CONFERENCE AFFILIATIONS

In I94 1, fo resigh t ed men had v isions of an Ohio Valley Confere nce. Sportswriters speculated about the impending division of th e Kentucky I ntercollegiate Athletic Conference. Virtually all agreed it was just a matter of t ime until t he div is ion took p la ce and a new a t hletic co nfere n ce was fo rm e d.

Then the J apanese bo mbed P ea rl Ha rbor and Amer ica was p lunged in t o World War II.

Seven years la ter , after the hostilit ies had ceased, a pre-war dream became a post -war r ea li ty. The "Big Five" of the K l. A.C. wit hdrew to fo rm the Ohio Valley Co n fe rence.

Making the move were West e rn Ke ntucky S t ate College, Eastern K entuc k y S tate College, Murray State College, M o r ehead State College and the University of Louisville They we r e joined by Evansv ille College and, shor tl y the re afte r, b y Ten n essee Tech and M arshall Col lege.

P urpose of the 0. V C., w hic h was set forth in it s constitut ion, is "to reg u late, con trol and , promote all the recognized bran ches of in tercollegiate athletics in ins t itut ions r eprese nt ed "

Through a gradual process, t he Oh io Valley Co n ference was to become a league of Kent ucky and T en nessee state colleges

Mi dd le Tennessee S t ate College joined the rol ls in 1952, East T e nn essee State University in 1957 a nd Austin Peay State College in the spr in g o f 1962. They replaced L ouisville, whi c h became an independen t in 1949, an d M arshall and Evansville, which depar t ed in 19 52.

T he University of Akron and Yo u n gst own State Un iversity jo ined the OVC in I97980.

Eastern's women's teams are members of th e 22-sc h oo l Kentucky Women's Int ercollegia t e Conference. K WIC is the official ath letic confe r e nce for all recogni zed women's collegiate programs in Kentucky

K WIC cond ucts state t o urna ments for college women in baske t ba ll, cross co unt ry, field hoc key , gymnast ics, ten nis , tra ck and fi eld and volleyball a nd is the recognized affiliate of th e n ational organization, the Associat ion of I ntercollegiate Athletics for W omen (A I A W).

Eastern a lso competes aga inst othe r OVC schools in a regular seaso n sc hedule in basketball and t ourn a ments in t e nnis and volleybal l. Championships are held also in cross count r y and outdoor track .

Eas t ern ranks first in t he Co nference ·s a lltime football stand in gs with a 129 -82-7 wonlost record The Colo ne ls ha ve won five regular season titles outr ight ('54, '67, '68, '74 and '76) and s hared nnc titl e in 1962.

Eastern won th e NCAA Di vis ion I- AA nati onal champions hip in 1979 and t he N CAA Mideas t R egiona l Championship in 1967. Th e Co lonels f in is hed as nati onal runnersup in th e NCAA 's I-AA Div is ion last yea r.

For additi o nal inform at ion, fe atur es o r pictures co nt ac t:

KAR L PARK

OFF ICE OF P U BLI C AFF/\ IR S

EA ST ER N K EN TUCKY UN I VERSITY

RI C HMO ND, K EN TUCKY 40475 TELEPHON E (606) 622- 2301

Jim Delany Ovc Commissioner

James Delany, a 33-year- old former NCAA invest igato r , is serving his third year as commissio ner of the Ohio Vall ey Co n ference H e succeeded Bob Vanatta as th e OVC's fourth commissione r.

Th e Succasun na , New J ersey, nat ive became the youngest commissio ner to serve t he con fere n ce. Th e ot her OVC commissioners prior t o Va natta were Arthur Guepe and Paul D ietze l.

D e lany is a 1970 graduate of the University o f North Carolina wh ere he played basketball for coach Dean Smith's T arhccls from 1967- 70 and served as co-captain on th e 1969- 70 sq uad

Followin g gradua ti on D e lan y en t ered t he U NC Law Sc hool and se r ve d as an assistant coach und er Smith. H e r ece ived hi s law degree in 1973 befo re jo ining the NCAA staff.