Early years The NCAA was founded in 1924 on the initiative of
Regino R. Ylanan, a physical education professor of the
University of the Philippines (UP). The original members were the
Ateneo de Manila,
De La Salle College,
Institute of Accounts (now as
Far Eastern University),
National University (NU),
San Beda College (SBC), the
University of Manila, the
University of the Philippines, and the
University of Santo Tomas (UST). The decision of the board of directors to file papers of incorporation with the then Bureau of Commerce in 1930 led to protests from the
University of the Philippines, which was the only public institution among member schools, saying that it would lead to commercialization.
National University and the
University of Santo Tomas sided with the University of the Philippines on the matter. This led into the formation, via an Article of Agreement, of a triangular meet among
NU,
UP and
UST, with the Board of Control's condition that NCAA events should take precedence. The league established came to be known as the "Big Three," and in 1932, the Article of Agreement was renewed. In 1936, the
University of the Philippines,
National University and
University of Santo Tomas withdrew permanently from the NCAA and continued with their own league, while
Far Eastern University (FEU) withdrew on its own. Six schools remained in the league and became known as the "old-timer six" –
Ateneo de Manila,
Colegio de San Juan de Letran,
De La Salle College,
José Rizal College,
Mapúa Institute of Technology and
San Beda College. Also in 1936, league's basketball games were transferred to the newly completed
Rizal Memorial Coliseum, owing to its accessibility among the schools, since most schools were in
Manila. In 1938,
Far Eastern University,
National University, the
University of the Philippines and the
University of Santo Tomas formed the
University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), a rival intercollegiate league. The NCAA experienced a golden age during the postwar years. The
Loyola Center at the Ateneo campus became the new home of the league. Due to the home court advantage of the Ateneo, Blue Eagles' games were held on the old Rizal Memorial. Eventually, it will be the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles and San Beda Red Lions who would be locking horns during the fabled era. The decade produced legendary collegiate players like
Carlos Loyzaga (San Beda),
Lauro "the Fox" Mumar (Letran), and
Francisco Rabat (Ateneo) among others. The 1950s was also known as the decade of the Crispulo Zamora Cup. The Crispulo Zamora Cup was the trophy to be awarded by the NCAA for the first team to get three championship crowns. (However, the NCAA's official website states that Trinity joined the league in 1985; see next section.) After the riotous games of the late 1970s, several of the founding members left the league. The Ateneo de Manila University left the league in 1978 due to violence, while La Salle left after a riotous game with Letran in 1980. Ateneo de Manila was accepted in the UAAP in 1978, while La Salle had to wait for six years to become a UAAP member. San Beda left the league in 1983, reasoning that the college focused on school-based sports activities like intramurals. With the withdrawal of Ateneo de Manila, league games returned to the old Rizal Memorial and to the
PhilSports Arena, since the Loyola Center was now the location of the UAAP tournament. Also with the withdrawal of the three founding members, most daily publications tagged the NCAA as "an ironic journey from sports to violence." A year later, Trinity College of Quezon City finally was accepted as a full member after being a probationary member for more than a decade, according to publications of that period However, Trinity was not able to meet league requirements and was dropped from the league in 1986, the same year San Beda returned (despite sports articles in newspapers that year stating Trinity voluntarily left the league). In 1998, the affiliated schools in the
Calabarzon region and southern Metro Manila established
NCAA South, an offshoot of the league. The schools of NCAA South do not compete with the schools in the main league. The return of a Mapúa Juniors team, which took a leave of absence beginning
Season 81 (2005–06) was scheduled in
Season 83 (2007–08). Malayan High School will represent the Mapúa Institute of Technology in the Juniors Division of the NCAA. This newly established High School would only be fully operational by school year 2007–08. However, the scheduled return of the Mapua Junior varsity team did not materialize and instead it resumed participation in
Season 84 (2008–09). After it was revealed that several players of the PCU juniors' basketball team enrolled with spurious documents, PCU's seniors and juniors teams were suspended in the 2007–08 season. The seniors teams participated in the 2008–09 season, but all teams would take an indefinite leave of absence starting with the 2009–10 season. As a result, the Management Committee conducted a search for PCU's replacement but it was decided that such replacements would be deferred to
Season 86 (2010–11). The league opted to invite guest teams instead, with
Angeles University Foundation (AUF),
Arellano University (AU), and
Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) being the invitees, and being eligible to win championships. In Season 86, AU's and EAC's status were upgraded to probationary membership.
Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU), which had earlier sought membership, was accepted as a guest team in the
Season 87 (2011–12). Arellano became a regular member in
Season 89 (2013–14) after meeting the league requirements, this is then followed by EAC and Lyceum in
Season 91 (2015–16). Due to the
loss of the congressional franchise of ABS-CBN, the NCAA had to find a new broadcast partner. Later, it was announced that the
GMA Network beat
TV5 in a bid to acquire the broadcast rights for the next six seasons starting with
Season 96 (2020–21), which encompassed the association's
centennial season in 2024–25. Following the conclusion of the
Season 101's women's volleyball finals of which Letran won the championship in a 5 set match against the CSB Lady Blazers, NCAA is once again currently finding a new broadcast partner, of which
ABS-CBN,
Bilyonaryo News Channel,
PTV, and
Net 25 are among the interested parties. ==Organization==