurred. In 1952, as a result of the
expressed desires of the member institutions,
appropriate steps were taken by which the
NAIB was transformed into the National
Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
(NAIA), and the first all-encompassing set of
rules and standards was adopted.
With the Association’s new name came the
addition of national championships in golf,
tennis and outdoor track and field. Football,
cross country, baseball and swimming and
diving were added to the championships
calendar in 1956. Wrestling (1958), soccer
(1959), bowling (1962-78), gymnastics (1964-
84), indoor track and field (1966) and men’s
volleyball (1969-80) were added later.
Another significant step occurred in 1957
when the Association’s headquarters moved
from the campus of George Pepperdine College
in Los Angeles to Kansas City to better serve
the membership from a centralized location.
Two major changes were made during the
1970s. An extensive study was completed in
1970 which paved the way for two divisions
of football. In 1997, football was consolidated
to one division again as the Football Coaches
Association cited a narrowing gap between
enrollment size and philosophy of the two
divisions. In 1976, the men’s basketball
tournament was moved from the confines of
the Municipal Auditorium to Crosby Kemper
Arena, also in Kansas City, marking the first
time since 1937 that the tournament had been
held in a different arena.
The NAIA revolutionized national collegiate
athletics with the establishment of
athletics programs for women on
August 1, 1980. Official notice
on that date followed a mail vote
by the membership on May 1
that supported becoming the first
organization to offer collegiate
athletics to both men and women.
Championships for women began
that year with basketball, cross
country, gymnastics, indoor and
outdoor track and field, softball,
tennis and volleyball. Soccer
was added in 1984, and golf was
included in 1995.
Another important chapter in
the history of the NAIA unfolded
in 1992 when the Association
voted to move its headquarters
from Kansas City to Tulsa. On
August 1, 1993, the NAIA opened
its doors in Tulsa and began a new
era. Moving with the national
office was the Division I Men’s
Basketball National Championship which had
been held in Kansas City for 56 years.
During the 1993 NAIA National Convention
in Atlanta, the waves of change once again
washed over the Association. The membership
voted to institute affiliated conference and
regional groupings and discontinue the use
of district play as a means of qualification for
national championships.
Since 1937, the NAIA has administered
programs and championships in proper balance
with the overall educational experience. In
2000, the NAIA reaffirmed its purpose to
enhance the character-building aspects of
sport. Through Champions of Character,
the NAIA seeks to create an environment in
which every student-athlete, coach, official
and spectator is committed to the true spirit
of competition through five tenets: respect,
integrity, responsibility, servant leadership and
sportsmanship.
Everything has come full circle. The NAIA
relocated its National Office in July of 2001
to Olathe, Kansas, just miles from Gardner
where the idea for the small-college basketball
tournament gave rise to the NAIA. Now,
nearly 65 years after that initial tournament,
the NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball
National Championship returned to Municipal
Auditorium, the arena that was home to so
many memories from 1937-74.
In July of 2007, the National Office moved
once again, but not too far from Olathe. The
NAIA relocated its headquarters to downtown
Kansas City, Mo., as it returned to its roots.
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