The Mason–Dixon Conference is a defunct

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 ...

(former ''NCAA College Division'') athletics conference, formed in 1936 and disbanded in October 1978. A track championship bearing the conference's name continued for several years after the demise of the all-sports league. Its members were predominantly from states bordering the eponymous

Mason–Dixon line The Mason–Dixon line, sometimes referred to as Mason and Dixon's Line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia. It was Surveying, surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason ...

. A similarly named Mason-Dixon Athletic Conference began play in Division II men's basketball in 1983–84 with three of the previous members ( Mount St. Mary's University, Randolph–Macon College, and the

University of Maryland, Baltimore County The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a Public university, public research university in Catonsville, Maryland named after Baltimore County, Maryland, Baltimore County. It had a fall 2022 enrollment of 13,991 students, 61 un ...

) plus

Longwood University Longwood University is a public university in Farmville, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1839 as Farmville Female Seminary and colloquially known as Longwood or Longwood College, it is the third-oldest public university in Virginia and one of ...

Liberty University Liberty University (LU), known simply as Liberty, is a Private university, private Evangelicalism in the United States, evangelical Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservativ ...

and the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. Originally for

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

only, it was established in 1936 by Waldo Hamilton and Dorsey Griffith who both coached the sport at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

and

The Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily ...

respectively. Its main purpose was to provide an annual championship meet for smaller colleges. The conference began with nine member schools. Besides the institutions for which the founders represented, the others were

American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...

Gallaudet University Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered university in Washington, D.C., for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first school ...

, Randolph–Macon College,

University of Baltimore The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt consists of four colleges in applied arts and sciences, Robert G. Merrick School of Bu ...

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially known as UD, UDel, or Delaware) is a Statutory college#Delaware, privately governed, state-assisted Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Newark, Delaware, United States. UD offers f ...

, Washington College and

Western Maryland College McDaniel College is a private college in Westminster, Maryland, United States. Established in 1867, it was known as Western Maryland College until 2002 when it was renamed McDaniel College in honor of an alumnus who gave a lifetime of service to ...

. Within four years it began to include other sports. Men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

was added in 1940.McManes, Chris. "Flight of the Cardinals: A 100-year history of CUA men's basketball," The Catholic University of America Athletics, Monday, November 1, 2010.
/ref> The Mason–Dixon Conference sought to "solidify small college athletics and to stimulate a competitive spirit."

Member schools

Final members

;Notes:

Other members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1936 till:1978 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# 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 PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1936 till:1966 text: American (1936–1966) bar:2 color:Full from:1936 till:end text:

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

(1936–1978) bar:3 color:Full from:1936 till:1976 text: Catholic (D.C.) (1936–1976) bar:4 color:Full from:1936 till:1947 text:

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

(1936–1947) bar:5 color:Full from:1936 till:1974 text: Gallaudet (1936–1974) bar:6 color:Full from:1936 till:1974 text:

Johns Hopkins Johns Hopkins (May 19, 1795 – December 24, 1873) was an American merchant, investor, and philanthropist. Born on a plantation, he left his home to start a career at the age of 17, and settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where he remained for mos ...

(1936–1974) bar:7 color:Full from:1936 till:1975 text: Randolph–Macon (1936–1975) bar:8 color:Full from:1936 till:1972 text: Washington (Md.) (1936–1972) bar:9 color:Full from:1936 till:1974 text:

Western Maryland upright=1.2, An enlargeable map of Maryland's 23 counties and one independent city Western Maryland, also known as the Maryland panhandle or Mountain Maryland, is the portion of the U.S. state of Maryland that typically consists of Washing ...

(1936–1974) bar:10 color:Full from:1936 till:1939 text: St. John's (Md.) (1936–1939?) bar:11 color:Full from:1939 till:end text: Towson State (1939–1978) bar:12 color:Full from:1940 till:1977 text: Loyola (Md.) (1940–1977) bar:13 color:Full from:1940 till:end text: Mount St. Mary's (1940–1978) bar:14 color:Full from:1941 till:1976 text: Bridgewater (1941–1976) bar:15 color:Full from:1947 till:1976 text: Hampden–Sydney (1947–1976) bar:16 color:Full from:1948 till:1969 text: Lynchburg (1948–1969) bar:17 color:Full from:1948 till:1975 text: Roanoke (1948–1975) bar:18 color:Full from:1962 till:1969 text: Old Dominion (1962–1969) bar:19 color:Full from:1964 till:1968 text:

Shepherd A shepherd is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations; it exists in many parts of the globe, and it is an important part of Pastoralism, pastoralist animal husbandry. ...

(1964–1968) bar:20 color:Full from:1972 till:end text:

George Mason George Mason (October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution. His wr ...

(1972–1978) bar:21 color:Full from:1972 till:end text: UMBC (1972–1978) bar:22 shift:(-40) color:Full from:1974 till:1976 text: Salisbury State (1974–1976) bar:23 shift:(-40) color:Full from:1974 till:1976 text: Emory & Henry (1974–1976) bar:24 shift:(-80) color:Full from:1975 till:1976 text: Washington & Lee (1975–1976) bar:25 shift:(-110) color:Full from:1977 till:end text: Frostburg State (1977–1978) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1936

Champions by sport

Men's basketball

*1941 – Western Maryland *1942 – Loyola *1943 – Gallaudet *1944 – Mount Saint Mary's *1945 – American *1946 – American *1947 – Loyola *1948 – Loyola *1949 – Loyola *1950 – American *1951 – American *1952 – Baltimore *1953 – Loyola *1954 – Mount Saint Mary's *1955 – Mount Saint Mary's *1956 – Mount Saint Mary's *1957 – Mount Saint Mary's *1958 – American *1959 – American *1960 – American and Mount Saint Mary's *1961 – Catholic and Mount Saint Mary's *1962 – Mount Saint Mary's *1963 – Mount Saint Mary's *1964 – Catholic *1965 – Randolph–Macon *1966 – Randolph–Macon *1967 – Mount Saint Mary's *1968 – Roanoke *1969 – Old Dominion *1970 – Roanoke *1971 – Loyola *1972 – Roanoke *1973 – Loyola *1974 – Randolph–Macon *1975 – Randolph–Macon *1976 – Baltimore *1977 – Towson State *1978 – Towson State

Football

*1946 –

*1947 – *1948 – *1949 –

*1950 – *1951 –

*1952 – *1953 – *1954 – *1955 – *1956 – *1957 – *1958 – *1959 – *1960 – and *1961 –

*1962 – *1963 – *1964 – *1965 – *1966 – *1967 – *1968 – Randolph–Macon *1969 – *1970 – *1971 – *1972 – *1973 – *1974 –

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason-Dixon Conference 1936 establishments in the United States 1974 disestablishments in the United States