SoCon 100th Anniversary Info Page
SoCon 100th Anniversary Announcement Video

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The 2020-21 school year marks the 100th anniversary of the Southern Conference, and Furman University, as one of the league's oldest members, is proud to celebrate its legacy as the winningest program in conference history.

A member of the SoCon since 1936, Furman has claimed 226 league championships over the years — tops among all schools.  The total includes 98 regular season crowns and 128 tournament titles, with Furman men combining for 121 championships and the Paladin women accounting for 105.

The SoCon incorporated women's sports beginning with the 1983-84 school year.

On the men's side soccer has accounted for 20 league regular season championships followed by football's league-best 14 titles.  Soccer's 15 SoCon Tournament crowns lead the way, trailed closely by tennis (14) and golf (13).

Furman women's tennis owns more SoCon regular season titles (23) than any other university sport and has also bagged 19 league tournament crowns, followed by women's golf's 18 championships.

The Paladin women have combined to capture a league leading 17 Germann Cups since the award was established in 1987.

Through the years Furman student-athletes have claimed 144 SoCon Player of the Year laurels, SoCon Tournament MVP honors 62 times, and SoCon Athlete of the Year recognition on 17 occasions.  Furman coaches have been recognized by their peers as league coach of the year 131 times.

Furman's success in conference play has contributed to Paladin Athletics earning 118 NCAA Tournament berths, led by women's golf's 36 appearances.

Furman teams have won two national championships, with women's golf capturing the 1976 title, then administered by the AIAW —the forerunner of NCAA women's sponsorship — and football in 1988, when the Paladins became the first private school to claim the NCAA I-AA (now FCS) crown.

Nearly all of Furman's 144 NCAA Division I All-Americans earned their recognition while competing under the banner of SoCon student-athletes.  Furman has also produced five national players of the year, including 2020 women's golfer Natalie Srinivasan.

Click here for a summary of Furman's SoCon Championship and NCAA Tournament history.  Click here for a summary of Furman student-athletes who have earned special recognition.

The Southern Conference traces its beginnings to Feb. 25, 1921, when delegates from 15 of the 30 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association institutions met at the Piedmont Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, to finalize plans for a new conference. Alabama, Alabama Polytechnic Institute (Auburn), Clemson, Georgia, Georgia School of Technology (Georgia Tech), Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi A&M (Mississippi State), North Carolina, North Carolina State, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) and Washington & Lee all signed on to form the Southern Intercollegiate Conference, while Tulane attended the meetings but would not join until the following year.

The league has had 44 full-time members over its illustrious history, spawning the Southeastern Conference (1932) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (1953) and currently serving as home to 10 institutions throughout six states in the Southeast. Among current members, VMI joined in 1923 and will celebrate 88 years in the league in 2021 (the Keydets were not members from 2003-14). The Citadel and Furman own the longest continuous tenure in the league, as both programs joined in 1936.

The Southern Conference has been a pioneer in its first century, starting with contesting the first-ever collegiate conference basketball tournament. The league also tackled freshman eligibility issues in its early days and became the first conference to adopt the 3-point field goal in basketball in 1980.