Del Noble | USCAA Hall of Fame | Legacy Class '17

The United States Collegiate Athletic Association has a rich history dating back as far as 1966.  It was on July 29th of that year when athletic directors from the Lake Erie (Ohio) Conference and the Eastern Shore Basketball League met in Charleston, West Virginia and commenced the National Little College Athletic Association.  It was at this conference that small colleges were finally given an opportunity to compete athletically on a national level as an eight-team national basketball tournament was established.

The man behind the vision of national recognition for small colleges was Del Noble.  Noble was deemed the founder of the National Little College Athletic Association, which began as a ten-school organization.

Noble went on to head the board of the NLCAA for two terms, followed by a term as commissioner in 1969.  Noble’s focus in the beginning of the association rest solely on men’s basketball.  In the mid-1970’s the association began to grow significantly in numbers and added three sports: Baseball in 1975, Wrestling in 1976, and Soccer in 1977.  The association made a significant achievement in 1982 when it hosted its first women’s national championship in basketball.  Just a year later, the organization hosted its first volleyball tournament, followed by its first national softball tournament another year later in 1989.  This was the same year that the association decided to change its name to the National Small College Athletic Association.

An avid basketball coach, Noble spent several years coaching men’s basketball teams at Midland College of Commerce in Ohio and Ohio State University at Marion. Prior to coaching basketball, he coached several successful high school boys’ basketball teams at Cardington-Lincoln High School.

The United States Collegiate Athletic Association was formed in 2001 as a reorganization of the NSCAA.