WVIAC
Courtesy of The WVIAC Online.
Nationally respected and competitive best describes the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC), the Mountain State's 14-team NCAA Division II league. Since its founding in 1925 by an act of the West Virginia Department of Education, WVIAC teams have enjoyed national success, being affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) until the end of the 1994-95 school year.
Charter members of the Conference include Alderson-Broaddus, Bethany, Concord, Davis & Elkins, Fairmont State, Glenville State, Marshall, Morris Harvey (now the University of Charleston), New River State (later WV Tech and now WVU-Tech), Potomac State, Salem (now Salem-Teikyo University), West Liberty State, West Virginia University, and West Virginia Wesleyan. Since the beginning, Bluefield State, West Virginia State, Beckley (now College of West Virginia), and Wheeling Jesuit have also joined.
Six schools have left the WVIAC since its inception. WVU left after just one year in 1927. Marshall departed in 1949. Bethany and Potomac State withdrew in the 1950's, Beckley left in 1977, West Virginia Wesleyan left in 1986 but later rejoined in 1988, and West Virginia State left for the 1994-95 school year but rejoined in the fall of 1995.
The Conference sponsors and conducts 18 championships for both men and women. The women's championships were added to the WVIAC in 1981. At that time the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Association (WVIAA), which had sponsored the women's championships until that time, was merged with the WVIAC by an act of the member college presidents.
The first WVIAC president was E. G. Rohrbaugh of Glenville State, who ruled for six months before being replaced by Joseph Rosier of Fairmont State. Dr. Hazo Carter, Jr, President of West Virginia State College is the current president of the WVIAC.
George Springer was the Executive Secretary of the league for 19 years before being named the first Commissioner in 1966. He served eight years until his retirement in 1974. Mike McLaughlin then took over and served for 10 years prior to his death in 1984. Commissioner McLaughlin, a Weston, WV native, had 30 years of basketball officiating experience before moving into the WVIAC office. Mike Reed, a Glenville, WV native and former coach and athletic facility administrator, took over after McLaughlin's death. He resigned in 1987 to enter private business. Barry Blizzard, a Bramwell, WV native, is the current Commissioner and has been in that position since 1987. Upon taking the reins of the Conference, he moved the headquarters to Princeton, WV in December, 1987.
