Category:Pacific 10 Conference History

[edit] History

The Pacific-10 Conference dates back to December 15, 1915, when the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was founded at a meeting at the Oregon Hotel in Portland, Oregon. Original membership consisted of four schools: the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Washington, the University of Oregon, and Oregon State College (now Oregon State University).

The Pacific Coast Conference began play in 1916. One year later, Washington State College (now Washington State University), was accepted into the Conference, and Stanford University joined in 1918.

In 1922, the University of Southern California and the University of Idaho joined the conference. The University of Montana joined the Conference in 1924, and in 1928, the PCC grew to 10 members with the addition of UCLA.

The Pacific Coast Conference competed as a 10-team league until 1950. In 1950, Montana resigned from the Conference and joined the Mountain States Conference. The PCC continued as a nine-team Conference through 1958.

Following a "pay-for-play" scandal at several PCC institutions, the PCC was dissolved and the Pac-10 was founded on July 1, 1959 as the Athletic Association of Western Universities, with Cal, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Washington as charter members. Washington State joined in 1962; Oregon and Oregon State joined in 1964. In 1968, the name Pacific-8 Conference was adopted. In 1978, Arizona and Arizona State joined, creating the Pac-10 in its current form.