Celebrating 45 Years of Athletic Excellence

The State University of New York Athletic Conference was founded on January 12, 1958, on the SUNY Albany campus. Representatives from five SUNY institutions began by selecting a name, drafting a constitution, and setting a date for an organizational meeting. In May 1958, representatives from eight institutions met again in Albany and adopted a name and ratified the proposed constitution. After a second meeting in September 1958, the New York State Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was born, later changed to SUNYAC in 1963.

The original purpose of the conference included the following: advancement of intercollegiate athletics, a strengthening of educational programs, and to act as a liaison between individual colleges and public schools. These goals were revised in 1974-75, and it was decided the conference would concentrate solely on intercollegiate athletics. The conference is governed by an executive committee of five officers and the membership body which consists of Athletic Directors, Assistant Athletic Directors, Senior Women's Administrators and a Commissioner who is responsible for the day to day activities of the conference.

The 11 present members include: SUNY Brockport, Buffalo State, SUNY Cortland, SUNY Fredonia, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Plattsburgh, SUNY Potsdam , and SUNY Institute of Technology.

The first conference sport was basketball, followed by tennis. Women's conference athletics began in 1983-84. The conference now sponsors competition in nine men's sports and ten women's sports. Champions are determined in all sports by either a post-season tournament or regular season conference record. SUNYAC sponsors the following sports for men: cross country, soccer, basketball, ice hockey, swimming/diving, indoor track, baseball and outdoor track and lacrosse. SUNYAC sponsors the following sports for women: cross country, soccer, tennis, volleyball, basketball, swimming/diving, indoor track, lacrosse, softball and outdoor track.

The Dr. Sam Molnar Men's Scholar-Athlete and the Dr. Dolores Bogard Women's Scholar-Athlete Awards are presented annually to a junior or senior athlete with the best combination of academic and athletic ability. The student must have a 3.0 cumulative GPA and be a varsity letterwinner (does not have to be a conference sport). Academic excellence is also recognized with the Commissioner's List (3.3 GPA for three semesters) and the All-Academic Team (3.3 for one semester).

A premiere Division III conference, SUNYAC has been awarded NCAA automatic bids in baseball, men's basketball, women's basketball, ice hockey, women's lacrosse, men's soccer, women's soccer, softball and women's volleyball. The criteria for these bids include: conference competition, strength of schedule and SUNYAC performance in NCAA competition.

The SUNYAC office in Fredonia, NY, provides support for hardship cases, publicity and statistics. It is also responsible for coordinating 19 conference championships.

Site Maintained By Megan Cross SUNYAC Publicist

Questions or suggestions? sunyac@netsync.net