South Carolina Little Three

The South Carolina Little Three (known as the South Carolina Little Four from 1946 to 1951) was an intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from 1946 to 1964. The conference's three main members, Newberry College, Presbyterian College, and Wofford College, were located in the state of South Carolina.^[1] All three teams now play in different leagues: Newberry in the South Atlantic (Division II), Presbyterian in the Big South (FCS), and Wofford in the SoCon (FCS). Erskine College was also a member from 1946 to 1951 when it dropped its football program. Erskine has announced that their football program is returning for the 2020 season. The College of Charleston was also a member of the South Carolina Little Five in basketball, now playing in the Colonial Athletic Association, but the post-season basketball tournament was always for the South Carolina Little Four and the College of Charleston was not invited.

Members

• The following is an incomplete list of the membership of the South Carolina Little Four Conference.

Institution	Location	Founded	Nickname	Joined	Left	Current conference
College of Charleston	Charleston, South Carolina	1770	Cougars	1946	1953	Colonial Athletic Association
Erskine College	Due West, South Carolina	1839	Flying Fleet	1946	1951 (football) 1962	Conference Carolinas
Newberry College	Newberry, South Carolina	1856	Wolves	1946	1964	South Atlantic
Presbyterian College	Clinton, South Carolina	1851	Blue Hose	1946	1964	Big South
Wofford College	Spartanburg, South Carolina	1854	Terriers	1946	1964	Southern

Football champions

1946 – Presbyterian 1947 – Presbyterian and Newberry 1948 – Wofford 1949 – Wofford 1950 – Wofford 1951 – Wofford 1952 – Wofford

1953 – Newberry and Presbyterian 1954 – Wofford 1955 – Newberry 1956 – Wofford 1957 – Wofford 1958 – Presbyterian

1959 – Presbyterian 1960 – Presbyterian 1961 – Wofford 1962 – Newberry, Presbyterian, and Wofford 1963 – Wofford 1964 – Wofford

Basketball champions

Season Regular season champion 1947 Wofford^[2] 1948 Wofford^[3] 1949 Erskine^[4]† 1950 Erskine^[5] 1951 Presbyterian^[6] 1952 Wofford^[7] 1953 Wofford^[8] 1954 Erskine 1955 Presbyterian 1956 Erskine 1957 Erskine and Presbyterian 1958 Newberry 1959 Newberry, Presbyterian, and Wofford 1960 Wofford† 1961 Newberry† 1962 Erskine

Season Postseason tournament champion 1947 No postseason tournament 1948 No postseason tournament 1949 No postseason tournament 1950 Erskine 1951 Presbyterian 1952 Presbyterian 1953 Wofford 1954 Erskine 1955 Presbyterian 1956 Presbyterian 1957 Erskine 1958 Erskine 1959 Wofford 1960 Wofford† 1961 Newberry† 1962 Newberry

† = Qualified to the NAIA Men's Basketball Championships

See also

• List of defunct college football conferences
• South Atlantic Conference
• Conference Carolinas
• Southern Conference
• Big South Conference
• Colonial Athletic Association

References

1. South Carolina Little Three 2015-09-06 at the Wayback Machine, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved October 26, 2015.
2. "Birds, Terriers on Top as State Cage Year Ends", Times and Democrat, Orangeburg, SC, p. 11, March 3, 1947
3. "Carolina and Wofford Lead in Basketball", Greenville News, Greenville, SC, p. 6, March 1, 1948
4. "Fleet to Play Lenoir-Rhyne For K.C. Bid", Greenville News, Greenville, SC, p. 8, February 28, 1949
5. "Carolina Gains Laurels as Top State Quintet", Florence Morning News, Florence, SC, p. 8, March 1, 1950
6. "PC Has State's Best Over-all Season Record", Florence Morning News, Florence, SC, p. 5, February 26, 1951
7. "State Cagers Have 3 Games Left on Slate", Greenville News, Greenville, SC, p. 7, February 25, 1952
8. "Furman Cops Big 4 Honors", Greenville News, Greenville, SC, p. 8, March 2, 1953