Buckeye Athletic Association (Buckeye Conference) |
|
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Established | 1926 |
Dissolved | 1939 |
Members |
Ohio Wesleyan University Miami University of Ohio University of Cincinnati Denison University Wittenberg University Ohio University Wabash College DePauw University Marshall College University of Dayton Western Michigan University Xavier University |
Sports fielded |
Football Cross Country Wrestling Basketball Baseball Track and Field |
Region | Ohio |
Former names | Ohio Athletic Conference |
The Buckeye Athletic Association, also known as the Buckeye Conference, was an athletic league formed out of members of the Ohio Athletic Conference. Its original membership in 1926 included Ohio Wesleyan University (Battling Bishops), Miami University of Ohio (known then as the Big Reds, later the Redskins and currently the RedHawks), the University of Cincinnati (Bearcats), Denison University (Baptists, and later Big Red) and Wittenberg University (Lutherans, and later as Tigers). The Battling Bishops of OWU won the first title in football in 1926. The league was asked to end the membership in both the OAC and the Buckeye in 1928, at which time all the schools voted to instead leave their membership in the OAC behind and be only members of the Buckeye.
The league expanded in 1929 when the Bobcats of Ohio University joined the conference, winning the conference football title that same year. Wittenberg withdrew from membership in November of the same year on charges of using professional players after the Tigers won the football championship in 1927 and were co-champs with Ohio Wesleyan in 1928. However, Wittenberg returned to an affiliate membership in 1931, playing only Miami-Ohio that year but with players named to the All-Conference lists from 1931 through the 1933 football, cross country and wrestling seasons and the 1934 basketball, baseball and track seasons.
In 1930, the Little Giants of Wabash College and the Tigers of DePauw University came from Indiana to add probationary teams to the league to add like schools to the mix. The Flyers of the University of Dayton were also considered, but there seemed to be resistance to the UD program from both Cincinnati and Miami-Ohio. Both DePauw and Wabash, however, were out of the league after the 1932 football season, just as they were about to become full members of the league. That same year, the league also added the Thundering Herd of Marshall College (today Marshall University) for all sports but football for 1932–33, and the Herd began playing football as well in for the 1933 season.