At one time the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, or IIAC, was a robust league that claimed most of the Illinois institutions of higher education.
Former Illinois State University track coach Joseph Cogdal, associated with the IIAC for 43 years of its 62-year history, noted that the league had roots in the 1870s when a number of schools banded together for oratorical contests.
In 1920, the name "Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference" was adopted, providing the initials IIAC.
Conference membership reached a peak of 23 member schools in 1928, when virtually all of the small colleges in Illinois were included.
In 1950, the league name became the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, when Central Michigan University and Eastern Michigan University brought the membership to seven.