The Border Conference, officially known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association, was an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

-affiliated college athletic conference founded in 1931 that disbanded following the 1961–62 school year. Centered in the

southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...

, the conference included nine member institutions located in the states of

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

History

Chronological timeline

* 1931 – The Border Conference (also known as the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association) was founded. Charter members included the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

, Arizona State Teachers College at Flagstaff (now Northern Arizona University), Arizona State Teachers College at Tempe (now Arizona State University), the University of New Mexico and New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (now New Mexico State University), beginning the 1931–32 academic year. * 1932 – Texas Technological College (now Texas Tech University) joined the Border in the 1932–33 academic year. * 1935 – The College of Mines and Metallurgy of the University of Texas (now the University of Texas at El Paso) joined the Border in the 1935–36 academic year. * 1941 – Hardin–Simmons University and West Texas State Teachers College (now West Texas A&M University) joined the Border in the 1941–42 academic year. * 1952 – New Mexico left the Border to join the Skyline Conference (a.k.a. the Mountain States Conference) after the 1951–52 academic year. * 1953 – Northern Arizona left the Border to join the New Mexico Conference after the 1952–53 academic year. * 1957 – Texas Tech left the Border to join the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

after the 1956–57 academic year. * 1957 - Border Conference considers expanding into

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

with Fresno State, University of the Pacific,

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

, and

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

considered. * 1959 - Border Conference considers expanding by adding Abilene Christian University and Trinity University. * 1960 - Border Conference considers expanding again by adding Abilene Christian University, University of New Mexico,

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public university, public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, Texas, Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco, Texas, Frisco. It serves as the ...

, Trinity University,

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a Private university, private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Presbyterian Church, although it is now nondenominational, and the campus ...

, and Wichita State University. * 1962 – The Border ceased operations as an athletic conference after the 1962–63 academic year; as many schools left to find new conference homes, beginning the 1963–64 academic year: Arizona and Arizona State to the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC); while Hardin–Simmons, New Mexico State, UTEP and West Texas A&M began to compete as Independents.

Member schools

Final members

;Notes:

Previous members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:925 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1931 till:2036 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two id:Big12 value:rgb(0.999,0.500,0.500) # id:Ind value:rgb(0.83,0.83,0.83) # PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1931 till:1962 text:

(1931–1962) bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:1962 till:1978 text: WAC bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1978 till:2024 text: Pac-12 bar:1 color:Big12 from:2024 till:end text: Big 12 bar:2 color:Full from:1931 till:1962 text: Arizona State Teachers–Tempe (1931–1962) bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:1962 till:1978 text: WAC bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1978 till:2024 text: Pac-12 bar:2 color:Big12 from:2024 till:end text: Big 12 bar:3 color:Full from:1931 till:1953 text: Arizona State Teachers–Flagstaff (1931–1953) bar:3 shift:(35) color:OtherC2 from:1953 till:1962 text: NMIC bar:3 color:Ind from:1962 till:1970 text: NAIA Ind bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1970 till:end text: Big Sky bar:4 color:Full from:1931 till:1951 text:

(1931–1951) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1951 till:1962 text:

Skyline A skyline is the wikt:outline, outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area, rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the ...

bar:4 color:OtherC2 from:1962 till:1999 text: WAC bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1999 till:end text: Mountain West bar:5 color:Full from:1931 till:1962 text: New Mexico A&M (1931–1962) bar:5 color:Ind from:1962 till:1970 text: UD Ind bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:1970 till:1983 text: MVC bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1983 till:2005 text: Big West bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:2005 till:2023 text: WAC bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:2023 till:end text: CUSA bar:6 color:Full from:1932 till:1957 text: Texas Technological (1932–1957) bar:6 color:FullxF from:1957 till:1960 text:

bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1960 till:1996 bar:6 color:Big12 from:1996 till:end text: Big 12 bar:7 color:Full from:1935 till:1962 text: Texas Mines (1935–1962) bar:7 color:Ind from:1962 till:1967 text: UD Ind bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:1967 till:2005 text: WAC bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:2005 till:2026 text: CUSA bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:2026 till:end text: Mountain West bar:8 color:Full from:1941 till:1962 text: Hardin-Simmons (1941–1962) bar:8 color:Ind from:1962 till:1973 text:pre-DIII Ind bar:8 color:Ind from:1973 till:1990 text: DIII Ind bar:8 color:OtherC2 from:1990 till:1996 text: TIAA bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:end text: American Southwest bar:9 color:Full from:1941 till:1962 text: West Texas Teachers' (1941–1962) bar:9 color:Ind from:1962 till:1972 text: UD Ind bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:1972 till:1986 text: MVC bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1986 till:1991 text: LSC bar:9 color:Ind from:1991 till:1993 text: DII Ind bar:9 shift:(20) color:OtherC1 from:1993 till:end text: LSC bar:N color:red from:1931 till:1962 text:Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association bar:N color:blue from:1962 till:end text:Post-Border ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1935 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(250,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"Border Conference membership history"

Current conference affiliations of former members

The nine former football-playing members of the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association are currently affiliated with the following nine conferences:

Football champions

Texas Tech holds the most conference championships at seven. Arizona State won six conference championships followed by Arizona (three), Hardin–Simmons (two) and both West Texas State and the Texas State School of Mines hold one each. From 1932 to 1934 and 1943 to 1945 no champion was named. There were only two seasons where the title was split and two co-champions were named; 1938, New Mexico and New Mexico A&M and in 1942 Hardin–Simmons and Texas Tech. The winner of the conference title generally received an invitation to serve as the host team for the Sun Bowl in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

References

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