Northern California Athletic Conference
The Northern California Athletic Conference was an NCAA Division II college athletic association that sponsored American football that was founded in 1925. It disbanded in 1998 after the majority of its member schools were forced to drop football.
History
The NCAC was founded as the Far Western Conference in 1925 by its charter member schools: Fresno State, Saint Mary's, UC Davis, Nevada, San Jose State and College of the Pacific.Nevada's departure from the conference in 1940 left the conference with only four members: Chico State, Fresno State, College of the Pacific and UC Davis. The conference looked to four nominees in Humboldt State, San Francisco State, Santa Barbara State College and California Poly of San Luis Obispo.
Shortly after World War II, the remaining members, with the exception of UC Davis, Chico State and Humboldt State, would leave for other conferences, to be replaced over the years by San Francisco State, Southern Oregon, Sacramento State, Hayward State and Sonoma State. During the 1990s, each of the universities associated with the California State system chose to disband their football teams in order to comply with Title IX, with the exception of Humboldt State, which added two women's sports to achieve compliance, Sacramento State, and Cal Poly.
Members
| Institution | Location | Founded | Nickname | Joined | Left | Current conference |
| Cal State Hayward | Hayward, CA | 1956 | Pioneers | 1961 | 1998 | CCAA |
| Chico State | Chico, CA | 1887 | Wildcats | 1928 | 1998 | CCAA |
| Fresno State | Fresno, CA | 1911 | Bulldogs | 1925 | 1940 | Mountain West |
| Humboldt State | Arcata, CA | 1913 | Lumberjacks | 1940 | 1998 | CCAA |
| Nevada | Reno, NV | 1874 | Wolf Pack | 1925 1953 | 1940 1969 | Mountain West |
| Notre Dame | Belmont, CA | 1851 | Argonauts | 1988 | 1998 | Discontinued athletics |
| Pacific | Stockton, CA | 1911 | Tigers | 1925 | 1942 | West Coast |
| Sacramento State | Sacramento, CA | 1947 | Hornets | 1953 | 1985 | Big Sky |
| St. Ignatius | San Francisco, CA | 1855 | Dons | 1927 | 1929 | West Coast |
| Saint Mary's | Moraga, CA | 1863 | Gaels | 1925 | 1927 | West Coast |
| San Francisco State | San Francisco, CA | 1899 | Gators | 1946 1953 | 1951 1998 | CCAA |
| San Jose State | San Jose, CA | 1857 | Spartans | 1929 | 1935 | Mountain West |
| Sonoma State | Rohnert Park, CA | 1960 | Cossacks | 1966 1982 | 1974 1998 | CCAA |
| Southern Oregon | Ashland, OR | 1872 | Raiders | 1947 | 1953 | Cascade Collegiate |
| Stanislaus State | Turlock, CA | 1957 | Warriors | 1975 | 1998 | CCAA |
| UC Davis | Davis, CA | 1905 | Aggies | 1925 | 1998 | Big West |
Membership timeline
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:25
Period = from:1925 till:2000
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb
id:Full value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports
id:FullxF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football
id:AssocF value:rgb # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only
id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
PlotData=
width:20 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:Full from:1925 till:1993 text:UC Davis
bar:1 color:Fullxf from:1993 till:1998
bar:2 color:Full from:1925 till:1927 text:Saint Mary's
bar:2 color:AssocF from:1927 till:1929
bar:3 color:Full from:1925 till:1940 text:Nevada
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1953 till:1954 text:Nevada
bar:3 color:Full from:1954 till:1969
bar:4 color:Full from:1925 till:1942 text:Pacific
bar:4 color:AssocF from:1942 till:1943
bar:5 color:Full from:1925 till:1940 text:Fresno State
bar:6 color:Full from:1927 till:1929 text:St. Ignatius
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1928 till:1929 text:Chico State
bar:7 color:Full from:1929 till:1997
bar:7 color:Fullxf from:1997 till:1998
bar:8 color:Full from:1929 till:1935 text:San Jose State
bar:9 color:Full from:1940 till:1997 text:Humboldt State
bar:9 color:Fullxf from:1997 till:1998
bar:10 color:Full from:1946 till:1951 text:San Francisco State
bar:10 color:AssocF from:1951 till:1953
bar:10 color:Full from:1953 till:1995
bar:10 color:Fullxf from:1995 till:1998
bar:11 color:Full from:1947 till:1953 text:Southern Oregon
bar:11 color:AssocF from:1953 till:1955
bar:12 color:FullxF from:1953 till:1954 text:Sacramento State
bar:12 color:Full from:1954 till:1985
bar:13 color:FullxF from:1964 till:1965 text:Cal State Hayward
bar:13 color:Full from:1965 till:1994
bar:13 color:Fullxf from:1994 till:1998
bar:14 color:FullxF from:1966 till:1970 text:Sonoma State
bar:14 color:Full from:1970 till:1972
bar:14 color:FullxF from:1972 till:1974
bar:14 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1983
bar:14 color:Full from:1983 till:1997
bar:14 color:Fullxf from:1997 till:1998
bar:15 color:FullxF from:1975 till:1998 text:Stanislaus State
bar:16 color:FullxF from:1988 till:1998 text:Notre Dame
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1925
Conference champions
Football
- 1925: Saint Mary's
- 1926: Saint Mary's
- 1927: Saint Mary's
- 1928: Saint Mary's
- 1929: Cal Aggies
- 1930: Fresno State
- 1931: No champion
- 1932: Nevada & San Jose State
- 1933: Nevada
- 1934: San Jose State & Fresno State
- 1935: Fresno State
- 1936: Pacific
- 1937: Fresno State
- 1938: Pacific
- 1939: Nevada
- 1940: Pacific
- 1941: Pacific
- 1942: Pacific
- 1943: No champion
- 1944: No champion
- 1945: No champion
- 1946: No champion
- 1947: Cal Aggies &
- 1948:
- 1949: Cal Aggies
- 1950: San Francisco State
- 1951: Cal Aggies
- 1952: Humboldt State
- 1953: Chico State
- 1954: San Francisco State
- 1955: No champion
- 1956: Cal Aggies, San Francisco State, & Humboldt State
- 1957: San Francisco State
- 1958: San Francisco State
- 1959: San Francisco State
- 1960: Humboldt State
- 1961: Humboldt State & San Francisco State
- 1962: San Francisco State
- 1963: UC Davis, Humboldt State, & San Francisco State
- 1964: Sacramento State
- 1965: San Francisco State
- 1966: Sacramento State
- 1967: San Francisco State
- 1968: Humboldt State
- 1969: Cal State Hayward
- 1970: Cal State Hayward & Chico State
- 1971: UC Davis & Chico State
- 1972: UC Davis
- 1973: UC Davis & Chico State
- 1974: UC Davis
- 1975: UC Davis
- 1976: UC Davis
- 1977: UC Davis
- 1978: UC Davis
- 1979: UC Davis
- 1980: UC Davis
- 1981: Cal State Hayward & UC Davis
- 1982: UC Davis
- 1983: UC Davis
- 1984: UC Davis
- 1985: UC Davis
- 1986: UC Davis
- 1987: UC Davis
- 1988: UC Davis
- 1989: UC Davis
- 1990: UC Davis
- 1991: Sonoma State
- 1992: UC Davis
- 1993: Chico State
- 1994: Chico State, Humboldt State, & Sonoma State
- 1995: Humboldt State
- 1996: Chico State
Baseball
- 1948: Chico State
- 1949: Chico State
- 1950: Chico State
- 1951: UC Davis
- 1952: Chico State
- 1953: Chico State & Sacramento State
- 1954: Chico State & Sacramento State
- 1955: Sacramento State
- 1956: Sacramento State
- 1957: Sacramento State
- 1958: Sacramento State
- 1959: Sacramento State & Chico State
- 1960: Sacramento State
- 1961: Sacramento State & San Francisco State
- 1962: San Francisco State
- 1963: San Francisco State
- 1964: Sacramento State
- 1965: Sacramento State
- 1968: Sacramento State
- 1969: Sacramento State & San Francisco State
- 1970: Sacramento State
- 1971: Sacramento State
- 1972: Cal State Hayward
- 1973: UC Davis
- 1974: Sacramento State & UC Davis
- 1975: Sacramento State
- 1976: UC Davis
- 1977: Cal State Hayward
- 1978: Chico State
- 1979: UC Davis
- 1983: San Francisco State & Chico State
- 1984: UC Davis
- 1985: Sacramento State, Chico State, & UC Davis
- 1986: San Francisco State
- 1987: Chico State
- 1989: San Francisco State
- 1990: Sonoma State UC Davis
- 1991: Sonoma State
- 1992: Sonoma State
- 1993: UC Davis
- 1994: UC Davis
- 1995: San Francisco State
- 1996: Chico State
- 1997: Chico State
- 1998: Sonoma State & Chico State
- Sacramento State - 18
- Chico State - 14
- UC Davis - 9
- San Francisco State - 8
- Sonoma State - 4
- Cal State Hayward - 2
Women's volleyball
- 1982: Sacramento State
- 1983: Sacramento State
- 1984: Sacramento State
- 1995: Sonoma State
- 1997: Sonoma State
Men's soccer
- 1974: Cal-State Hayward
- 1975: Cal-State Hayward
- 1976: Cal-State Hayward
- 1977:
- 1978:
- 1979:
- 1980:
- 1981:
- 1982: Cal-State Hayward
- 1983: Cal-State Hayward
- 1984: Cal-State Hayward
- 1985: Chico State
- 1986: Chico State
- 1987: Chico State
- 1988: Cal-State Hayward
- 1989: Cal-State Hayward
- 1990: Sonoma State
- 1991: Sonoma State
- 1993: Sonoma State
- 1995: Sonoma State
- 1996: Sonoma State
- 1997: Sonoma State