Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference
The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference is an intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. Founded as the Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1987, it reincorporated under its current name in 1998 with the addition of several schools from Ohio.
Original members of the HCAC included Anderson, Bluffton, Franklin, Hanover, Manchester, Mount St. Joseph, Wabash, and Wilmington. Of the ten current members, six were founding members of the former ICAC.
Former members include DePauw, Taylor, Wabash, and Wilmington. Rose–Hulman Institute of Technology re-joined as of July 1, 2006.
History
The Indiana Collegiate Athletic Conference was formed in June 1987, with 1990–91 being the first full season of competition.Charter members in 1987 included Anderson University, DePauw University, Franklin College, Hanover College, Manchester College, and Wabash College. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Taylor University later joined in 1988.
The addition of three Ohio schools and the departure of two Indiana schools during the 1998–99 season prompted a change in name to Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Wabash and Wilmington later departed in the 1998–99 and 1999–00 seasons respectively. Transylvania University joined in 2001. Rose-Hulman re-joined the HCAC, effectively for the 2006–07 season.
The most recent expansion was when Earlham College of Richmond, Indiana was accepted as the 10th member of the conference in October 2009 to begin competition in the fall of 2010.
Member schools
All of the conference's members throughout its history have been private schools. All have a religious affiliation except current member Rose-Hulman and former member Wabash.Institution | Location | Nickname | Founded | Type | Enrollment | Joined | Colors |
Anderson University | Anderson, Indiana | Ravens | 1917 | Private / Church of God | 2,565 | 1987 | Orange and Black |
Bluffton University | Bluffton, Ohio | Beavers | 1899 | Private / Mennonite | 1,094 | 1998 | Purple and White |
Defiance College | Defiance, Ohio | Yellow Jackets | 1850 | Private / United Church of Christ | 1,000 | 2000 | Purple and Gold |
Earlham College | Richmond, Indiana | Quakers | 1847 | Private / Quaker | 1,194 | 2010 | Maroon and White |
Franklin College | Franklin, Indiana | Grizzlies | 1834 | Private / Baptist | 1,047 | 1987 | Navy Blue and Old Gold |
Hanover College | Hanover, Indiana | Panthers | 1827 | Private / Presbyterian | 1,068 | 1987 | Red and Blue |
Manchester University | North Manchester, Indiana | Spartans | 1860 | Private / Church of the Brethren | 1,250 | 1987 | Black and Gold |
Mount St. Joseph University | Delhi Township, Hamilton County, Ohio | Lions | 1920 | Private / Catholic | 1,889 | 1998 | Blue and Gold |
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | Terre Haute, Indiana | Fightin' Engineers | 1874 | Private / Nonsectarian | 1,970 | 1988 | Old Rose and White |
Transylvania University | Lexington, Kentucky | Pioneers | 1780 | Private / Disciples of Christ | 1,120 | 2001 | Crimson and White |
Former members
;Note- Wabash left the HCAC for all-sports after the 1998–99 season except for football.
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1987 till:2015
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
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:AssocOS value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all
id:OtherC1 value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference
id:OtherC2 value:rgb # 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: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text:Anderson
bar:1 color:Full from:1989 till:end
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text:DePauw
bar:2 color:Full from:1989 till:1998
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text:Franklin
bar:3 color:Full from:1989 till:end
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text:Hanover
bar:4 color:Full from:1989 till:end
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text:Manchester
bar:5 color:Full from:1989 till:end
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1987 till:1989 text:Wabash
bar:6 color:Full from:1989 till:1999
bar:6 color:AssocF from:1999 till:2000
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1988 till:1989 text:Rose–Hulman Tech
bar:7 color:Full from:1989 till:1998
bar:7 color:Full from:2006 till:end text:
bar:8 color:FullxF from:1988 till:1989 text:Taylor
bar:8 color:Full from:1989 till:1991
bar:9 color:Full from:1998 till:end text:Bluffton
bar:10 color:Full from:1998 till:end text:Mount St. Joseph
bar:11 color:Full from:1998 till:2000 text:Wilmington
bar:12 color:Full from:2000 till:end text:Defiance
bar:13 color:FullxF from:2001 till:end text:Transylvania
bar:14 color:Full from:2010 till:end text:Earlham
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1987