NIRSA History
Celebrate 75 Years of NIRSA
NIRSA is proud to celebrate 75 years of the Association in 2025!
What began with 20 professionals representing 11 HBCUs who came together at Dillard University on a Wednesday and Thursday in February of 1950 to discuss intramural programs across their communities, exchange ideas, and to share resources has grown into a robust network of campus recreation and wellbeing professionals, students, institutions, and companies who bring a valuable dimension to the experiences of millions of college students across North America each year.
We invite our members—past, present, and future—and our friends to celebrate with us throughout the year by honoring our past, engaging the moment, and leading to the future!
Celebrate online all year
Sign our digital memory book and share your favorite NIRSA memories!
Follow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook to see the latest work from the NIRSA History and Legacy Committee as they continue unearthing important milestones about the profession of campus recreation and highlighting key contributors to NIRSA’s growth and successes. We’ll also feature 75 humans of NIRSA in a special social media campaign. Track all the fun using #NIRSA75.
Celebrate on your campus on or around February 22
Amplify your Rec Day/Founders Day celebrations this year with special commemorations for 75 years of NIRSA!
Download and print the poster celebrating NIRSA founder Dr. William Wasson, and copies of the 75th Anniversary of NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation Proclamation (coming soon)!
Download the 75th Anniversary logo and the NIRSA History slide deck.
Celebrate in-person at NIRSA learning events in 2025
NIRSA’s 75th Anniversary Celebration Committee has been working behind the scenes to plan experiences marking the occasion at in-person NIRSA learning events in 2025. Starting with ERSL in February and continuing at the NIRSA Conference & Campus Rec Expo in the spring, the Intramural and Club Sports Institute in the summer, state, provincial, and regional events in the fall, and finally at the Collegiate Marketing Institute, Recreation Facilities Institute, and NIRSA School in 2025, NIRSA will mark the occasion in special ways at each event. Check out the individual event webpages and event apps for the full schedule of opportunities.
Celebrate by paying it forward
Lay the groundwork for the next 75 years of NIRSA by making a donation to the NIRSA Foundation. The NIRSA Foundation is calling on supporters to donate to help make a lasting impact on the future of campus recreation. By contributing to the 75th Anniversary Fundraising Campaign, you honor NIRSA’s legacy and invest in the health, wellbeing, and success of students and professionals for years to come.
From the time two state schools in the Midwest devoted spaces and resources to campus recreation, a century ever-growing commitment to programming, participation, inclusion, and outside-of-the-classroom learning has prevailed for students and faculty in higher education.
As more and more campuses began to offer recreational sports, these programs caught the attention of scholars who were interested in their positive effects on campus culture and students’ quality of life.
Dr. William Wasson was one such scholar, who discovered the value of intramurals studying Physical Education under Elmer Mitchell at the University of Michigan in 1946. He went on to develop his own intramural program at Dillard University, and in 1948 commenced a study, with funding from the Carnegie Foundation, titled “A Comparative Study of Intramural Programs in Negro Colleges.”
The results of his study were shared with the institutions that participated in his research. The discussion culminated in an Intramural Summit at Dillard on February 22, 1950, where the 20 intramural directors gathered there, representing 11 Historically Black Colleges & Universities, formed the National Intramural Association. The NIA was the first organization of its kind, bringing intramural program leaders to share skills and wisdom to advance the good work of their profession.
The face of the Association changed a great deal in the next few decades, adapting its purposes and membership to changes in the profession and national culture. The first step was for the NIA to move on from its roots in Historically Black institutions to encompass the whole intramural community. Women were excluded from membership from 1959 to 1971. Other changes in leadership and affiliations saw the National Intramural Association change its name to the National Intramural and Recreation Association and back again in the late fifties, and finally to the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association in 1975. But our mission has remained consistent: to support recreational sports professionals in creating communities of well-being on campuses everywhere.
