NAIA District 6 Men's Basketball

NAIA District 6 primarily consisted of NAIA schools in South Carolina, but this was not always the case. It was not officially assigned to the Carolinas until 1969. Before that, it had been comprised of the Colorado and Utah schools from 1951-1954; those schools were absorbed into District 7. From 1957-1968, the district was reserved for black colleges, and was divided into "A" and "B" divisions, the champions of which both received tournament bids, from 1961-1964. From 1969-1977, schools from western North Carolina were included in the group.

When the NAIA split into divisions in 1992, this district participated in Division I.

Primary sources for information on this district include the Deseret News from 1951-1954, and the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, the Lexington Dispatch, the Rock Hill Herald, the Sumter Daily Item, and the Wilmington Star-News from 1969-1993. There is no primary source from 1955-1968.

Formats

1951: Regis (CO) received bid (presumably by a vote).

1952-54: Single-game playoff.

1955-56: District went unassigned.

1957-58, 1962-64 (B section only), 1967-68: Best-of-three championship series.

1959 ,60 (A and B sections both years), 62-64 (A section only): Four-team playoff (6A in 1960 at least also had a third place game).

1961 (both A and B sections): Single-game playoff.

1965-66: Four-team playoff with third-place game.

1969-74, 1993: Four-team playoff.

1975: Six-team playoff. Top two seeds received 1st round byes.

1976: Seven-team playoff. Top seed received 1st round bye.

1977-82; 1984-92: Eight-team playoff.

1983 only: 16-team playoff. Involved almost all of the district.

District Champions

1951	Regis (CO)†	1966	Bethune-Cookman	1981	South Carolina-Spartanburg‡
1952	Utah State	1967	Albany State (2)	1982	South Carolina-Spartanburg (2)
1953	Adams State†	1968	Albany State (3)	1983	College of Charleston
1954	Regis (CO) (2)	1969	Asheville-Biltmore‡	1984	Central Wesleyan (2)
1955	unassigned	1970	South Carolina State	1985	College of Charleston (2)
1956	unassigned	1971	North Carolina-Asheville (2)	1986	College of Charleston (3)
1957	Texas Southern†	1972	Western Carolina†	1987	College of Charleston (4)
1958	Texas Southern (2)	1973	South Carolina State (2)	1988	College of Charleston (5)
1959	Grambling State†	1974	Erskine	1989	College of Charleston (6)
1960	Grambling State (2)	1975	Newberry†	1990	South Carolina-Spartanburg (3)
1961	A: Savannah State† B: Grambling State (3)	1976	Newberry (2)	1991	Francis Marion
1962	A: Savannah State (2) B: Prairie View A&M	1977	Newberry (3)	1992 I	Erskine (3)
1963	A: Miles B: Grambling State (4)	1978	Erskine (2)	1992 II	unassigned
1964	A: Miles (2) B: Grambling State (5)	1979	Central Wesleyan‡	1993 I	Benedict
1965	Albany State	1980	South Carolina-Aiken	1993 II	unassigned

† - Regis also won the District 7 title in 1955. Adams State also won the District 7 title in 1972. Texas Southern also won the District 29 title in 1955 and the District 29W title in 1956 before joining District 6, and later won three District 8 titles. Grambling State later won three District 30 titles. Savannah State won the District 29 title in 1961. Western Carolina won the District 26 title in 1963. Newberry won the District 26 title in 1961.

‡ - Asheville-Biltmore became North Carolina-Asheville. Central Wesleyan is now known as Southern Wesleyan. South Carolina-Spartanburg is now known as South Carolina-Upstate.

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