1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s

Oct. 9, 1905: Theodore Roosevelt invites leaders of collegiate football, including representatives of Harvard, Princeton and Yale, to the White House for a discussion on reforming or abolishing the game during a season that produced 18 deaths and 149 serious injuries attributed to the sport.

Dec. 9, 1905: Thirteen football-playing schools accept New York University Chancellor Henry M. MacCracken’s invitation to a “reform conference.”

Dec. 28, 1905: A second football reform conference involving 62 football-playing schools is held, resulting in the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, the precursor to the NCAA.

March 31, 1906: The first constitution and bylaws of the IAAUS are issued.

1906: Palmer Pierce becomes the Association’s first president, holding office from 1906 to 1913 and from 1917 to 1929. 

Dec. 29, 1906: The first IAAUS convention is held at the Murray Hill Hotel in New York City (first report of the Football Rules Committee).

1907: James Naismith, credited with the invention of basketball, steps down as men’s basketball coach at the University of Kansas, where his teams compiled a 55-60 record beginning in 1898.

1909: The IAAUS football rules change in response to 33 football-related deaths. A movement to abolish the sport is stopped.

Sources: “In the Arena: The NCAA’s First Century” by Joseph N. Crowley, NCAA News and Champion magazine archives, the NCAA Media Center, and NCAA record books