Southwestern University Athletics History

 Southwestern University was the first institution of higher learning in Texas and was established in 1840. Among other first, Southwestern University has an illustrious history in intercollegiate athletics beginning with:

• Hosting the first homecoming on record.
• The first intercollegiate baseball game in the state of Texas on April 21, 1884 (Southwestern defeated the University of Texas, 52-12)

Athletics’ Conference History

Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA) 1914-1927

Southwestern continued to compete in baseball and added football in 1895, but officially entered intercollegiate athletics in 1908 and was a charter member of the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA), later becoming the Southwest Conference, competing from 1914-1927.

SU had relative success in the conference, winning two conference championships, one in baseball (1918) and one in football (1925). By the end of their time in the TIAA, the Pirates had added men’s tennis and men’s basketball as conference sports.

Texas Conference

In 1926-27 Southwestern left the TIAA to join the Texas Conference, starting that first year off on a high note with a 1927 conference championship in football and track & field. While in the Texas Conference, Southwestern had the first football team to win back-to-back Sun Bowl Championships. SU defeated the University of New Mexico 7-0 in 1944 and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous University of Mexico) from Mexico City 35-0 in 1945. The 1945 contest is the only time an American football game has included a team from outside the United States.

It was also during the Texas Conference years that Southwestern disbanded the football program. Following the completion of World War II, Southwestern transitioned to a small liberal arts institution by dropping post-graduate degrees. In 1950, the Pirate football team took the field for the final time and posted a 5-5 record.

While the men’s teams (baseball, tennis, golf, basketball) competed in the Texas Conference the women teams were competing in the TAIAW from 1973-1981 with teams in tennis, volleyball, and basketball. 

Big State Conference & NAIA

Southwestern athletics departed from the Texas Conference six years later, joining the Big State Conference in 1956, the women joining the ranks in 1981, and remained in the conference until 1983; at which point the men and women became a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) member, competing independently for nine years.

Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) 1994

The Pirates became a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III school for the 1992-1993 academic year, going from six sports to 12 by adding men’s and women’s soccer, women’s golf and track & field and reviving the women’s tennis and men’s track & field teams. SU joined the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in 1993 and competed within the conference beginning in the fall of 1994. Since that time the Pirates have aided the SCAC in becoming one of the most well-recognized and well-respected conferences in the nation.

Southwestern’s athletic department continued to grow by adding men’s and women’s swimming & diving in 1998 and softball in 2008 with their first year of competition being in the spring of 2009. Men’s lacrosse was added in 2009 with their first season of competition in spring 2010, building off of their successful club programs.

The most recent sports added was In the fall of 2011, Southwestern announced plans to reinstate the football program and begin women’s lacrosse for the 2013-2014 school year.