Frontier Conference (1940–1962) Explained

Frontier Conference
Founded:	1940
Dissolved:	1962
Teams:	9 (Football)
Region:	Southwest
Map:	NMIC Conference map.svg
Map Size:	250

The Frontier Conference, known as the New Mexico Conference and New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference from 1940 to 1955, was an intercollegiate athletic conference composed of member schools located in the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. The league existed from 1940 to 1962.^[1]

Membership

Former members

The following is an incomplete list of the membership of the Frontier Conference.

Location	Founded	Type	Nickname	Joined	Left	Colors	Current conference
Alamosa, Colorado	1921	Public	Grizzlies	1946	1955	Green & White	RMAC NCAA Division II
Flagstaff, Arizona	1899	Public	Lumberjacks	1953	1962	Blue & Gold	Big Sky NCAA Division I FCS
Portales, New Mexico	1927	Public	Greyhounds	1940	1953	Green & Silver	Lone Star NCAA Division II
Las Vegas, New Mexico	1893	Public	Cowboys and Cowgirls	1940	1962	Purple & White	RMAC NCAA Division II
Roswell, New Mexico	1891	Public	Broncos	1940	1957	Red & Black	WJCAC, SWJCFC NJCAA Division I
Silver City, New Mexico	1893	Public	Mustangs	1940	1962	Royal Purple & Golden Yellow	Lone Star NCAA Division II
Goodwell, Oklahoma	1909	Public	Aggies	1940	1950	Crimson & Blue	Sooner NAIA Division I
Santa Fe, New Mexico	1859	Roman Catholic	Horsemen	1948	1950	Light Navy & White	Defunct
Alpine, Texas	1917	Public	Lobos	1946	1949	Scarlet & Grey	American Southwest NCAA Division III

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyyImageSize = width:750 height:auto barincrement:24Period = from:1939 till:1966TimeAxis = orientation:horizontalPlotArea = right:0 left:0 bottom:50 top:0

Colors = id:barcolor value:black id:line value:black id:bg value:white

id:NMC value:rgb(1,0.498,0.314) id:Fron value:rgb(0.6,0.6,1)

PlotData= width:20 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s

bar:1 color:NMC from:1940 till:1951 text:Panhandle A&M (1940–1950) bar:2 color:NMC from:1940 till:1954 text:Eastern New Mexico (1940–1953) bar:3 color:NMC from:1940 till:1955 text:New Mexico Military (1940–1957) bar:3 color:Fron from:1955 till:1958 bar:4 color:NMC from:1940 till:1955 text:New Mexico Highlands (1940–1962) bar:4 color:Fron from:1955 till:1963 bar:5 color:NMC from:1940 till:1955 text:New Mexico State Teachers' (1940–1962) bar:5 color:Fron from:1955 till:1963 bar:6 color:NMC from:1946 till:1950 text:Sul Ross State (1946–1949) bar:7 color:NMC from:1946 till:1955 text:Adams State (1946–1955) bar:7 color:Fron from:1955 till:1956 bar:8 color:NMC from:1948 till:1951 text:St. Michael's (1948–1950) bar:9 color:NMC from:1953 till:1955 text:Arizona State College (1953–1962) bar:9 color:Fron from:1955 till:1963

ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:5 start:1940

TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(100,30) # tabs:(0-center) text:"New Mexico / Frontier Conference membership history"

Football championships and postseason appearances

New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference football championships! Season! Champion^[2] ! Conference record! Overall record
1940	New Mexico State Teachers'	4–0	4–3^[3]
1941	New Mexico Military	4–0	6–1^[4]
1942	New Mexico State Teachers'	1–0	2–2
1943–1945	Competition suspended during World War II
1946	Adams State	4–0	5–1^[5]
1947	Sul Ross	5–0	6–3^[6]
1948	Sul Ross	5–0	10–0–1
1949	Sul Ross	5–0	7–3
1950	Eastern New Mexico	5–1	5–5^[7]
1951	Eastern New Mexico	5–0	8–1
1952 (co-champions)	Eastern New Mexico	4–1	7–1–1
1952 (co-champions)	Panhandle A&M	4–1	7–3^[8]
1953	Panhandle A&M	6–0	8–1–1
1954	Panhandle A&M	5–0	6–3

Frontier Conference football championships! Season! Champion! Conference record! Overall record
1955 (co-champions)	Adams State	4–1	6–4
1955 (co-champions)	New Mexico Military	4–1	5–3
1956 (co-champions)	Arizona State–Flagstaff	3–0	8–2^[9]
1956 (co-champions)	New Mexico Military	3–0	6–3
1957	Arizona State–Flagstaff	3–0	8–1
1958	Arizona State–Flagstaff	3–0	11–1
1959	Arizona State–Flagstaff	3–0	6–2–1
1960 (co-champions)	Arizona State–Flagstaff	2–0–1	6–3–2
1960 (co-champions)	New Mexico Highlands	2–0–1	6–2–1^[10]
1961	Arizona State–Flagstaff	1–0–1	3–5–1
1962	Arizona State–Flagstaff	2–0	6–4

National playoff and bowl games! Conference team! Opponent! Result! Score! Location
1949 Tangerine Bowl
Sul Ross	Murray State	Tie	21–21	Orlando, Florida
1958 NAIA Semifinal
Arizona State–Flagstaff		Win	41–12	Tucson, Arizona
1958 NAIA Championship (Holiday Bowl)
Arizona State–Flagstaff	Northeastern State	Loss	13–19^[11]	St. Petersburg, Florida

Notes and References

http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/conference_champs/champions.php?conid=57 Frontier (NM) Conference
Web site: New Mexico Intercollegiate Conference ; Frontier Conference. The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection. Penn State University Libraries. January 3, 2017.
Web site: Western New Mexico University. The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection. Penn State University Libraries. January 4, 2017.
Web site: New Mexico Military Institute. The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection. Penn State University Libraries. January 4, 2017.
Web site: Adams State College. The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection. Penn State University Libraries. January 4, 2017.
Web site: Sul Ross State University. The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection. Penn State University Libraries. January 4, 2017.
Web site: Eastern New Mexico University. The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection. Penn State University Libraries. January 4, 2017.
Web site: Oklahoma Panhandle State University. The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection. Penn State University Libraries. January 4, 2017.
Web site: Northern Arizona University (sheet 1). The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection. Penn State University Libraries. January 5, 2017.
Web site: New Mexico Highlands University. The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection. Penn State University Libraries. January 5, 2017.
Web site: Northern Arizona University (sheet 2). The Dr. Roger B. Saylor Football Records Collection. Penn State University Libraries. January 5, 2017.