BALTIMORE — The CIAA. It’s more than your average college sports conference.
"The CIAA is extremely important. It’s where athletics began for HBCUs," said CIAA commissioner Jacqie McWilliams.
What is now the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association began as the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which was founded 111 years ago.
"The conference was started in 1912 because of discrimination, the ability not to play with the white conferences and being shut out," said Clyde Doughty Jr., Bowie State University Vice President of Athletics & Recreation. "So, the African Americans gathered around themselves and said, 'Look, we need to start something on our own. Not just for athletics but for education as well'."
It is a collection of Historically Black Colleges and Universities that has stood the test of time.
"We’re the first HBCU conference to be established, in 1912. We’re incorporated in Washington, DC. The founding members were at Hampton University; Howard, which is right down the street; Lincoln University up the street; Shaw University, the first HBCU in the south, and Virginia Union in Virginia," said McWilliams. "The men and the individuals who created this conference was important to give us access and opportunity to play the game when nobody else would."
The conference grew from five founding member schools to now a dozen current member schools from Pennsylvania to South Carolina. They compete within the Division II level of the NCAA.
Bowie State is a current member of the CIAA, joining in 1979, and is the host school for the 2023 CIAA Basketball Tournaments this week at CFG Bank Arena. Former CIAA members include Morgan State (1929-1970) and University of Maryland Eastern Shore (1954-1970).
McWilliams is proud of what her conference stands for and proud of the history she has made in her role leading it.
"I was the first African American woman to ever sit in the seat of a commissioner across all Division I, II and III. The opportunity to have the platform and the voice where I am has opened up doors and created space for other women that look like me. So, I hope that these young people here in Baltimore, at our institutions, can really see what they want to be."
They can be the trendsetting face of a sports league like McWilliams or a trendsetting player like Earl Lloyd, the first black player in the NBA. He went to West Virginia State. Or they can be one of the best basketball players of all-time like Earl 'The Pearl' Monroe, who went to Winston-Salem State before playing for the Baltimore Bullets inside the very arena where the CIAA Tournament is taking place. Other Hall of Famers like Bobby Dandridge (Norfolk State) and Ben Wallace (Virginia Union) also played in the conference.
Those are some names from the athletic stage. On the broadway stage, current Bowie State student Myles Frost won a Tony Award for his portrayal of Michael Jackson in 'MJ the Musical'.
McWilliams added the CIAA Tournament in Baltimore isn’t only about the hoops, it’s a celebration for all HBCUs.
"It means everything. It’s a big HBCU homecoming for the world."
It’s an experience to be had on and off the court.
"We say we do three things. We eat, we party and we play basketball," she said.
"That’s what the CIAA experience is all about: athletics, education and the social experience that’s culturally connected to African Americans," added Doughty Jr.
That is a truly special combination.
"Going to an HBCU, being in the CIAA, will provide you that connectivity that you weren’t getting at other institutions. You don’t have to explain your blackness to anybody. It’s inherent in the culture. It’s inherent in the environment. So, you don’t have to protect yourself on that level," Doughty Jr. said. "But like any other institution, you have got to come and do what you need to do to make your way through the system because it is an institution of higher learning. The goal is not to come here to play basketball, not to be in the sorority, not to be in the band, not to be in the social clubs. It’s to come and get an education."
And that’s why the CIAA is more than your average sports conference.
Follow Shawn Stepner on Twitter @StepnerWMAR and Facebook
