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24-994: The Southern States Conference ( SSC ) was an affiliate of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics that included member institutions in the U.S. states of Alabama , Georgia , Mississippi , and Florida . The league existed from 1938 to 1997. The league was established in December 1938 as the Alabama Intercollegiate Conference ( AIC ), comprising schools from just that state. The six charter members were: Jacksonville State Teachers College , Saint Bernard College , Troy State Teachers College , Snead Junior College , Livingston State Teachers College , and Marion Military Institute . The league ceased operations in 1942 because of World War II and because several member schools dropped their intercollegiate athletics programs. The AIC

48-552: A basketball-only conference. It returned to an all-sports conference for 1996–97 before dissolving. National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics For the 2023–24 season, it had 241 member institutions , of which two are in British Columbia , one in the U.S. Virgin Islands , and the rest in the continental United States , with over 83,000 student-athletes participating. The NAIA, whose headquarters

72-666: A part of any of these conferences play in the Continental Athletic Conference , formerly the Association of Independent Institutions. *- Denotes that the conference sponsors football. †- Denotes a football-only conference. Tennessee State Tigers men%27s basketball The Tennessee State Tigers basketball team represents Tennessee State University (TSU) in Nashville , Tennessee , United States. The school's team currently competes in

96-499: A series of do-it-yourself home improvement videos, became the first college student-athlete known to have profited from an endorsement under the current rules. The NAIA sponsors 16 sports in which it conducts 28 annual championships (13 for men, 13 for women, 2 co-ed). The NAIA recognizes three levels of competitions: "emerging" (15 or more institutions sponsoring as varsity and declared), "invitational" (25 or more institutions sponsoring as varsity and declared for postseason, Approval of

120-566: Is 18–8. The Tigers have appeared in seven NAIA Tournaments . Their combined record is 23–4 and are three time national champions (1957, 1958, 1959). Those same teams were later announced as inductees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on April 6, 2019, with those teams being "the first collegiate team to win back-to-back-to-back championships." The Tigers have appeared in three CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournaments (CIT). Their combined record

144-654: Is in Kansas City, Missouri , sponsors 28 national championships. CBS Sports Network , formerly called CSTV, serves as the national media outlet for the NAIA. In 2014, ESPNU began carrying the NAIA Football National Championship . In 1937, James Naismith and local leaders, including George Goldman and Emil Liston, staged the first National College Basketball Tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri , of which Goldman

168-751: The Chuck Taylor Most Valuable Player award since 1939, as well as the Charles Stevenson Hustle Award ("Charlie Hustle"), which was the basis for Pete Rose 's nickname, given to him by Whitey Ford . From 1992 to 2020, basketball was the only NAIA sport in which the organization's member institutions were aligned into divisions. Effective with the 2020–21 academic year, the NAIA returned to a single division for both men's and women's basketball. The NAIA has 21 member conferences, including 9 that sponsor football. Member institutions that are not

192-542: The NCAA Tournament , most recently in 1994. Seventeen former Tennessee State Tigers have played in the NBA ; the best known are Ben Warley , Robert Covington , Dick Barnett , John Barnhill , Truck Robinson , Anthony Mason and Carlos Rogers . The Tigers have appeared in two NCAA Division I Tournaments . Their combined record is 0–2. The Tigers have appeared in seven NCAA Division II Tournaments . Their record

216-576: The NAIA, in partnership with the National Football League (NFL), announced the addition of flag football as a varsity sport for female student-athletes. The NAIA became the first collegiate governing body to sanction the sport at the varsity level. Women's flag began during the 2021 season as an emerging sport with about 15 teams. Name, image, and likeness reform — In October 2020, the NAIA passed legislation that allows student-athletes at its member institutions to be compensated for

240-678: The NCAA Division I's Ohio Valley Conference . They play their home games at the Gentry Complex and are led by sixth-year head coach Brian "Penny" Collins . While they were a member of the NAIA , they were three time national champions ( 1957 , 1958 , 1959 ). TSU was the first team to win three consecutive basketball national championships at any level of college basketball – a feat only repeated once as of 2021, by Kentucky State ( 1970 , 1971 , 1972 ) The 1957 championship made TSU

264-516: The National Administrative Council), and "championship" (40 or more institutions sponsoring as varsity, Minimum of two Invitationals held, Approval of the National Administrative Council). The association conducts, or has conducted in the past, championship tournaments in the following sports (year established). The NAIA men's basketball championship is the longest-running collegiate national championship of any sport in

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288-597: The United States. The tournament was the brainchild of Dr. James Naismith , creator of the game of basketball; Emil Liston , athletic director at Baker University ; and Frank Cramer, founder of Cramer Athletic Products. The event began in 1937 with the inaugural tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri. The 2017 men's championship marked the 80th edition of what has been tabbed College Basketball's Toughest Tournament. The tournament has awarded

312-479: The first association to admit colleges and universities from outside the United States. The NAIA began admitting Canadian members in 1967. Football – The NAIA was the first association to send a football team to Europe to play. In the summer of 1976, the NAIA sent Henderson State and Texas A&I to play 5 exhibition games in West Berlin, Vienna, Nuremberg, Mannheim and Paris. Flag football – In May 2020,

336-499: The first female college athlete to play and score in a college football game when she kicked two extra points during the 1997 Linfield vs. Willamette football game . Launched in 2000 by the NAIA, the Champions of Character program promotes character and sportsmanship through athletics. The Champions of Character conducts clinics and has developed an online training course to educate athletes, coaches, and athletic administrators with

360-538: The first historically Black institution to win a collegiate basketball national championship. In 1959, Southern University became the first HBCU to win the NAIA Baseball championship. In 2024, NAIA instituted a ban on those transgender men who have begun transgender hormone therapy and all transgender women from competing in women’s sports, with the exception of cheerleading and dance. The NAIA began sponsoring intercollegiate championships for women in 1980 ,

384-591: The first historically black college to win a national championship. The team was coached by Harold Hunter from 1960 to 1968. Hunter still holds the record as the second-winningest men's basketball coach in Tennessee State's history. Hunter had succeeded outgoing coach John McLendon , who left in 1959. The Tigers joined NCAA Division I for the 1977-78 season and joined the OVC for the 1986-87 season. Since joining Division I, Tennessee State has appeared twice in

408-463: The second coed national athletics association to do so, offering collegiate athletics championships to women in basketball, cross country, gymnastics, indoor and outdoor track and field, softball, swimming and diving, tennis and volleyball. The National Junior College Athletic Association had established a women's division in the spring of 1975 and held the first women's national championship volleyball tournament that fall. In 1997, Liz Heaston became

432-478: The skills necessary to promote character development in the context of sport. In 2010, the association opened the NAIA Eligibility Center, where prospective student-athletes are evaluated for academic and athletic eligibility. It delivers on the NAIA's promise of integrity by leveling the playing field, guiding student-athlete success, and ensuring fair competition. Membership – The NAIA was

456-487: The use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL). According to an NAIA press release, student-athletes can now "receive compensation for promoting any commercial product, enterprise, or for any public or media appearance", and can also "reference their intercollegiate athletic participation in such promotions or appearances." The NAIA had allowed student-athletes to receive NIL compensation since 2014, but had not previously allowed them to reference their status as such. The NAIA

480-474: Was director, one year before the first National Invitation Tournament and two years before the first NCAA tournament . The goal of the tournament was to establish a forum for small colleges and universities to determine a national basketball champion. The original eight-team tournament expanded to 32 teams in 1938. On March 10, 1940, the National Association for Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB)

504-450: Was formed in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1952 , the NAIB was transformed into the NAIA, and with that came the sponsorship of additional sports such as men's golf, tennis and outdoor track and field. Football in the NAIA was split into two divisions in 1970, based on enrollment (Divisions I and II); it was consolidated back into a single division in 1997. The 1948 NAIB national tournament

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528-671: Was reformed again in January 1948 after a five year lapse. In 1959 it was renamed the Alabama Collegiate Conference ( ACC ), and then in May 1972, the league was rebranded as Southern States Conference . At the conclusion of the 1994–95 school year, two schools left the SSC, causing league membership to dip below the six required to have an NAIA championship in every sport except basketball. The SSC then existed in 1995–96 as

552-499: Was several years ahead of the NCAA in NIL reform; the NCAA did not adopt NIL reform until 2021, after its hand was forced by multiple states passing legislation to allow student-athletes to receive such compensation, most notably California . In December 2020, Chloe Mitchell, a volleyball player at NAIA member Aquinas College who at the time had more than 2 million followers on TikTok with

576-506: Was the first intercollegiate postseason to feature a Black student-athlete, Clarence Walker of Indiana State under coach John Wooden . Wooden had withdrawn from the 1947 tournament because the NAIB would not allow Walker to play. The association furthered its commitment to African-American athletes when, in 1953, it became the first collegiate association to invite historically black colleges and universities into its membership. In 1957, Tennessee A&I (now Tennessee State) became

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