View XML QR Code

Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference records, 1890-1962

Overview of the Collection

Title
Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference records
Dates
1890-1962 (inclusive)
Quantity
23 boxes and 1 volume, (9.2 linear feet)
Collection Number
UUS_COLL MSS 014
Summary
Records of the secretary (later commissioner) of the following athletic conferences: Colorado Faculty Athletic Conference (1909-1910), Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference (1910-1937), and the Mountain States Faculty Athletic Conference (1937-1962). Includes correspondence, player eligibility lists, minutes of the meetings of the conference council, conference rules, schedules of events, reports of the commissioner (an office created in 1947), and NCAA meeting reports. Contains a virtually comprehensive body of material on intercollegiate athletics in the mountain west, including the following institutions: Utah State University (1914-1962), University of Utah (1910-1962), Colorado State University (1909-1962), University of Colorado (1909-1947), University of Denver (1910-1962), Montana State University (1917-1962), Brigham Young University (1918-1962), University of Wyoming (1921-1962), Colorado School of Mines (1909-1937), and Western State College (1909-1937).
Repository
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division
Special Collections & Archives
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
Logan, UT
84322-3000
Telephone: 4357978248
Fax: 4357972880
scweb@usu.edu
Access Restrictions

Open to public research.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant,2007-2008
Return to Top

Historical Note

The history of the Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference and the subsequent Mountain States Athletic Conference is best outlined in the following excerpt from the autobiography of E. L. "Dick" Romney, conference commissioner from 1949 to 1960:

These conferences were organized January 30, 1909, under the names of the Colorado Faculty Athletic Conference and with the following members: University of Colorado, Colorado College, and the Colorado State Agricultural College. On this date a set of eligibility rules and a constitution were formally adopted. The first rules were chiefly a codification of the generally accepted unwritten rules under which intercollegiate contests in the Rocky Mountain Region had been held up to this time. The Colorado School of Mines joined the conference November 4, 1909. The University of Utah was admitted March 26, 1910; the University of Denver, May 4, 1910; the Utah State Agricultural College, February 28, 1914; the Montana State College, January 6, 1917; Brigham Young University, January 12, 1918; University of Wyoming, January 3, 1921; Western State College and Colorado School of Mines and the University of Utah were present at the holiday meeting of 1909, and one from Utah State Agricultural College at the holiday meetings of 1911-12-13. The name of the conference was changed to the Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference on May 7, 1910.

Each of the institutions listed above maintained uninterrupted membership from the time of admission to the conference until December 1, 1937, when the resignations of seven were accepted. The Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference then embraced the following members: Colorado College, Colorado School of Mines, Montana State College, Western State College of Colorado, and Colorado State College of Education.

The seven institutions that resigned from the Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference on December 1, 1937, were: University of Colorado, Brigham Young University, University of Denver, University of Utah, Utah State Agricultural College, and the University of Wyoming. They organized the Mountain States Athletic Conference. Colorado University withdrew from the conference May 23, 1947, requesting that the withdrawal become effective December 1, 1947. The request was granted, and Colorado University was granted membership in the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Association. The Mountain States Athletic Conference employed its first full-time commissioner of athletics as of July 1, 1949. Montana State University and the University of New Mexico were admitted to the MSAC June 1950.

In 1957, the name of Colorado's A & M College was changed to Colorado State University, and the name of Utah State Agricultural College was changed to Utah State University. In 1962, the Mountain States Athletic Conference voted to disband. The University of Utah, Brigham Young University, The University of Wyoming, and the University of New Mexico teamed up with the University of Arizona and Arizona State University and organized the Western Athletic Conference. Montana State University joined with Weber State College, Montana State College, Gonzaga University, Idaho State College, and the University of Idaho in the newly organized Big Sky Conference.

Return to Top

Content Description

The twenty-three document boxes which comprise the collection are divided into three sections, reflecting the changes which the conference underwent between 1909 and 1963. Section One (boxes 1 through 4) covers the Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference, 1909-1937. Section Two (boxes 5 through 16) covers the Mountain States Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, 1937-1950. Section Three (boxes 17 through 23) covers the expanded MSIAC, 1951-1962, the so-called Skyline Conference.

The papers give an uneven coverage to the various schools (and even to the various sports) of the conferences. The reason is apparently to be found in the rotation secretaryship. For example, the early years center almost exclusively on the Colorado schools; the late 1930s on the University of Wyoming. Only after the appointment of a full-time commissioner for what came to be known as the Skyline Conference is there anything like a uniformity of coverage in all phases of conference activity. The formation of the Presidents' Council (presidents of member institutions) and the regularity of its meetings and the minutes therefrom provide an effective overview of the conference.

Return to Top

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances

Permission to publish material from the Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference records must be obtained from the Special Collections and Archives manuscript curator and/or the Special Collections and Archives department head.

Preferred Citation

Rocky Mountain Faculty Athletic Conference records, 1890-1962 (COLL MSS 14). Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives department.

Return to Top

Administrative Information

Arrangement

No change was made in the filing of the general and the miscellaneous papers of the conferences except to assure a proper chronological arrangement. The correspondence, however, which was originally filed under the names of the addressees has been refiled under institutional names. Most correspondents, both individual and corporate, are listed in the annotations under the folder headings. The box and folder contents are noted as "pieces" for single papers or letters and "items" for multipage documents.

Acquisition Information

The archives of the RMFAC and succeeding conferences were deposited with Special Collections and Archives at Utah State University by Dr. King Hendricks, who served as faculty representative from USU to the conference and as secretary of the organization at its dissolution in 1962.

Return to Top

Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding aid created by Special Collections and Archives.
2008

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

About Creative Commons Licenses in Archives West