The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), founded in 1906, is the major governing body for intercollegiate athletics in the United States and currently conducts national championships in its sponsored sports, except for the top level of football. Before the NCAA offered a championship for any particular sport, intercollegiate national championships in that sport were determined independently. Although the NCAA sometimes lists these historic championships in its official records, it has not awarded retroactive championship titles.

Prior to NCAA inception of a sport, intercollegiate championships were conducted and usually espoused in advance as competitions for the national championship. Many winners were recognized in contemporary newspapers and other publications as the "national intercollegiate" champions. These are not to be confused with the champions of early 20th-century single-sport alliances of northeastern U.S. colleges that were named "Intercollegiate League" or "Intercollegiate Association." These leagues generally included some of the colleges that later became the Ivy League, as well as an assortment of other northeastern universities.

Even after the NCAA began organizing national championships, some non-NCAA organizations conducted their own national championship tournaments, usually as a supplement to the NCAA events. A notable example is that of NCAA Division III men's volleyball. Although the NCAA Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Championship, established in 1970, was in theory open to D-III schools, none had received a berth in that tournament. As a result, a separate championship event, open only to D-III schools, was created in 1997. That event was discontinued after its 2011 edition once the NCAA announced it would sponsor an official Division III championship starting in 2012.

The historical championship event outcomes included in the primary list section were decided by actual games organized for the purpose of determining a champion on the field of play. Lists of other championships for collegiate athletic organizations are referenced in later sections (see Table of Contents). It does not include Helms Athletic Foundation or Premo-Porretta Power Poll selections, which were awarded retrospectively.

Championship game outcomes prior/concurrent to NCAA inception

Men's teams

Baseball 1893 Yale def. Amherst, 9–0

Tournament was played at the Chicago World's Fair and included Virginia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Yale, Amherst, Wesleyan and Vermont. William McKinley attended the opening game. It was organized by the Columbian National Inter-Collegiate Baseball Association, notably by its secretary, Amos Alonzo Stagg, then the new head football coach at the University of Chicago.

NCAA from 1947.

Basketball

1904 Hiram College won the 1904 Olympic Games collegiate championship tournament, def. Wheaton College, 25–20, and Latter-Day Saints University (later, Brigham Young University), 25–18. 1908 Chicago def. Pennsylvania, 2 games to 0 (21–18, 16–15) Amateur Athletic Union annual United States championship – College teams were runners-up in 1915, 1917, 1920, 1921, 1932, and 1934. Four college teams won the championship (final game results):

1916 Utah def. Illinois Athletic Club, 28–27 1920 New York University def. Rutgers, 49–24 1924 Butler (Indiana) def. Kansas City Athletic Club, 30–26 1925 Washburn College (Kansas) def. Hillyard Shine Alls, 42–30

1920 Pennsylvania def. Chicago, 2 games to 1 (24–28, 29–18, 23–21) 1922 Wabash College (Indiana) won the first national intercollegiate championship tournament, which was held in Indianapolis. Five 1922 conference champions and a runner-up from these conferences participated: Pacific Coast Conference, Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association, Western Pennsylvania League, Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association. The Western Conference and Eastern Intercollegiate League declined invitations to participate. 1935 LSU def. Pittsburgh, 41–37, in an intersectional "Rose Bowl" sponsored by the American Legion, played on April 13 at Convention Hall in Atlantic City. 1938 Temple def. Colorado, 60–36 in first National Invitation Tournament (NIT)

NCAA from 1939.

1939–1950 NIT winners:Davies, Richard O. (2007). "Sports in American Life: A History." Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated. p. 155. . "In 1938, [Ned] Irish invited 16 teams to compete in a new tournament that he called the National Invitation Tournament ..., and it would be the premiere college basketball event for more than a decade. The following year, the NCAA responded by creating its own tournament, but it did not surpass the NIT as the premier postseason tournament until the 1950s."Augustyn, Adam, ed. (2011). "The Britannica Guide to Basketball." Rosen Education Service. p. 17. . "New York City basketball writers organized the first National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in 1938, but a year later the New York City colleges took control of the event. Until the early 1950s, the NIT was considered the most prestigious U.S. tournament ..."Roth, John (2006). "The Encyclopedia of Duke Basketball." Duke University Press. p. 272. "During its early years the [NCAA] tourney was overshadowed by the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) in New York."Glickman, Marty (1999). "The Fastest Kid on the Block: The Marty Glickman Story." Syracuse University Press. p. 75. . "The first big tournament I covered was the 1946 National Invitation Tournament, the NIT, at Madison Square Garden. It, not the NCAA, was the big college basketball tournament in those days. Later the NCAA flexed its muscles to dominate college basketball, and the NIT became little more than an also-ran tourney. In its time, though, the NIT was enormous."McPhee, John (1999). "A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton." Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 114-115. . "In the 1940s, when the N.C.A.A. tournament was less than 10 years old, the National Invitation Tournament ... was the most glamorous of the post-season tournaments and generally had the better teams. The winner of the National Invitation Tournament was regarded as more of a national champion than the actual, titular, national champion, or winner of the N.C.A.A. tournament."

1939 Long Island 1940 Colorado 1941 Long Island 1942 West Virginia 1943 St. John's 1944 St. John's 1945 DePaul 1946 Kentucky 1947 Utah 1948 Saint Louis 1949 San Francisco 1950 City College of New York (also won NCAA)

1954 Holy Cross claims a national championship for its 1954 NIT victory. 1943–1945 Red Cross War Benefit Games: 1943 Wyoming, winner of NCAA tournament, def. NIT champion, St. John's, 52-47 (OT) 1944 Utah, winner of NCAA tournament, def. NIT champion, St. John's, 43-36 1945 Oklahoma A&M, winner of NCAA tournament, def. NIT champion, DePaul, 52–44 1952 In the Olympic Trials held immediately after the tournaments, NCAA champion Kansas defeated NAIA champion Southwest Missouri State in the collegiate semi-finals and then NIT champion La Salle in the collegiate final. Kansas lost to the AAU champion Peoria Caterpillars in the overall final.

Boxing 1924 Penn State def. Navy, 18–16 1925 Navy def. Penn State, 23–11 1926 Navy def. Penn State, 15–13 1927 Penn State def. Navy, 22–21 1928 Navy def. Penn State, 19–18 1929 Penn State def. Navy, 23–13 1930 Penn State def. Western Maryland, 19–14 1931 Navy def. Western Maryland, 20–16 NCAA from 1932–1960.

Cross country Inter-Collegiate Cross Country Association (1899–1907) Inter-Collegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America (1908–37)

1899 Cornell 1900 Cornell 1901 Yale 1902 Cornell 1903 Cornell 1904 Cornell 1905 Cornell 1906 Cornell 1907 Cornell 1908 Cornell 1909 Cornell 1910 Cornell 1911 Cornell 1912 Harvard 1913 Cornell 1914 Cornell 1915 Maine 1916 Cornell 1917 Pennsylvania 1918 not held 1919 Syracuse 1920 Cornell 1921 Cornell 1922 Syracuse 1923 Syracuse 1924 Pittsburgh 1925 Syracuse 1926 Penn State 1927 Penn State 1928 Penn State 1929 Pennsylvania 1930 Penn State 1931 Harvard 1932 Manhattan 1933 Michigan State 1934 Michigan State 1935 Michigan State 1936 Michigan State 1937 Michigan State

NCAA from 1938.

Fencing Intercollegiate Fencing Association (1894–1943)

Team Foils

1894 Harvard 1895 Harvard 1896 Harvard 1897 Harvard 1898 Columbia 1899 Harvard 1900 Harvard 1901 Navy 1902 Army 1903 Army 1904 Army 1905 Navy 1906 Army 1907 Navy 1908 Army 1909 Army 1910 Navy 1911 Cornell 1912 Army 1913 Columbia 1914 Columbia 1915 Navy 1916 Navy 1917 Navy 1918 Columbia 1919 Columbia 1920 Navy 1921 Navy 1922 Navy

Three-Weapon Championship

1923 Army † 1924 Navy 1925 tie: Yale, Navy 1926 Yale 1927 Army 1928 Yale 1929 Yale 1930 tie: Yale, Army 1931 Army 1932 Yale 1933 New York Univ. 1934 Columbia 1935 New York Univ. 1936 New York Univ. 1937 New York Univ. 1938 New York Univ. 1939 Navy 1940 New York Univ. 1941 New York Univ. 1942 New York Univ. 1943 Navy 1944–47 not held

† The first IFA three-weapon trophy was awarded in 1923. However, all three weapons (foil, épée, saber) were contested in the IFA tournament as early as 1920.

NCAA 1941–42 and from 1947.

Football

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has never conducted a national championship event at the highest level of college football, currently its Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Neither has the NCAA ever officially endorsed an FBS national champion. Since 1978, it has held a championship playoff at the next lower level of college play. Prior to 1978, no divisions separated teams, and champions were independently designated by "selectors," composed of individuals and third-party organizations using experts, polls, and mathematical methods. These efforts have continued and thrived for the higher FBS level. From the beginning, the selectors' choices have frequently been at odds with each other. The NCAA has documented both contemporaneous and retroactive choices of several major national selectors in its official NCAA Football Records Book. These selections are often claimed as championships by individual schools.

Golf 1897–1938

See Pre-NCAA college golf champions

NCAA from 1939.

Gymnastics 1899 No team title. Yale gymnasts won 4 out of 6 individual events, shared a tie for victory in one event and also won the individual all-around. 19 schools participated. 1900 Columbia def. 2nd place Yale, 26 – 17 1901 Yale def. 2nd place Columbia, 20 – 14 1902 Yale def. 2nd-place Columbia, 16 – 15

In 1903, the Western Conference instituted an annual conference championship meet. Although early interest was expressed by the Intercollegiate Association in establishing a recognized national championship event with the Western Conference, that interest did not reach fruition. In later years, the University of Chicago, a perennial Western Conference power, participated in several of the annual championship meets of the Intercollegiate Association.

1917 Chicago def. 2nd-place Haverford, 14½ – 10 1918 not held 1919 not held 1925 Navy def. Chicago, 33 – 12, in a dual meet between winners of the Intercollegiate and Western Conference championship meets. "[I]n the twenty year period from 1910 to (the end of 1929) ... Navy has participated in 91 tournaments and dual meets and won 87 of them, including all seven of the intercollegiate championship events entered." (Those seven events were conference, not national, championships.) Navy was so strong that the Intercollegiate Association asked Navy not to participate in the 1926 championship meet. Navy was not a participant in the 1926, 1927 and 1928 meets. 1944 Penn State won the National AAU team title during a five-year hiatus in the NCAA championships for World War II.

NCAA from 1938.

Ice hockey