| Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference | |
| Association: | NCAA |
| Division: | Division I |
| Teams: | 10 |
| Region: | Midwest |
| Commissioner: | Patty Viverito |
The Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference was a women's-only college athletic conference which operated in the midwestern United States from its inception in 1982 to its absorption by the Missouri Valley Conference in 1992.
The Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference was founded in August 1982 as a women's-only conference.[1] The charter members consisted of Bradley University, Drake University, Eastern Illinois University, Illinois State University, Indiana State University, the University of Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois University, Southwest Missouri State University, Western Illinois University and Wichita State University.
In 1985, the Gateway added football (its only men's-sponsoring sport) with Eastern Illinois, Illinois State, Northern Iowa, Southern Illinois, Southwest Missouri State and Western Illinois as the charter members. Indiana State joined the league for that sport in the following year. For football, Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, Northern Iowa and Southwest Missouri State previously competed in the Mid-Continent Conference, while Illinois State and Southern Illinois previously competed in the then-NCAA Division I-A Missouri Valley Conference, and Indiana State previously competed as an NCAA Division I-AA independent.
In 1992, the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference was merged into the Missouri Valley Conference. The league's football side was spun off into the standalone Gateway Football Conference, known since 2008 as the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The MVFC and MVC, although separate leagues, now share five members and operate out of the same offices in St. Louis.
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1982 till:2027
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<#
Colors =
id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1992 text:Bradley (1982 - 1992) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:end text:MVC
bar:2 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1992 text:Drake (1982 - 1992) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:end text:MVC
bar:3 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1992 text:Eastern Illinois (1982 - 1992) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:1996 text:Summit bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:1996 till:end text:OVC
bar:4 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1992 text:Illinois State (1982 - 1992) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:end text:MVC
bar:5 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1992 text:Indiana State (1982 - 1992) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:end text:MVC
bar:6 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1992 text:Southwest Missouri State (1982 - 1992) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:end text:MVC
bar:7 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1992 text:Northern Iowa (1982 - 1992) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:end text:MVC
bar:8 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1992 text:Southern Illinois (1982 - 1992) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:end text:MVC
bar:9 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1992 text:Western Illinois (1982 - 1992) bar:9 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:2023 text:Summit bar:9 color:OtherC2 from:2023 till:end text:OVC
bar:10 color:FullxF from:1982 till:1992 text:Wichita State (1982 - 1992) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1992 till:2017 text:MVC bar:10 color:OtherC2 from:2017 till:end text:The American
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:2 start:1982