The ICC was an offshoot of the older, larger Indiana Intercollegiate Conference (IIC), which dated from 1922 but began to fall apart in the aftermath of World War II.
Preliminary discussions leading to its creation began after eight smaller IIC members broke away to form the Hoosier College Conference (HCC) in 1947.
The belated addition of DePauw, admitted in January 1953,[4] further delayed the scheduling ideal, as the Tigers were not fully integrated into ICC football until 1955.
In addition, the conference maintained a rotating presidency, filled by long-time educational administrators including Dr. Joseph Nygaard of Indianapolis[5] and S.T.
Saint Joseph's won a share of the 1956 NAIA Football National Championship by playing to a 0–0 tie with Montana State in the Aluminum Bowl following an undefeated regular season.
The 1960s were the pinnacle of ICC basketball, especially for the Evansville Purple Aces, who under legendary coach Arad McCutchan won NCAA College Division national titles in 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965 and 1971.
Evansville enjoyed a home court advantage in its five championship game victories, as it hosted the finals of all 17 NCAA College Division basketball tournaments at Roberts Municipal Stadium, from the 1956–57 season through 1972–73.
The most notable ICC players included Hugh Ahlering, Jerry Sloan, Ed Smallwood, Don Buse, and Larry Humes (all of Evansville), Jerry Newsom, Butch Wade, and Steve Newton (all of Indiana State), Billy Shepherd (Butler), Bobby Plump (Butler), and Don Bielke (Valparaiso).
Long-time NCAA basketball officials Ted Hillary and Steve "Whale" Welmer are alumni of Saint Joseph's and Evansville, respectively.
The leading scorer in the history of the conference is Evansville's legendary Larry Humes, who finished his outstanding career with 2,236 points.
Future college basketball coach Norm Ellenberger (Butler) was an All-ICC pitcher and the conference's baseball MVP in 1954.
[12] Merv Rettenmund (Ball State) played both baseball and football in the ICC before moving on to become a steady performer for the Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds.
His Ball State teammate Steve Hargan played twelve seasons in the major leagues, mostly with the Cleveland Indians.
Future Vice President of the United States Dan Quayle was a three-time letterman (1967–69) on the varsity golf team at DePauw.
The relay team members were Peter Howe, Tom Walters, Rich Rardin, and Errol White.
After competing as a five-team league in 1968–69 and 1969–70, the ICC returned to seven members by adding Wabash College and the University of Indianapolis (then known as Indiana Central) in 1970.
After Wabash left the conference in 1976 and DePauw in 1977, both for non-scholarship Division III in all sports, the ICC was reduced once again to a five-team league for 1977–78.
[17] Just four teams competed for the 1977–78 basketball title, after Evansville lost its entire active roster in the crash of Air Indiana Flight 216 on December 13, 1977, while en route to a non-conference road game.