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I II - nil i Rebellion Hits Southern Conference Seven Big Schools! To Form New Loop Duke#N.andS. Carolina, NCS# Maryland, Wake Forest and Clemson in Momentous Split GREENSBORO, N. C, May 8 UP.— Seven "Big" members of the Southern Conference broke away today in a momentous split of the unwieldy 17-school athletic conference. Representatives of Duke, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Clemson and Maryland, served formal notice of the impending break-up of the nations biggest major intercollegiate conference. The action came on the floor of the annual spring meeting of the circuit. Committees representing the "big* seven and the remaining 10 schools met jointly to work out details. It was learned that actual division of the conference may be announced within a few days, or possibly as late as the winter meeting next December. But its effect on major sports, such as football and basketball, may not be felt until 1955. The split has been discussed informally for more than a year. It was favored by the big schools on grounds that the conference had become too large, that there were schedule inequalities and schedule difficulties and there were wide differences in athletic programs of the member schools. Other conference schools are Virginia Tech, VMI, Washington and Lee, Richmond, William and Mary, .Davidson, The Citadel, Furman, George Washington and West Virginia. Meeting Closed to Newsmen Actual groundwork for the split was laid at a midnight meeting of the "big" seven schools. When the regular meeting opened this afternoon, president Max Farrington of George Washington, informed before hand of what would pop, closed the meeting to newsmen. He asked representatives of the "big" seven to leave and a committee was sent back to explain their position before the conference behind closed doors. The committee was headed by Dr. J. T. Penney, faculty representative of South Carolina, and included Dr. H. A. Fisher of North Carolina State and athletic director Eddie Cameron of Duke. Farrington appointed a committee composed of himself, conference commissioner Wallace Wade, Col. J. S. McAllister of The Citadel, president Walter S. Newman of Virginia Tech, R. A. Smith of Washington and Lee, and president J. R. Cunningham of Davidson to confer with the "big" seven committee on details of the break. A two and one-half hour recess was called. Unlike the historic split among Southern universities in 1932 which resulted in formation of the present Southern and Southeastern Conferences, the split which developed today was not because of geographic reasons. Before 1932 the Southern Conference extended from Virginia to Louisiana. The "big" seven were casting eyes at the University of Virginia, now an independent, as an eighth school in the separate conference. Virginia withdrew from the Southern Conference in the mid 1930 s. The University of West Virginia, most recent member of the conference, also was reported interested in becoming a member of the "big" group. I j 1 . , , , . . !
