Chapter History

Southwest ACSM Chapter History

The first meeting of the International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS) was held at the 1928 Olympics.  In 1954, American physical educators, physiologists, and physicians belonging to FIMS formed their own American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).  In 1972 the Midwest Regional Chapter became the first regional chapter of ACSM.  In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a small number of southern California members of ACSM were meeting sporadically and contemplating the formation of a regional chapter.  However, not until 1975 did another attempt by southern Californians successfully lead to the granting of a provisional charter by ACSM to the Southern California Chapter (SCC) in 1977.  This was expected to lead to a full permanent chapter in 1981 but a movement on another much larger geographical front postponed this scheduled chartership.

At the May 1980 annual ACSM Convention in Las Vegas, a fortuitous combined meeting of some SCC members and some ACSM members from Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico led to the formation of the Southwest Regional Chapter (SWACSM).  A planning meeting of SWACSM was held at the next year's annual ACSM Convention in Miami.  SWACSM held its first convention in November of 1981 in Las Vegas.  That same year SWACSM was granted a provisional charter by ACSM. 

In the summer of 1982 seven ACSM members from southern California, Utah, and Nevada met all day at Orange Coast College to revise the SCC's constitution to meet the needs of the newly founded southwest chapter; they also planned the second annual SWACSM convention.  In 1985 the Southwest Chapter was granted permanent status by ACSM.