What is Southwestern Athletic Conference?
The '''Southwestern Athletic Conference''' ('''SWAC''') is a [[list of college athletic conferences|college athletic conference]] based in [[Birmingham, Alabama]]. It is made up of [[historically black colleges and universities|historically black universities]] in the [[Southern United States]]. It participates in the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]]'s [[Division I (NCAA)|Division I]] for most sports. In [[American football|football]], it participates in the [[Football Championship Subdivision]] (FCS). The SWAC is one of two conferences (the other being the [[Ivy League]]) which do not take part in postseason play in the FCS football tournament. It is the only one of the two whose members offer a full range of scholarships for football.<ref>The Ivy League does not award athletic scholarships at all. Northeast Conference members are limited to 30 football scholarships, less than half the FCS scholarship limit of 63. Pioneer League members may offer scholarships in other sports, but do not award football scholarships, and do not allow athletes receiving scholarships in other sports to play football.</ref> The SWAC instead splits its schools into two divisions, and plays a conference championship game. Furthermore, one SWAC game, the [[Bayou Classic]] between Southern and Grambling State, is positioned on the schedule after the NCAA tournament has begun. In addition, Alabama State plays [[NCAA Division II|Division II]] rival [[Tuskegee University|Tuskegee]] annually on Thanksgiving Day (The [[Turkey Day Classic]]). ==History== In 1920, athletic officials from six Texas HBCUs – C.H. Fuller of [[Bishop College]], Red Randolph and C.H. Patterson of [[Paul Quinn College]], E.G. Evans, H.J. Evans and H.J. Starns of [[Prairie View A&M]], D.C. Fuller of [[Texas College]] and G. Whitte Jordan of [[Wiley College]] – met in [[Houston, Texas]], to discuss common interests. At this meeting, they agreed to form a new league, the SWAC. Paul Quinn became the first of the original members to leave the lea