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

1940: Winter and Summer Olympics were to be held in Japan but were canceled due to World War II. The NCAA continued to play that year, with Utah defeating Dartmouth in overtime 42-40 to win the NCAA basketball title in New York City. 

March 29, 1941: The first National Collegiate Fencing Championships are conducted at Ohio State.

June 25-30, 1945: Francisco “Pancho” Segura  of Miami (Florida) becomes the only three-time singles titlist in NCAA tennis championships (the only other three-time collegiate titlist is Malcolm Chace, who competed in the pre-NCAA Intercollegiate Tennis Championships for Brown and Yale from 1893 to 1895).

July 22-23, 1946: The Conference of Conferences is held in Chicago, resulting in the development of the “Principles for the Conduct of Intercollegiate Athletics.” Five points of the principles — known as the “Sanity Code” — formally were adopted in 1948.

July 23, 1946: A $5,000 grant is made to the National Collegiate Athletic Bureau in New York City for statistics compilation and other record services (directed by Homer F. Cooke Jr.).

Jan. 6, 1947: Research of head and spinal football injuries is funded. 

June 20-21, 1947: The first National Collegiate Baseball Championship is played in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where California defeats a Yale squad that includes future President George H.W. Bush.

March 18-20, 1948: The first National Collegiate Ice Hockey Championships are conducted at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.

April 7-9, 1949: Chuck Davey of Michigan State becomes the only four-time National Collegiate Boxing Championships individual titlist.


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