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The Heartland Collegiate Conference (HCC) was an
NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is the intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environment ...
athletic conference that operated from 1978 to 1990. It was formed in June 1978 as the successor to the
Indiana Collegiate Conference The Indiana Collegiate Conference (ICC) was a men's college athletic conference in the United States, in existence from 1950 to 1978. It consisted solely of schools in Indiana. The charter members of the conference were Indiana State University ...
(ICC), after the ICC made up for membership losses by adding institutions from Ohio and Kentucky.


Founding

The HCC had eight founding members. Five were from the final lineup of the ICC:
Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...
, the
University of Evansville The University of Evansville (UE) is a private university in Evansville, Indiana. It was founded in 1854 as Carnegie Hall of Moores Hill College, Moores Hill College. The university operates a satellite center, Harlaxton Manor, Harlaxton College ...
,
Valparaiso University Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana, United States. It is an independent Lutheran university with five colleges. It enrolls nearly 2,300 students and has a campus. The university is known for its Luthe ...
, St. Joseph's College, and Indiana Central (which became the
University of Indianapolis The University of Indianapolis (UIndy) is a private United Methodist Church-affiliated university in Indianapolis, Indiana. It offers Associate, Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees. It was founded in 1902 as Indiana Central University an ...
in 1986). They were joined by Franklin College (IN) and Georgetown College (KY), both long-time members of the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for higher education, colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic schola ...
(NAIA), and Ashland College (today
Ashland University Ashland University is a private university in Ashland, Ohio, United States. The university consists of a main campus and several off-campus centers throughout central and northern Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern U ...
), which had played in
Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Third ...
since the recent reorganization of the NCAA. A ninth institution, the
University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a Private university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...
, was involved in preliminary discussions in April 1978 but chose not to join the conference. The founding of the HCC was viewed, initially, as merely a rebranding of the ICC, but the change was much more significant, in that it created a multi-sport Division II men's athletic conference that did not compete in basketball. This anomaly allowed league members Butler, Evansville, and Valparaiso to pursue membership in Division I basketball conferences while playing the rest of their sports on the Division II level, at a time when the NCAA still allowed this practice. In its first year of operation (1978-79), the HCC crowned champions in football, baseball, cross country, wrestling, swimming, track, golf, and tennis.


History

One month after the HCC was formed, three of its members--Indiana Central, Ashland, and St. Joseph's--became charter members of the
Great Lakes Valley Conference The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Its fifteen member institutions are located in the U.S. states of Illinois, ...
(GLVC). Conceived as a basketball-only league (accommodating the HCC members that played the sport in Division II), the GLVC soon duplicated HCC offerings in baseball, cross country, golf, and tennis. Meanwhile, in 1979 Butler and Evansville became charter members of the new Midwestern City Conference (today's
Horizon League The Horizon League is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the league's eleven member schools are located in ...
), and in 1982 Valparaiso joined the Mid-Continent Conference (today's
Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Mis ...
). These Division I basketball-centered conferences likewise grew to sponsor other sports that duplicated the HCC. After the NCAA absorbed the functions of the
Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...
(AIAW) in 1982, the HCC did not expand its offerings to include women's sports. Meanwhile, the GLVC added sports for women and solidified its status as primary conference for the members it shared with the HCC. Following an interim period in which most HCC members had four of their men's sports competing simultaneously in two conferences, the HCC became a football-only league for the last five years of its existence. In the spring of 1985 the HCC held its last championship tournaments in baseball and tennis and its last conference track meet. Butler won the league's last all-sports trophy, awarded in May 1985 for the 1984-85 academic year. Even before the HCC became a football-only conference, football was considered its signature sport. Nevertheless, the league sent a team to the NCAA Division II Football Championship playoffs just three times in twelve seasons. For several years after the founding of Division II in 1973, it had an 8-team football postseason bracket dominated by schools that eventually moved up to the
NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Sponsored by the National Collegiate ...
(FCS). In 1983, Butler (9-0-1) lost to
UC-Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institution was ...
, 25-6, and in 1986, Ashland (9-1) lost to
North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural Colle ...
, 50-0. In 1988, the first year that the bracket was expanded to 16 teams, Butler (8-1-1) lost to Tennessee-Martin, 23-6. As the most successful programs in the HCC, Butler and Ashland each won or shared five conference football championships, but five of the eight members claimed at least one title. Indiana Central and Franklin won two apiece, and St. Joseph's won one.


Demise

During the 1980s the HCC gradually dwindled from eight members to five. Georgetown, which had maintained dual membership in the NCAA and the NAIA, quit the conference to return to full NAIA membership in 1983. Four years later, Franklin, which likewise had maintained a dual membership in the NAIA, left the HCC to transition to Division III. Finally, in advance of the 1988 season, Evansville withdrew from the league to become a football-only member of the NAIA (while maintaining the rest of its athletic program in Division I). The HCC ceased operations after the 1989 football season, when Butler, Valparaiso, Indianapolis, Ashland, and St. Joseph's joined six members of the
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. The GLIAC was founded in June 1972. Its eleven member ...
(GLIAC) to create the
Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference The Midwest Intercollegiate Football Conference (MIFC) was a football-only NCAA Division II conference active for nine seasons in the 1990s. The creation of the MIFC was announced in February 1989. The conference play began in September 1990. Th ...
(MIFC). The formation of the MIFC was announced in February 1989, making the league's final season a lame duck campaign for the five remaining teams. The last HCC game was played on November 11, 1989. St. Joseph's defeated Valparaiso, 49-28. The HCC's days would have been numbered in any event, because after the 1992 season, the NCAA no longer allowed Division I members to play football in Division II or III conferences. This compelled Butler and Valparaiso to leave the MIFC for the Division I non-scholarship
Pioneer Football League The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I Fo ...
in 1993. The GLIAC eventually absorbed the MIFC in 1999.


Member schools


Final members

;Notes:


Former members

;Notes:


Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1978 till:1990 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:5 left:5 bottom:40 top:5 Colors = id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.7,0.9,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.9,0.8,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.9,0.7,0.8) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.8,0.9,0.7) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for another sport only id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved in another conference when the other color has already been used PlotData = width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1978 till:1985 text: Ashland (1978–1990) bar:1 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1990 text: bar:2 color:Full from:1978 till:1985 text:
Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...
(1978–1990) bar:2 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1990 text: bar:3 color:Full from:1978 till:1985 text:
Evansville Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 census, it is Indiana's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the most populous city in S ...
(1978–1988) bar:3 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1988 text: bar:4 color:Full from:1978 till:1985 text:
Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...
(1978–1987) bar:4 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1987 text: bar:5 color:Full from:1978 till:1983 text: Georgetown (1978–1983) bar:6 color:Full from:1978 till:1985 text: Indiana Central (1978–1986) bar:6 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1986 text: bar:6 color:AssocF from:1986 till:1990 text:
Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
(1986–1990) bar:7 color:Full from:1978 till:1985 text: St. Joseph's (Ind.) (1978–1990) bar:7 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1990 text: bar:8 color:Full from:1978 till:1985 text: Valparaiso (1978–1990) bar:8 color:AssocF from:1985 till:1990 text: bar:N color:orange from:1978 till:1985 text:HCC (multi-sport) bar:N color:blue from:1985 till:1990 text:HCC (football) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1978 TextData = fontsize:M textcolor:black pos:(0,25) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Heartland Collegiate Conference membership history" #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following three options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#


Football champions

*1978 – Indiana Central *1979 – Saint Joseph's (IN) *1980 – Ashland and
Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...
*1981 – Franklin and Indiana Central *1982 – Ashland *1983 –
Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...
*1984 – Ashland *1985 – Ashland and Butler *1986 – Ashland *1987 – Butler *1988 – Butler *1989 – Butler


Football standings


See also

*
List of defunct college football conferences This is a list of defunct college football conferences in the United States and a defunct university football conference in Canada. Not all of the conferences listed here are truly defunct. Some simply stopped sponsoring football and continue under ...


References

{{Reflist College football-only conferences in the United States Defunct NCAA Division II conferences NCAA Division II football by conference College sports in Illinois College sports in Ohio