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Hope’s crowned its first-ever MIAA track and field gold medal winners – Marvin Meengs (high hurdles, :17.2), Don Martin (low hurdles, :27.5), Lew Scudder (discus, 111’ 8 1/2”), mile relay team of Don Martin, Ray DeYoung, Walter De Velder, Len Willets (3:39.5). With just seven athletes, Hope finished second at the Field Day.

General Alan Babbitt

Hope College Celebrates 100th Anniversary of MIAA Membership

Hope and the MIAA: 100 YearsThe 2026-27 academic year marks Hope College's 100th anniversary as a conference member in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association — the oldest collegiate athletic conference in the U.S. 

Throughout the year, Hope Athletics will highlight many of the college's historical athletic moments and the student-athletes and coaches who achieved academic success and competitive excellence on the college's athletics website and social media accounts, and during home sporting events.

Hope officially joined the MIAA on Dec. 3, 1926, when Coach Jack Schouten, Professor Egbert Winter, and student Neil Van Oostenberg traveled to Albion College, where they met with MIAA representatives and received acceptance of Hope's membership application. The other MIAA members at that time were Albion, Alma College, Hillsdale College, Kalamazoo College, and Olivet College (now The University of Olivet). Calvin University, formerly Calvin College, did not become an MIAA member until the 1953-54 academic year.

Hope's first MIAA contest was in men's basketball on January 14, 1927, and resulted in a 40-31 victory against Olivet. The intercollegiate program at that time was solely for male students in the sports of football, cross country, basketball, baseball, tennis, and track and field. History shows female students participated in sports at that time but strictly on an intramural basis.

Since then, Hope has grown into an MIAA powerhouse, competing in 22 intercollegiate sports and claiming a league-best 42 MIAA Commissioner's Cup all-sports awards, including the past six years in a row, along with many more men's and women's MIAA regular-season and tournament titles, All-MIAA selections, and MIAA Academic Honor Roll recipients.

History at a Glance

1926-1936: The Beginning

 

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