List of Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball champions | |
---|---|
Conference baseball championship | |
Sport | Baseball |
Conference | Southwestern Athletic Conference |
Played | 1921–1932, 1949–2019, 2021–Present |
Last contest | 2022 |
Current champion | Alabama State |
Most championships | Southern, 34 |
Winner trophy | Southwestern Athletic Conference Baseball Championship |
Official website | https://swac.org/feature/swacbaseball2021 |
This list of Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball champions concerns the overall conference baseball championship of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Southwestern Athletic Conference. The top four finishers in each conference division participate in a two-bracket, double-elimination tournament to determine the overall conference champion; it was most recently played in Birmingham, Alabama, between May 25 and May 29. [1] The winner of the tournament also receives an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament and, since 2019, to the HBCU World Series. [2]
The SWAC was established in 1920, [3] and the conference is known to have sponsored baseball as a league sport until around the uncertain times of the Great Depression and World World II before sanctioning it again in 1949 [4] (even early SWAC power Wiley College shut down its baseball program after the 1932 season, despite featuring a rising young star infielder from the Chicago area in Pat Patterson [5] ). Between 1959 and 2003, only Southern, Jackson State, and Grambling State won SWAC championships. The league office itself has even been known to refer to these schools as the "Big Three." [6] However, since 2004, seven programs have won championships, suggesting greater competitiveness in the league. [6] Also, with the SWAC tournament now including eight schools, [7] simply more lower-seeded teams have an opportunity to compete for the conference crown.
Though the league championship was normally determined by the regular season conference standings, for the first three seasons after the SWAC had renewed sponsorship of baseball in 1949, a championship series was held; [8] [9] [10] the conference was divided into northern and southern divisions during that time period. [11] In 1977 the league returned to division play—this time with eastern and western divisions (reflecting the changes in conference membership)—with the division winners again facing off in a best-of-three championship series. [12] After the 1980 series featured a fourth consecutive JSU–SU match-up, [13] [14] [15] the series was successfully converted into a more inclusive four-team, double-elimination tournament for the 1981 season, guaranteeing that at least one school that had never won the SWAC title before could compete in it (the four-team field was expanded to six teams in 2000 [16] and eight teams in 2008 [7] ).
A three-year deal was signed in 2020 to return the tournament to Smith–Wills Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi. [17] However, just two weeks after that agreement was announced, the NCAA canceled all spring championship events for the 2020 season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [18] Then, less than a month before the 2021 tournament, it was announced that it would be relocated from Jackson to Toyota Field in Madison, Alabama "due to enhanced COVID-19 protocols." [19] The 2022 tournament was split between Regions Field and Jerry D. Young Memorial Field in Birmingham. [20]
The following is a list of conference champions, organized by year. [21] The league office apparently does not acknowledge titles earned prior to 1959 in its public releases. [6] [22] [23] It is not immediately clear if this is due to space constraints or poor record-keeping—or if the conference simply does not consider pre-1959 titles as "official." At that time the SWAC began to change significantly with a shift in membership from smaller, private Christian colleges in and around Texas—many of whom are now members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics's Red River Athletic Conference—to larger, secular public universities spread throughout the Deep South (Grambling and Jackson State were particularly notable additions, especially as far as baseball competition was concerned). Southern also won the NAIA World Series in 1959. The conference began changing demographically at that time as well, with southern universities beginning to integrate.
1921–1932 | ||
---|---|---|
Year | Champion(s) | Coach(es) |
1921 | ||
1922 | ||
1923 | ||
1924 | ||
1925 | Prairie View A&M | Henry Hucles [24] |
Wiley College [24] | Pop Long [25] | |
1926 | ||
1927 | ||
1928 | ||
1929 | ||
1930 | ||
1931 | ||
1932 |
Note: in 1993 Jackson State and Southern were declared co-champions, due to weather forcing the cancellation of the SWAC baseball tournament final.
School | No. of titles | Year(s) |
---|---|---|
Southern | 34 | 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2019, 2021 |
Jackson State | 16 | 1968, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2013, 2014 |
Grambling State | 9 | 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1983, 1984, 1985, 2010 |
Texas Southern | 5 | 2004, 2008, 2015, 2017, 2018 |
Prairie View A&M | 4 | 1925, 2006, 2007, 2012 |
Wiley College | 4 | 1925, 1954, 1956, 1958 |
Alabama State | 2 | 2016, 2022 |
Alcorn State | 1 | 2011 |
Bishop College | 1 | 1949 |
Texas College | 1 | 1951 |
School | No. of titles | Year(s) |
---|---|---|
Southern | 30 | 1977, [14] 1978, [14] 1979, [14] 1980, [43] 1982, [44] 1984, [45] 1986, [46] 1987, [47] 1990, [48] 1991, [49] 1992, [50] 1994, [51] 1995, [52] 1996, [53] 1997, [54] 1998, [55] 1999, [56] 2000, [57] 2001, [58] 2002, [59] 2003, [60] 2004, [61] 2005, [62] 2008, [63] 2009, [64] 2011, [65] 2012, 2013, 2019, 2022 |
Grambling State | 7 | 1981, 1983, [66] 1985, [67] 1988, [68] 1989, [69] 1993, [70] 2017 |
Arkansas–Pine Bluff | 3 | 2014, 2015, 2016 |
Prairie View A&M | 3 | 2006, [71] 2007, [72] 2021 |
Texas Southern | 3 | 2005, [62] 2010, [73] 2018 |
School | No. of titles | Year(s) |
---|---|---|
Jackson State | 26 | 1977, [14] 1978, [14] 1979, [14] 1980, [43] 1982, [44] 1984, [45] 1986, [46] 1987, [47] 1989, [69] 1990, [48] 1991, [49] 1992, [50] 1993, [70] 1994, [51] 1995, [52] 1996, [53] 1998, [55] 1999, [56] 2000, [57] 2007, [72] 2008, [74] 2010, [73] 2012, 2013, 2017, 2021 |
Alcorn State | 7 | 1981, 1985, [67] 1988, [75] 1997, [54] 2001, [58] 2002, [59] 2011 [76] |
Alabama State | 6 | 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022 |
Mississippi Valley State | 6 | 1983, [77] 2003, [78] 2004, [78] 2005, [78] 2006, [78] 2009 [79] |
Note: in 2006 Jackson State initially clinched at least a share of the Eastern Division championship [80] but, after forfeiting conference games for the use of ineligible players, fell behind Mississippi Valley State by the final division standings. [78]
School | No. of titles | Year(s) |
---|---|---|
Bishop College | 3 | 1949, [81] 1950, [9] 1951 [10] |
Arkansas–Pine Bluff | 1 | 1949 [81] |
School | No. of titles | Year(s) |
---|---|---|
Southern | 2 | 1949, [81] 1950 [9] |
Texas College | 1 | 1951 [10] |
The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is a collegiate athletic conference headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which is made up of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for most sports; in football, it participates in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly referred to as Division I-AA.
The Bayou Classic is an annual college football classic rivalry game between the Grambling State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars, first held under that name in 1974 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, although the series itself actually began in 1932. A trophy is awarded to the winning school.
The Heritage Bowl was a NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) bowl game held by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The bowl pitted a team from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) against a team from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). It was hoped that it would become a true national championship game for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). It was a successor to the Pelican Bowl, which matched MEAC and SWAC teams during the 1970s, and a predecessor to the Celebration Bowl of the 2010s.
A. W. Mumford Stadium is a 28,500-seat multi-purpose stadium on the campus of Southern University in Scotlandville, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It opened in 1928 and is home to the Southern Jaguars football and Southern University Laboratory School Kittens football teams, as well as the Southern women's soccer team. The Roscoe Moore Track located in the stadium is home to the men's and women's track and field teams.
The black college football national championship is a national championship honor that, since 1920, has been regularly bestowed upon the best football teams among historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) within the United States.
Arnett William "Ace" Mumford was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at historically black colleges and universities in Texas and Louisiana from 1924 to 1961, compiling a career college football record of 233–85–23. His head coaching positions were at Jarvis Christian College (1924–1926), Bishop College (1927–1929), Texas College (1931–1935), and Southern University (1936–1961). He has been inducted into at least eight halls of fame for his coaching accomplishments.
The Southern Jaguars and Lady Jaguars represent Southern University in NCAA intercollegiate athletics. Southern University's 13 athletic teams participate in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) which is a part of the NCAA Division I. Football participates in the Football Championship Subdivision.
The Jackson State–Southern football rivalry, often informally called the BoomBox Classic, is a college football rivalry between the Tigers of Jackson State University (JSU) and the Jaguars of Southern University (SU). An annual conference game between two historically black universities in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC), its location usually rotates between JSU's Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson, Mississippi and SU's A. W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but it has also been held at larger venues to accommodate the crowds that the game draws. As of 2022, the Jaguars lead the series 35–32, not including two wins that Southern was ordered to vacate by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The SWAC Championship Game, officially the Cricket Wireless SWAC Championship Game, is an American college football game that is held annually on the first Saturday in December by the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) to determine its football champion. The game pits the champion of the Eastern Division against the champion of the Western Division in a game that follows the conclusion of the regular season. From 2015 onward, the winner of the game has represented the SWAC in the Celebration Bowl. As of the 2019 season, the game is sponsored by Cricket Wireless.
The Pelican Bowl is a defunct, Louisiana-based NCAA Division II bowl game that was intended to match the overall champions or top-seeded co-champions from the then-new Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and the long-established Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) to determine the black college football national championship in the United States between 1972 and 1975. The game was won by the SWAC opponent in all three editions of the bowl. Due to low attendance, the game folded following the 1975 contest; the concept would be revived from 1991 to 1999 with the Heritage Bowl and again in 2015 with the Celebration Bowl.
The Southern Jaguars baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. The team is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, which is part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The team plays its home games at Lee–Hines Field in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference baseball tournament decides the conference baseball championship of the NCAA Division I Southwestern Athletic Conference. The top four finishers in each conference division participate in a two-bracket, double-elimination tournament, most recently played in Birmingham, Alabama, between May 25 and May 29, 2022. The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament and, since 2019, to the HBCU World Series.
The Red River State Fair Classic was an American college football game played annually in Shreveport, Louisiana, at Independence Stadium—formerly called State Fair Stadium—during the State Fair of Louisiana. It traced its historical lineage from a series of 167 games played over the 106 football seasons between 1911 and 2016. By having first paired historically black colleges and universities in 1915, the contest held the distinction of being the oldest documented annual black college football classic, edging out the Turkey Day Classic by nine years and the similar Texas State Fair Classic by ten years.
The 2017–18 Southern Jaguars basketball team represented Southern University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Jaguars, led by interim head coach Morris Scott, played their home games at the F. G. Clark Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as members of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. They finished the season 15–18, 10–8 in SWAC play to finish in fifth place. Due to Grambling State's Academic Progress Rate violations and subsequent postseason ineligibility, the Jaguars received the No. 4 seed in the SWAC tournament. They defeated Jackson State in the quarterfinals before losing to Arkansas–Pine Bluff in the semifinals.
The 2018 Southern Jaguars football team represented Southern University in the 2018 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Jaguars were led by sixth-year head coach Dawson Odums and played their home games at Ace W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as members of the West Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
The 2019 Southern Jaguars football team represents Southern University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Jaguars are led by seventh-year head coach Dawson Odums and play their home games at Ace W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as members of the West Division of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).
The 1975 Grambling Tigers football team represented Grambling State University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1975 NCAA Division II football season. In its 33rd season under head coach Eddie Robinson, Grambling compiled a 10–2 record, initially tied for the SWAC championship, and outscored opponents by a total of 324 to 153 on the field. The team was recognized as the 1975 black college football national co-champion and was ranked No. 4 by the Associated Press and No. 2 by the United Press International in the final 1975 NCAA College Division football rankings.
The 1988 SWAC men's basketball tournament was held March 10–12, 1988, at the F. G. Clark Activity Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Southern defeated Grambling State, 78–62 in the championship game to capture their second straight SWAC Tournament title. The Jaguars received the conference's automatic bid to the 1988 NCAA tournament as No. 15 seed in the Southeast Region.
The 1946 Southern Jaguars football team was an American football team that represented Southern University as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) during the 1946 college football season. In their 11th season under head coach Ace Mumford, the Jaguars compiled a 9–2–1 record, won the SWAC championship, shut out four of 12 opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 390 to 95.