This weekend concludes Division III Week, and Central College is helping commemorate it. The annual recognition is part of the NCAA Division III identity initiative which seeks to raise the public profile of Division III institutions as places where student-athletes can “follow your passions and develop your potential.”

Central’s Division III ties are vast. Retired Central president Kenneth J. Weller authored the first Division III philosophy statement, which advocated that the focus of intercollegiate athletics should be on benefits for the participant rather than the spectator, and that student-athletes be treated no differently than students involved in other cocurricular activities. He was called a “founding father” of Division III by The Intercollegiate Athletic Forum in 1996. Weller was instrumental in the incorporation of women into the NCAA in the early 1980s and Central won the first women’s national championship ever staged by the NCAA, taking the Division III women’s cross country title in 1981. The Dutch have captured 11 NCAA national team championships overall, winning titles in six sports, starting with the 1974 Division III football title.

Division III is the NCAA’s largest division, with 446 active members representing 44 conferences. More than 80 percent are private institutions and the schools are diverse, with enrollment ranging from 313 to 25,347. The average Division III School enrolls 2,601 students. Division III stages championships in 37 sports. Central offers 20. More than 190,000 student-athletes compete in Division III, about 39 percent of all those in the NCAA.