It was one of the first conferences with a presence in the South to accept black athletes at historically white-only schools, with Morehead State being the first OVC member to do so in 1958. Today, the OVC is notable as being the only conference made up of traditionally white schools to have a historically black university (HBCU) as a member, namely Tennessee State. That school is also the only HBCU with a Division I sports program that plays in a conference that is not made up entirely of such schools.