West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

(PRINCETON, W.Va.)---Past WVIAC basketball players, coaches, cheerleaders, and support staff are invited to the site of their past glories as the conference and the Charleston Lions Club celebrates 50 years of championship hoops at the Charleston Civic Center.
 
A series of events, sponsored by the WVIAC and individual schools, will take place around the Saturday, March 6 men's and women's WVIAC Tournament title contests.

All alumni participants are asked to register in the upper lobby of Civic Center beginning at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 6.  Each WVIAC member institution will have a registration table in the lobby to welcome their alumni participants and present them with a ticket to the championship session that night, along with a commenorative memento, upon registration.

The registration area will remain open until halftime of the men’s championship game that evening.  The common registration area will allow for interaction among alumni from all schools who have been involved in the tournament over the past fifty years.

Inside the arena, seating sections will be marked for each school allowing for old teammates to gather.  During halftime of the men’s championship game, alumni from each school will be asked to stand and be recognized as a tribute to their participation in the tournament.

Several schools will also be hosting other activities for their returning alumni at other times and locations during the reunion week in Charleston. Participants should contact the athletic department at their respective institutions for information on such events.  Alumni of institutions that are not current members of the league are also invited.
 
The commemorative logo for the 50 years celebration was designed by Jessica Ferguson of Color Wheel Graphics in Summersville, a former participant in the tournament.  The former Concord Lady Lion scored over 900 points in a three-year collegiate career from 2004-06. 
 
The WVIAC Basketball Tournament is one of the oldest conference championships at any level of collegiate basketball.  The first WVIAC Men's Basketball Tournament was contested in 1935.  The event was played in Fairmont, Clarksburg, and Buckhannon in its formative years before moving to West Virginia's capital city in 1960 under the sponsorship of the Charleston Lions Club. 
 
This season's WVIAC basketball championships begin on Monday, March 1 with women's first round play on campus sites.  Men's first round action is slated for Tuesday, March 2 before the excitement moves to the Charleston Civic Center for women's quarterfinal play on Wednesday, March 3.  Pitt Johnstown's men and Charleston's women are the defending champions.
 
For more information, alumni participants should contact the athletics department at their individual institution.