June 14, 1953: The Atlantic Coast Conference Is Founded

June 14, 1953: The Atlantic Coast Conference is founded. Although it's had its moments in other sports, the ACC is best known for basketball, where it is often regarded as the best college league.

Like the Southeastern Conference, founded 20 years earlier, the ACC was made up of members of the Southern Conference. That league had banned postseason appearances in 1951, and most of its schools didn't like it.

So these 7 broke away, and formed their own league: Clemson University, in Clemson, South Carolina; Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina; the University of Maryland, in College Park; the University of North Carolina, in Chapel Hill; North Carolina State University, in Raleigh; the University of South Carolina, in Columbia; and Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, South Carolina. Six months later, on December 4, the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, was admitted as an 8th member.

The ACC first scheduled games against racially integrated teams, and then integrated their own schools and teams, years before the SEC did so. In 1960, the ACC implemented a minimum SAT score for incoming student-athletes of 750, the first conference to do so. This minimum was raised to 800 in 1964, but was ultimately struck down by a federal court in 1972.

In 1971, South Carolina left the ACC to become an independent, later joining the SEC. In 1979, former SEC member Georgia Institute of Technology, a.k.a. Georgia Tech, of Atlanta, joined for all sports except football, for which they joined in 1983. Florida State University, in Tallahassee, joined for all sports but football in 1991, and for football in 1992.

The ACC began raiding the Big East Conference early in the 21st Century: The University of Miami and Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a.k.a. Virginia Tech joined in 2004; Boston College of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, jumped in 2005; The University of Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, and Syracuse University, in New York, joined in 2013. Also in 2013, the University of Notre Dame, an independent, joined the ACC in all sports except football and hockey. (BC is the only ACC school with a hockey team.)

However, in 2012, Maryland announced it was leaving the ACC for the Big Ten Conference, effective 2014. Rutgers University, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, which would have seemed like a prime ACC target, left the Big East for the Big Ten on the same schedule.

And in 2023, effective with the 2024 Fall sports season, the ACC voted to admit 3 new members that are most definitely nowhere near the Atlantic Coast: The University of California, in Berkeley; their arch-rivals, Stanford University, of Palo Alto, California, also in the San Francisco Bay Area; and Southern Methodist University, a.k.a. SMU, of Dallas, Texas.

The major rivalries are intra-state: Virginia vs. Virginia Tech; The 3-way "neighborhood" rivalry of Duke, UNC and N.C. State; Clemson vs. South Carolina; and Miami vs. Florida. There are also notable interconference rivalries: Florida vs. Florida State, Florida vs. Miami, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh vs. Penn State, Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia, and, no longer intraconference, Maryland vs. Virginia.

Although there has been some great football played in the ACC, particularly since the joining of Miami and Florida State, who both became national powers in the 1980s, the league is known for its basketball teams.

The ACC Tournament, usually held in the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina, is the best conference tournament in the country. Duke vs. North Carolina is the basketball equivalent of football's Ohio State vs. Michigan or Alabama vs. Auburn. North Carolina have won 6 NCAA Tournaments, Duke 5, N.C. State 2; and 1 each by Syracuse, Maryland and Virginia. In women's hoops, South Carolina have won 2, and North Carolina and Maryland have each won 1. (UPDATE: In 2024, South Carolina won a 3rd.)

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June 14, 1953 was a Sunday. In that era, baseball teams tended to play doubleheaders on the Sunday:

* The New York Yankees swept the Cleveland Indians, 6-2 and 3-0. Johnny Sain started the opener, but the Yankees trailed Bob Lemon and the Tribe 2-0 going into the 7th inning. They scored 1 run in the 7th, 3 in the 8th and 2 in the 9th to make a winning pitcher out of Bob Kuzava. Vic Raschi pitched a 3-hit shutout in the nightcap. Over the 2 games, Mickey Mantle went 2-for-9 with an RBI, and Yogi Berra went 2-for-9 with a home run and 6 RBIs.

* The New York Giants were swept by the St. Louis Cardinals, 1-0 and 9-4 at the Polo Grounds. Harvey Haddix pitched a 5-hit shutout in the 1st game, beating Sal Maglie. Wilmer "Vinegar Bend" Mizell won the 2nd game, beating Rubén Gómez. Stan Musial went 1-for-6 with 3 walks and an RBI. Willie Mays was unavailable to the Giants, still serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 6-3 at Ebbets Field. They were leading the 2nd game, 6-2 going into the top of the 9th, but Ralph Kiner hit a grand slam home run off Carl Erskine. The game was stopped after the 9th, tied 6-6, due to the curfew then in place: No inning may start after 7:00 PM on a Sunday. Jackie Robinson went 4-for-8 with a walk and 3 RBIs.

* A doubleheader was split at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. The Cincinnati Reds won the 1st game, 2-1. The Philadelphia Phillies won the 2nd game, 4-1.

* The Milwaukee Braves swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, 7-3 and 8-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Bob Buhl pitched a 2-hit shutout in the 2nd game.

* The Washington Senators beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-1 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox swept the Boston Red Sox, 6-0 and 1-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. In the 1st game, Billy Pierce allows only a double to Del Wilber, a single to Jimmy Piersall, and a walk to Dick Gernert. Sandy Consuegra gave up 8 hits in the 2nd game, but kept the shutout. Ted Williams was unavailable to the Red Sox, still serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War.

* The Philadelphia Athletics swept the St. Louis Browns, 4-1 and 3-1 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis.