Classification NCAA Division II Members 10–15 | Years of Existence 1936–1974 Region South Atlantic States | |
Sports fielded Baseball, Basketball, Football,
Soccer, Track, Tennis, Wrestling States/Districts Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina,
Virginia, Washington, D.C. | ||
The Mason–Dixon Conference is a defunct NCAA Division II (former NCAA College Division) athletics conference, formed in 1936 and disbanded in 1974. Its members were predominantly from states bordering the eponymous Mason–Dixon line.
Originally for track and field only, it was established in 1936 by Waldo Hamilton and Dorsey Griffith who both coached the sport at Johns Hopkins University and The Catholic University of America respectively. Its main purpose was to provide an annual championship meet for smaller colleges. The circuit began with nine member schools. Besides the institutions for which the founders represented, the others were American University, Gallaudet University, Randolph–Macon College, University of Baltimore, University of Delaware, Washington College and Western Maryland College.
Within four years it began to include other sports. Men's basketball was added in 1940. The Mason–Dixon Conference sought to "solidify small college athletics and to stimulate a competitive spirit."