Established 1946 Association NCAA | Dissolved 1958 Members 3 | |
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The Western New York Little Three Conference was an athletic conference that existed from 1946 to 1958. Its three member schools—Canisius College, Niagara University, and St. Bonaventure University—are Roman Catholic institutions located in Western New York.
Contents
Although the conference itself no longer exists, the three schools remain rivals and retain the use of the "Little Three" moniker when playing each other, especially in basketball. Niagara and Canisius are now in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and St. Bonaventure resides in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The three schools also maintain a rivalry with the public University at Buffalo (of the Mid-American Conference), the only other Division I college in the region; the four-way rivalry by extension is known as the "Big 4," and all four teams have regularly scheduled each other as part of their non-conference schedules since UB returned to Division I in 1993.
Membership
Men's basketball
Football
Canisius suspended its football team after the 1949 season, Niagara did the same in 1950, and St. Bonaventure also did so in 1951. Canisius and Niagara reinstated their varsity football programs after the conference dissolved, then dissolve them permanently, in 1987 and 2002 respectively.