NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

:''NAIA redirects to this page. For the airport see Ninoy Aquino International Airport For other meanings see NAIA (disambiguation).''
The 'National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics' ('NAIA') traces its roots to the 'National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball'. The NAIB was established on March 10, 1940 in Kansas City, Missouri. Currently, the headquarters are located in Kansas City, Missouri.[1]
The association got its start three years after a men's basketball tournament was held in Kansas City. The tournament was started by James Naismith and others who wanted to establish a forum for small colleges and universities to determine a national basketball champion. The original eight-team tournament expanded to 32 teams in 1938.
In 1948, the NAIB became the first national organization to open their intercollegiate postseason to black student-athletes. In 1952, the NAIB was transformed into the NAIA, and with that came the sponsorship of additional sports. The NAIA began sponsoring intercollegiate championships for women in 1980, the first coed national athletics association to do so.
The NAIB/NAIA was formed on the grounds that the older, larger NCAA was predominantly oriented toward larger institutions, particularly those which played "big time" college football. When the NCAA created Division II and Division III in 1973, the NAIA started losing members to the NCAA, and the pace has accelerated since 1995. In 1997, the NAIA had to eliminate separate Division I and Division II football championships because of the lack of schools fielding football teams. For the 2007-08 academic year, the NAIA has 287 member institutions.
Sports: football (men), soccer, volleyball (women), cross country, basketball, swimming, track and field, wrestling (men), baseball (men), softball (women), golf, and tennis.
Ice hockey (men) was sponsored until 1984.

Contents

See also

External links

See also

★ 2007 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

★ 2006 NAIA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

★ List of NAIA Conferences

★ List of NAIA Institutions

★ List of NAIA Regions

★ List of College Athletic Programs by US State

★ NACDA Director's Cup

★ NAIA national football championship

★ NAIA national men's basketball championship

★ NAIA national women's basketball championship

★ NAIA national ice hockey championship

★ NAIA Baseball World Series

★ NAIA national men's soccer championship

★ NAIA national women's soccer championship

★ NAIA national volleyball championship

★ NAIA national women's gymnastics championship

External links

★ NAIA official site

★ NAIA's history

★ Victory Sports Network Publications, radio programs, and message boards about NAIA sports