| Association | NCAA |
|---|---|
| Founded | February 8, 1908 |
| Ceased | December 12, 1925 |
| Replaced by | Pacific Coast Conference Northwest Conference |
| Region | Pacific Northwest |
TheNorthwest Conference, also known as theNorthwest Intercollegiate Association, theNorthwest Intercollegiate Conference, thePacific Northwest Conference, and thePacific Northwest Intercollegiate Conference, was a collegiateathletic conference with member schools located in thePacific Northwest of the United States.[1][2]
The conference's member institutions originally included the "Big Six": the large public universities ofWashington,Oregon, andIdaho; theWashington State andOregon State public agricultural colleges, and the privateWhitman College. The conference was later expanded to include theUniversity of Montana,Willamette,Pacific, andGonzaga.
The conference folded in December 1925, giving way to another conference with the same name, theNorthwest Conference, which remains in operation.[3][2]
In January 1908 officials at Whitman College called a conference of seven primary athletics-oriented universities in the region to reform a new intercollegiate athletics association.[4] Each school was represented by two delegates at the Walla Walla conference — one representing the faculty and another representing the student body.[4] The gathering was attended by six colleges — Idaho, Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon Agricultural, and Whitman.[4] A seventh institution, theUniversity of Montana, was apparently invited to the reorganizational meeting[5] but apparently did not attend.
At a two-day conference in Walla Walla, February 7–8, 1908, discussions on a broad range of topics were planned, including the eligibility of those participating in paid summer baseball, the development of a combined football schedule, and establishment of regional meets for track and field and debate.[4] Rules for athletic participation including a one-year residence requirement and four year total of eligibility were also said to be promoted at the meeting by some participants.[4]
The February 1908 conference in Walla Walla generated a binding set of rules for the six member schools for the 1908–09 and 1909–10 academic years.[6] These included a four-year limit on athletic participation and a requirement that students transferring into member schools would not be eligible for athletic participation until they had been in attendance for one college year.[6] The question of semi-professional summer baseball was to be left to the decision by athletic committees of each institution.[6]
Rationalization of the football schedule was particularly desired, with the hope expressed that the newly rejuvenated conference would "either take control of, or in some way influence the arrangement of football schedules so that the northwest championship may be definitely decided each year, instead of leaving the schedule-making to a haphazard choice by individual managers."[5] This aspiration was not to be achieved, however, and irregular scheduling among conference schools remained the norm.
At a December 3, 1915 meeting inPortland, Oregon, three conference members, Washington, Oregon, and Oregon Agricultural, who had helped form the newPacific Coast Conference, noted that they would remain members of the Northwest Conference as well, and that the new conference was intended solely to allowing scheduling and set rules for competition with the California schools. An agreement was signed between the two conferences, setting rules for each and agreeing that rules from one conference would not apply to games in the other conference.[7] The dual membership statuses remained in place a decade, even as other member schools also later joined the PCC.
At a meeting on December 12, 1925, inSeattle, the larger member schools (Washington, Washington State, Idaho, Gonzaga, Montana, Oregon, and Oregon Agricultural) formally withdrew from the conference. The smaller member schools (Pacific University, Whitman College, and Willamette University) announced they had reorganized with three others (College of Idaho, Linfield College, and the College of Puget Sound) the night before at a meeting in Tacoma, and were retaining theNorthwest Conference name and eligibity requirements. The decision of the larger schools to leave was described in the press as harmonious and for mutual advantage, with the smaller schools no longer being matched against the larger.[3]
Six colleges and universities were invited to a conference on February 7–8, 1908, inWalla Walla, where a new Northwest Conference was established. Four additional schools were added, starting in December 1916.
| Member institution | Date joined | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| University of Idaho | February 1908 | |
| University of Oregon | ||
| University of Washington | Withdrew January 1918;[8] readmitted December 1921.[9] | |
| Oregon Agricultural College (Oregon State) | ||
| Washington Agricultural College (Washington State) | ||
| Whitman College | ||
| University of Montana | December 1916[10] | |
| Willamette University | December 1919[11] | |
| Pacific University | December 1922[12] | |
| Gonzaga University | December 1923[13] |
But the best evaluation should be based on head-to-head league competition. Here Dobie was clearly superior in a surprisingly robust Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate Conference (Big 6) that won 78 percent of its games against USC, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Michigan State, Utah and Pennsylvania.
Gonzaga Left as Free Lance — Six Small Colleges Form Another Conference, Retaining Old Name and Rules — Officials of all colleges concerned emphasized the fact that the move was entirely harmonious and for mutual advantage.
The Northwest Intercollegiate conference, called by Whitman college a few weeks ago, convened in this city this morning. The six leading educational institutions of the northwest are represented by delegates.
The Pacific Coast Intercollegiate conference, formed during the annual meeting of the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate conference, December 2, 1915, in view of the fact that three of its four members are also members of the Northwest conference, makes the following formal statement:
The northwest college conference, in session here today, admitted to membership Willamette University of Salem.
Pacific University, of Oregon, was admitted to membership in the Northwest conference yesterday. The petition of Gonzaga university of Spokane was turned down.
Gonzaga university was admitted to the Northwest Intercollegiate conference this morning at the annual meeting of the organization held in Portland.