Question: The Midwest Athletic Association was an intercollegiate athletic conference of institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before what year?
Context: The Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) was a collegiate athletic conference which operated in the western United States.  It was aligned with the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC).  The two allied conferences worked under the name of the Mountain and Plains Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MPIAA).  It was announced on May 15, 1972.  The founding schools were Fort Hays State; Kansas State College, Pittsburg; Kansas State College of Emporia; Southern Colorado State College; Nebraska-Omaha, Northern Colorado, and Washburn.  The conference only lasted four years, as Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Colorado left for the North Central Conference, Southern Colorado went back to the RMAC, and the rest of the schools started the Central States Intercollegiate Conference, which merged into the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association in 1989. The Midwest Athletic Association was an intercollegiate athletic conference of HBCU's that existed from 1926 to 1966.  It was later known as the Midwest Conference from 1962 to 1963 and as the Midwestern Conference from 1964 to 1966.  The conference's membership was widespread, with members located in Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The Malone Pioneers are athletic teams of Malone University in Canton, Ohio, United States.  The Pioneers compete in Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as members of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC).  Malone joined the GMAC after four seasons in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).  Malone joined the GLIAC and Division II in 2011 and completed the NCAA Division II membership process in July 2013 after having previously competed in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).  In 2016, the Pioneers will begin play in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, also known as the G-MAC. The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) is an athletic conference that competes in the NCAA's Division III.  The nine teams in the conference are all located in the states of Michigan and Indiana.  The Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association was established on March 24, 1888, making it the oldest college athletic conference in the United States.  The current members of the MIAA include Adrian College, Albion College, Alma College, Calvin College, Hope College, Kalamazoo College, Olivet College, Saint Mary's College of Notre Dame, Indiana, and Trine University, formerly known as Tri-State University.  Olivet and Albion are the only charter members remaining in the conference.  Former members include such colleges as Michigan State University, previously Michigan Agricultural College, (1888–1907), Eastern Michigan University, previously Michigan State Normal College, (1892–1926), Hillsdale College (1888–1961), and Defiance College (1997–2000). The Ohio Dominican Panthers are the athletic teams that represent Ohio Dominican University, located in Columbus, Ohio, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sporting competitions.  The Panthers compete as members of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference beginning in 2017.  Ohio Dominican joined the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2010 as part of its transition to NCAA Division II from the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community due to the overwhelming majority of predominately white institutions of higher-learning banning qualified African Americans from enrollment.  They have always allowed admission to students of all races.  Most were created in the aftermath of the American Civil War and are in the former slave states, although a few notable exceptions exist. The Midwest Conference (MWC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division III.  Member institutions are located in the Midwestern United States in the states of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin.  The Midwest Conference was created in 1994 with the merger of the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference, which had been sponsoring men's sports since 1921, and the Midwest Athletic Conference for Women, which was formed in 1977. The Lake Erie Storm are the athletic teams that represent Lake Erie College, located in Painesville, Ohio, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sporting competitions.  The Storm compete as members of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), although Lake Erie will move its varsity sports to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) in 2017.  Lake Erie College was a member of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) of Division III through the 2007–08 academic year but completed the process of moving to Division II at the conclusion of the 2008–2009 academic year. The Nebraska College Athletic Conference (known as the Nebraska Intercollegiate Conference from 1916–1926) was an intercollegiate athletic conference that existed from 1916 to 1976.  The league had members, as its name suggests, in the state of Nebraska.  The public colleges in the conference departed for the separate Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Association (NIAA) in 1928 but re-joined after 1942.  The private colleges, in turn, broke away to form the Nebraska Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (now called the "Great Plains Athletic Conference") in 1969 and did not return before the NCAC folded in 1976. The Hillsdale Chargers are the athletic teams that represent Hillsdale College, located in Hillsdale, Michigan, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sporting competitions.  The Chargers are currently members of Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, although Hillsdale will move all 14 of its varsity teams to the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in 2017.  The Chargers had been members of the GLIAC since 1975.
Answer: 1964