Editing Atlantic Coast Conference (section)

===Founding and early expansion===
The ACC was established on June 14, 1953, when seven members of the [[Southern Conference]] left to form their own conference.{{refn|group=n|It was the second major conference that evolved from the Southern Conference, following the departure of Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Sewanee, Tennessee, Tulane, and Vanderbilt to form the [[Southeastern Conference]].}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.secsports.com/article/12628010/sec-history|title=SEC History|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402163802/http://www.secsports.com/article/12628010/sec-history|archive-date=April 2, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> These seven universities became charter members of the ACC: [[Clemson University|Clemson]], [[Duke University|Duke]], [[University of Maryland, College Park|Maryland]], [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill|North Carolina]], [[North Carolina State University|North Carolina State]], [[University of South Carolina|South Carolina]], and [[Wake Forest University|Wake Forest]]. They left partially due to the Southern Conference's ban on post-season football play that had been initiated in 1951. (Clemson and Maryland had both defied the Southern Conference's bowl rule following the 1951 season and were banned from playing other conference teams in the 1952 season.)<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30742308/maryland_and_clemson_banned_from_1952/|title=Maryland, Clemson can't play in SC: Terps, Tigers on year probation|date=December 15, 1951|work=Asheville Citizen|access-date=April 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430061600/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30742308/maryland_and_clemson_banned_from_1952/|archive-date=April 30, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> After drafting a set of bylaws for the creation of a new league, the seven withdrew from the Southern Conference at the spring meeting on the morning of May 8, 1953, at the [[Sedgefield Country Club]] in [[Greensboro, North Carolina]]. The bylaws were ratified on June 14, 1953, and the new conference was created.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theacc.com/this-is/acc-this-is.html|title=Founding of the ACC|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517005705/http://www.theacc.com/this-is/acc-this-is.html|archive-date=May 17, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> The conference officials indicated a desire to add an eighth member, and candidates mentioned were [[University of Virginia|Virginia]], [[Virginia Tech|VPI]] and [[West Virginia University|West Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30689763/breakup_of_southern_conference/|title=Seven schools quit SC to form own conference: Tebell says Virginia might join; No state schools in new lineup|date=May 9, 1953|work=Newport News Daily Press|access-date=April 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430061333/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30689763/breakup_of_southern_conference/|archive-date=April 30, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> On December 4, 1953, officials convened in [[Greensboro, North Carolina]], and admitted Virginia, a former Southern Conference charter member that had been independent since 1937, into the conference.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30690730/adding_virginia_turning_down_virginia/|title=Atlantic Coast Conference brings Virginia into fold: Plan to admit West Virginia is turned down; Conference decides to operate as eight-school organization for indefinite period|work=Petersburg Progress Index|access-date=April 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430042143/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/30690730/adding_virginia_turning_down_virginia/|archive-date=April 30, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Virginia's president [[Colgate Darden]] argued fiercely against joining the ACC or any conference, while UVA athletics director [[Gus Tebell]] argued in favor.<ref name="Watterson">{{cite web|last=Watterson|first=John|title=University of Virginia Football 1951–1961: A Perfect Gridiron Storm|url=http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH2007/JSH3403/jsh3403f.pdf|work=Journal of Sports History|publisher=James Madison University|access-date=November 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120830105848/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH2007/JSH3403/jsh3403f.pdf|archive-date=August 30, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> In the end, UVA's Board of Visitors approved joining the ACC by a vote of 6–3.<ref name="Watterson" />

In 1960, the ACC implemented a minimum SAT score for incoming student-athletes of 750, the first conference to do so. This minimum was raised to 800 in 1964, but was ultimately struck down by a federal court in 1972.<ref>{{cite web|title=ACC Basketball|url=http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/author_interview?title_id=2207|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208103205/http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/author_interview?title_id=2207|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 8, 2011|publisher=UNC Press|access-date=February 17, 2014}}</ref>

On July 1, 1971, South Carolina left the ACC to become an [[NCAA Division I FBS independent schools|independent]].

====Racial integration====
Racial integration of all-white collegiate sports teams was high on the regional agenda in the 1950s and 1960s. Involved were issues of equality, racism, and the alumni demand for the top players needed to win high-profile games. The ACC took the lead.{{Vague|date=August 2022|reason=unclear when this happened and how it compares to other Southern colleges, much less Northern colleges}} First they started to schedule integrated teams from the north. Finally ACC schools—typically under pressure from boosters and civil rights groups—integrated their teams.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Martin|first=Charles H.|date=1999|title=The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow in Southern College Sports: The Case of the Atlantic Coast Conference|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23522657|journal=The North Carolina Historical Review|volume=76|issue=3|pages=253–284|jstor=23522657|issn=0029-2494|access-date=January 20, 2020|archive-date=April 18, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418053400/http://www.jstor.org/stable/23522657|url-status=dead}}</ref> With an alumni base that dominated local and state politics, society and business, the ACC flagship schools were successful in their endeavor—as Pamela Grundy argues, they had learned how to win:
: The widespread admiration that athletic ability inspired would help transform athletic fields from grounds of symbolic play to forces for social change, places where a wide range of citizens could publicly and at times effectively challenge the assumptions that cast them as unworthy of full participation in U.S. society. While athletic successes would not rid society of prejudice or stereotype—black athletes would continue to confront racial slurs...[—minority star players demonstrated] the discipline, intelligence, and poise to contend for position or influence in every arena of national life.<ref>{{cite web |last=Grundy |first=Pamela |title=Learning to win: Sports, education, and social change in twentieth-century North Carolina |publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press]] |date=2003 |page=297 |access-date=January 25, 2022 |url=https://www.questia.com/read/101457616/learning-to-win-sports-education-and-social-change |language=en |archive-date=December 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215171453/https://www.questia.com/read/101457616/learning-to-win-sports-education-and-social-change |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====1978 and 1991 expansions====
The ACC operated with seven members until the addition of [[Georgia Institute of Technology|Georgia Tech]] from the [[Metro Conference]], announced on April 3, 1978, and taking effect on July 1, 1979, except in football, in which Tech would remain an independent until joining ACC football in 1983. The total number of member schools reached nine with the addition of [[Florida State University|Florida State]], also formerly from the Metro Conference, on July 1, 1991, in non-football sports and July 1, 1992, in football. The additions of those schools marked the first expansions of the conference footprint since 1953, though both schools were still located with the rest of the ACC schools in the South Atlantic States.

====2004–2005 expansion====
{{See also|2005 NCAA conference realignment}}
The ACC added three members from the [[Big East Conference (1979–2013)|Big East Conference]] during the [[2005 NCAA conference realignment|2005 conference realignment]]. Initially, the conference targeted Boston College, Miami, and [[Syracuse University|Syracuse]].  The expansion was controversial, as [[University of Connecticut|Connecticut]], [[Rutgers University|Rutgers]], [[University of Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh]], and [[West Virginia University|West Virginia]] (and, initially, Virginia Tech) filed lawsuits against the ACC, Miami, and Boston College for allegedly conspiring to weaken the Big East Conference.  Then-Virginia governor [[Mark Warner]], who feared Virginia Tech being left behind in a weakened Big East, pressured the administration of the University of Virginia to lobby on behalf of their in-state foe.  Eventually Virginia Tech replaced Syracuse in the expansion lineup and ACC expansion was agreed upon. [[University of Miami|Miami]] and [[Virginia Tech]] joined on July 1, 2004, while [[Boston College]] joined on July 1, 2005, as the league's twelfth member and the first from the Northeast.