The Atlantic Coast Conference was founded on May 8, 1953, at the Sedgefield Inn near Greensboro, N.C., with seven charter members - Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina and Wake Forest - drawing up the conference by-laws.

The withdrawal of seven schools from the Southern Conference came early on the morning of May 8, 1953, during the Southern Conference’s annual spring meeting. On June 14, 1953, the seven members met in Raleigh, N.C., where a set of bylaws was adopted and the name became officially the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Suggestions from fans for the name of the new conference appeared in the region’s newspapers prior to the meeting in Raleigh. Some of the names suggested were: Dixie, Mid South, Mid Atlantic, East Coast, Seaboard, Colonial, Tobacco, Blue-Gray, Piedmont, Southern Seven and the Shoreline.

Duke’s Eddie Cameron recommended that the name of the conference be the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the motion was passed unanimously. The meeting concluded with each member institution assessed $200.00 to pay for conference expenses.

On December 4, 1953, conference officials met again at Sedgefield and officially admitted the University of Virginia as the league’s eighth member. The first, and only, withdrawal of a school from the ACC came on June 30, 1971, when the University of South Carolina tendered its resignation.

The ACC operated with seven members until April 3, 1978, when the Georgia Institute of Technology was admitted. The Atlanta school had withdrawn from the Southeastern Conference in January of 1964.

The ACC expanded to nine members on July 1, 1991, with the addition of Florida State University.

The conference expanded to 11 members on July 1, 2004, with the addition of the University of Miami and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

On October 17, 2003, Boston College accepted an invitation to become the league’s 12th member starting July 1, 2005.