The Chesapeake Conference was an intercollegiate athletic

College athletics

College athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...

 conference composed of member schools located in the state of Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 and Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 The league existed from 1933 to 1937.

The Chesapeake Conference was formed on January 12, 1933 by American University

American University

American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...

, Bridgewater College

Bridgewater College

Bridgewater College, is a private, coeducational, four-year liberal-arts college located in Bridgewater, Virginia, a town in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States...

, Lynchburg College

Lynchburg College

Lynchburg College is a private college in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA, related by covenant to the Christian Church with approximately 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students. The Princeton Review lists it as one of the 368 best colleges in the nation...

, Hampden–Sydney College and Randolph–Macon College. The latter two defected from the Virginia Conference

Virginia Conference

The Virginia Conference was an intercollegiate athletic conference composed of member schools located in the state of Virginia. The league existed from 1928 to 1935....

 over a freshman

Freshman

A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...

 eligibility

Student athlete

A student athlete is a term used to describe a participant in an organized competitive sport sponsored by the educational institution in which he or she is enrolled, a term primarily used in the United States. It is used to describe the direct balance of a full-time student and a full-time athlete...

 rule. By 1935, both Hampden–Sydney and Randolph–Macon were dissatisfied and considered returning to the Virginia Conference. At that time, however, that league had dwindled to only four members, and the following year disbanded after two left for the Southern Conference

Southern Conference

The Southern Conference is a Division I college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Southern Conference football teams compete in the Football Championship Subdivision . Member institutions are located in the states of Alabama, Georgia, North...

. In January 1937, Hampden–Sydney and Randolph–Macon were invited to join a potential new conference centered upon the state of Virginia and the Carolinas

The Carolinas

The Carolinas is a term used in the United States to refer collectively to the states of North and South Carolina. Together, the two states + have a population of 13,942,126. "Carolina" would be the fifth most populous state behind California, Texas, New York, and Florida...

 alongside Catawba

Catawba College

Catawba College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in Salisbury, North Carolina, USA. Founded in 1851 by the North Carolina Classis of the Reformed Church in Newton, the college adopted its name from its county of origin, Catawba County, before moving to its current home of Salisbury...

, Lenoir-Rhyne, Elon, Presbyterian

Presbyterian College

Presbyterian College is a private liberal arts college in Clinton, South Carolina, USA. Presbyterian College, or PC, is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA. PC was founded in 1880 by William Plumer Jacobs, a prominent Presbyterian minister who also founded the nearby Thornwell Home and...

, Wofford

Wofford College

Established in 1854 and related to the United Methodist Church, Wofford College is an independent, Phi Beta Kappa liberal arts college of 1,525 students located in downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. The historic campus is recognized as a national arboretum and features “The...

, Erskine

Erskine College

Erskine College is a four year, Christian liberal arts college located in Due West, South Carolina.-Early history:Established in 1839 by the Associate Reformed Synod of the South as an academy for men, Erskine College became the first four year, church-related college in South Carolina...

, Newberry

Newberry College

Newberry College is a liberal-arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located on a historic campus in Newberry, South Carolina.The college has 1,025 students and a 19:1 student-teacher ratio...

, and Emory and Henry

Emory and Henry College

Emory & Henry College, known as E&H, Emory, or the College, is a private liberal arts college located in Emory, Virginia, United States. The campus comprises of Washington County, Virginia, which is part of the mountain region of Southwest Virginia...

, but declined admission. The Chesapeake Conference continued to exist through the 1937 spring sports season, but had disbanded before the football season.

The following colleges held membership in the Chesapeake Conference:

• American (1933–1937)
• Bridgewater (1933–1935?)
• Hampden-Sydney (1933–1935?)
• Lynchburg (1933–1935?)
• Randolph–Macon (1933–1936)