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The Big Eight Conference was a
National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
(NCAA)-affiliated
Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). ...
college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) by its charter member schools: the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
,
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
,
University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
, and Washington University in St. Louis. Additionally, the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...
was an original member of the MVIAA, while maintaining joint membership in the Western Conference (now the
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
). The conference was dissolved in 1996. Its membership at its dissolution consisted of the
University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
,
Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of th ...
, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
,
Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...
, the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
, the University of Oklahoma, and
Oklahoma State University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
. The Big Eight’s headquarters were located in
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the List of United States cities by populat ...
. In February 1994, the Big Eight and the
Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...
announced that the two leagues had reached an agreement to merge and form a new conference. The eight members of the Big Eight joined with SWC schools
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, Texas A&M, Baylor, and
Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...
to form the
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
the following year. A vote was conducted on whether to keep the new conference's headquarters in Kansas City, and by a vote of 7–5 the conference members voted to move to Irving, Texas, a suburb of
Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...
. The two Oklahoma schools, all four Texas schools, and Colorado voted for the move while both Kansas schools, Nebraska, Missouri, and Iowa State voted for Kansas City.


History


Formation

The conference was founded as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) at a meeting on January 12, 1907, of five charter member institutions: the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
, the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
, the
University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
, Washington University in St. Louis, and the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 co ...
, which also maintained its concurrent membership in the Western Conference (now the Big Ten Conference). However, Iowa only participated in football and outdoor men's track and field for a brief period before leaving the conference in 1911.


Early membership changes

In 1908,
Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. Hist ...
and Iowa Agricultural College (now Iowa State University) joined the MVIAA, increasing the conferences membership to seven. Iowa, which was a joint member, departed the conference in 1911 to return to sole competition in the Western Conference, but
Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...
joined the conference in 1913. Nebraska left in 1918 to play as an independent for two seasons before returning in 1920. In 1919, the University of Oklahoma and
Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, ...
applied for membership, but were not approved due to deficient management of their athletic programs. The conference then added Grinnell College in 1919, with the University of Oklahoma applying again and being approved in 1920.
Oklahoma A&M University Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...
(now Oklahoma State University) joined in 1925, bringing conference membership to ten, an all-time high.


Conference split

At a meeting in
Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United ...
, on May 19, 1928, the conference split up. Six of the seven state schools (all except Oklahoma A&M) formed a conference that was initially known as the Big Six Conference. Just before the start of fall practice, the six schools announced they would retain the MVIAA name for formal purposes. However, fans and media continued to call it the Big Six. The three private schools – Drake, Grinnell, and Washington University – joined with Oklahoma A&M to form the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). The old MVIAA's administrative staff transferred to the MVC. The similarity of the two conferences' official names, as well as the competing claims of the two conferences, led to considerable debate over which conference was the original and which was the spin-off, though the MVIAA went on to become the more prestigious of the two. For the remainder of the Big Eight's run, both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date, as well as the same history through 1927. To this day, it has never been definitively established which conference was the original. Conference membership grew with the addition of the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...
on December 1, 1947, from the Mountain States Conference. Later that month, Reaves E. Peters was hired as "Commissioner of Officials and Assistant Secretary" and set up the first conference offices in Kansas City, Missouri. With the addition of Colorado, the conference's unofficial name became the Big Seven Conference, coincidentally, the former unofficial name of the MSC. The final membership change happened ten years later, when Oklahoma A&M joined (or rejoined, depending on the source) the conference on June 1, 1957, and the conference became known as the Big Eight. That same year, Peters' title was changed to "Executive Secretary" of the conference. He retired in June 1963 and was replaced by Wayne Duke, whose title was later changed to "Commissioner". In 1964, the conference legally assumed the name "Big Eight Conference". In 1968 the conference began a long association with the
Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in ...
, sending its champion annually to play in the prestigious
bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...
in
Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
, all except the
1974 Orange Bowl The 1974 Orange Bowl was the fortieth edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Tuesday, January 1. The final game of the 1973–74 bowl season, it matched the sixth-ranked independent Penn State ...
and the
1975 Orange Bowl The 1975 Orange Bowl was the 41st edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, January 1. Part of the 1974–75 bowl game season, it matched the ninth-ranked independent Notre Dame F ...
. Instead, Big 8 representative
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...
played in the
1974 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1974 Cotton Bowl Classic was played on January 1 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. It matched the Texas Longhorns of the Southwest Conference and the Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Teams Nebraska The Cornhuskers were runners-up to Oklahoma ...
and the
1974 Sugar Bowl The 1974 Sugar Bowl was the 41st edition of the Sugar Bowl, a college football bowl game traditionally held in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was played on New Year's Eve at the conclusion of the 1974 NCAA Division I football season and featured the # ...
.


Formation of the Big 12 Conference

In the early 1990s, most of the colleges in
Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). ...
(now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision) were members of the College Football Association; this included members of the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences. Following a
Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
decision Decision may refer to: Law and politics *Judgment (law), as the outcome of a legal case *Landmark decision, the outcome of a case that sets a legal precedent * ''Per curiam'' decision, by a court with multiple judges Books * ''Decision'' (novel ...
in 1984, the primary function of the CFA was to negotiate television broadcast rights for its member conferences and independent colleges. In February 1994, the
Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...
announced that they, like the
Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
, Pac-10, and Notre Dame before them, would be leaving the CFA and negotiate independently for a television deal that covered SEC schools only. This led ''
The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...
'' to proclaim that "the College Football Association as a television entity is dead". More significantly, this change in television contracts ultimately would lead to significant realignment of college conferences, with the biggest change being the dissolution of the Big Eight and Southwest Conferences and the formation of the Big 12. After the SEC's abandonment of the CFA, the
Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...
and the Big Eight Conference saw potential financial benefits from an alliance to negotiate television deals, and quickly began negotiations to that end, with ABC and
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
. Though there were complications over the next several weeks (some of which are detailed below), on February 25, 1994, it was announced that a new conference would be formed from the members of the Big Eight and four of the Texas member colleges of the Southwest Conference. Though the name would not be made official for several months, newspaper accounts immediately dubbed the new entity the "Big 12". Charter members of the Big 12 included the members of the Big Eight plus Baylor,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, Texas A&M and
Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...
.


Dissolution

Following the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1994, the Big Eight continued operations until August 30, 1996, when the conference was formally dissolved and its members officially began competition in the Big 12 Conference. Although the Big 12 was essentially the Big Eight plus the four Texas schools, the Big 12 regards itself as a separate conference and does not claim the Big Eight's history as its own.


Members


Final members


Previous members


Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:30 Period = from:1907 till:2000 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:lightline value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5) id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports id:FullxF value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in all sports except for football id:AssocF value:rgb(0.98,0.5,0.445) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member for football only id:AssocOS value:rgb(0.5,0.691,0.824) # Use this color to denote a team that is a member in some sports, but not all (consider identifying in legend or a footnote) id:OtherC1 value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference id:OtherC2 value:rgb(0.988,0.703,0.383) # Use this color to denote a team that has moved to another conference where OtherC1 has already been used, to distinguish the two PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:1907 till:1911 text:
Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...
(1907–1911) bar:2 color:Full from:1907 till:1928 text: Washington (Mo.) (1907–1928) bar:3 color:Full from:1907 till:1996 text:
Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...
(1907–1996) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:end text: Big 12 bar:4 color:Full from:1907 till:1996 text:
Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
(1907–1996) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:end text: Big 12 bar:5 color:Full from:1907 till:1918 text:
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
(1907–1918, 1921–1996) bar:5 color:Full from:1921 till:1996 bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:end text: Big 12 bar:6 color:Full from:1908 till:1928 text:
Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...
(1908–1928) bar:7 color:Full from:1908 till:1996 text:
Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...
(1908–1996) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:end text: Big 12 bar:8 color:Full from:1913 till:1996 text: Kansas State (1913–1996) bar:8 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:end text: Big 12 bar:9 color:Full from:1918 till:1928 text: Grinnell (1918–1928) bar:10 color:Full from:1919 till:1996 text:
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
(1919–1996) bar:10 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:end text: Big 12 bar:11 color:Full from:1925 till:1928 text:
Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, ...
(1925–1928, 1958–1996) bar:11 color:Full from:1958 till:1996 bar:11 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:end text: Big 12 bar:12 color:Full from:1947 till:1996 text:
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
(1947–1996) bar:12 color:OtherC1 from:1996 till:end text: Big 12 ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:10 start:1907 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightline increment:1 start:1907 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:^"Big Eight Membership History" #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <#


Subsequent conference affiliations

# Colorado left the Big 12 for the Pac-12 beginning with the 2011–12 season. # Drake withdrew from the Missouri Valley Conference from 1951 to 1956. The MVC stopped sponsoring football in 1985; Drake remains a member for all non-football sports. The football program dropped to Division III in 1987, playing as an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...
until a change in NCAA rules forced the program to play in Division I. When the new rule took effect in 1993, Drake joined the newly formed Pioneer League, a football-only league playing at the FCS level that prohibits the awarding of football scholarships. # Grinnell joined the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference beginning with the 1939–40 season; their affiliation from 1928 to 1939 is unclear. The MCAC merged with the Midwest Athletic Conference for Women to form the Midwest Conference beginning with the 1994–95 season. # Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC beginning with the 2012–13 season. # Nebraska left the Big 12 for the Big Ten beginning with the 2011–12 season. # Oklahoma will leave the Big 12 for the SEC beginning with the 2025–26 season. # Washington University left the MVC in 1946; it joined the College Athletic Conference from 1962 through 1971, and became a charter member of the University Athletic Association, which began play with the 1986–87 season. It was
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...
in all other years. Washington University is now a football-only affiliate member of the
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin The College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) is a college athletic conference which competes in the Division III level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). CCIW schools have accounted for 50 national championships ...
.


Commissioners

* Reaves Peters (1947–1963) as Executive Secretary *
Wayne Duke Wayne Duke (November 9, 1928 – March 29, 2017) was an American collegiate sports executive who served as commissioner of the Big Eight Conference from 1963 to 1971, then as commissioner of the Big Ten Conference from 1971 to 1989. Biography Ear ...
(1963–1971) * Chuck Neinas (1971–1980) * Carl C. James (1980–1996)


Conference champions


Men's basketball

Following are the MVIAA/Big Eight regular-season conference champions from 1908 to 1996 (showing shared championships in ''italics''):


Football

Shared championships are shown in ''italics'': '' Kansas would have won the 1960 title, but after found to be using an ineligible player they were forced to forfeit their victories over Missouri and Colorado, which meant that Missouri was awarded the 1960 Big Eight title.''
''
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
initially won the 1972 title, but after it was found that they used ineligible players, they were penalized by the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
, though they did not force OU to forfeit games. The Big Eight asked them to forfeit three games and awarded the title to
Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...
, but Oklahoma still claims these wins and this title.''


National championships won by MVIAA/Big Eight members

The following is a complete list of the 100
AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Inte ...
,
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...
and
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...
championships won by teams that were representing the Big Eight Conference in NCAA- or AIAW-recognized sports at the time of the championship. Football (11):
1950 – Oklahoma
1955 – Oklahoma
1956 – Oklahoma
1970 – Nebraska
1971 – Nebraska
1974 – Oklahoma
1975 – Oklahoma
1985 – Oklahoma
1990 – Colorado
1994 – Nebraska
1995 – Nebraska
Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
(4):
1951 – Oklahoma
1954 – Missouri
1959 – Oklahoma State
1994 – Oklahoma Men's basketball (2):
1952 – Kansas
1988 – Kansas Men's Cross Country (3):
1953 – Kansas
1989 – Iowa State
1994 – Iowa State Women's Cross Country (5):
1975 – Iowa State
1976 – Iowa State
1977 – Iowa State
1978 – Iowa State
1981 – Iowa State Men's golf (9):
1963 – Oklahoma State
1976 – Oklahoma State
1978 – Oklahoma State
1980 – Oklahoma State
1983 – Oklahoma State
1987 – Oklahoma State
1989 – Oklahoma
1991 – Oklahoma State
1995 – Oklahoma State Men's gymnastics (14):
1971 – Iowa State
1973 – Iowa State
1974 – Iowa State
1977 – Oklahoma
1978 – Oklahoma
1979 – Nebraska
1980 – Nebraska
1981 – Nebraska
1982 – Nebraska
1983 – Nebraska
1988 – Nebraska
1990 – Nebraska
1991 – Oklahoma
1994 – Nebraska Men's/Women's Skiing (14):
1959 – Colorado
1960 – Colorado
1972 – Colorado
1973 – Colorado
1974 – Colorado
1975 – Colorado
1976 – Colorado
1977 – Colorado
1978 – Colorado
1979 – Colorado
1982 – Colorado (men's)
1982 – Colorado (women's)
1991 – Colorado
1995 – Colorado Men's Indoor Track (4):
1965 – Missouri
1966 – Kansas
1969 – Kansas
1970 – Kansas Women's Indoor Track (3):
1982 – Nebraska
1983 – Nebraska
1984 – Nebraska Men's Outdoor Track (3):
1959 – Kansas
1960 – Kansas
1970 – Kansas Women's volleyball (1):
1995 – Nebraska
Wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...
(27):
1928 – Oklahoma State
1933 – Iowa State
1936 – Oklahoma
1951 – Oklahoma
1952 – Oklahoma
1957 – Oklahoma
1958 – Oklahoma State
1959 – Oklahoma State
1960 – Oklahoma
1961 – Oklahoma State
1962 – Oklahoma State
1963 – Oklahoma
1964 – Oklahoma State
1965 – Iowa State
1966 – Oklahoma State
1968 – Oklahoma State
1969 – Iowa State
1970 – Iowa State
1971 – Oklahoma State
1972 – Iowa State
1973 – Iowa State
1974 – Oklahoma
1977 – Iowa State
1987 – Iowa State
1989 – Oklahoma State
1990 – Oklahoma State
1994 – Oklahoma State


National team titles by institution

The national championships listed below are for the final eight members of the conference, as of July 2014. Football, Helms, and
equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: *Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes in ...
titles are included in the total, but excluded from the column listing NCAA and
AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships (see AIAW Champions). It evolved out of the Commission on Inte ...
titles.


Racial integration

The history of the Big Eight Conference straddles the era of
racial segregation in the United States In the United States, racial segregation is the systematic separation of facilities and services such as housing, healthcare, education, employment, and transportation on racial grounds. The term is mainly used in reference to the legally ...
, particularly as it relates to
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
s. Before the formation of the conference, three African-American brothers at the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...
are the first known to have participated in organized sports for a league school: Sherman Haney played baseball for KU beginning in 1888, followed by Grant Haney and then Ed Haney, the last of whom also played football at KU in 1893. At the same time, the
University of Nebraska A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United State ...
football team had on its roster George Flippin, the son of a slave, beginning in 1891. Nebraska's football team featured three more African-American players over the next 12 years. Notable among these NU players was Clinton Ross, who in 1911 apparently became the first African-American to participate in sport in the MVIAA, following the league's formation in 1907. Race relations in the United States, however, deteriorated in the early 20th century, and African-American athletes disappeared almost entirely from the conference in the four decades after Ross's final season at NU in 1913. The lone exception during the following decades was
Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...
. In 1923 Jack Trice became the first African-American athlete at Iowa State – and the only one in the conference. Tragically, Trice died two days after playing his second football game with Iowa State, due to injuries suffered during the game (against
Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...
). Jack Trice Stadium at Iowa State is now named in his honor. Trice was followed at Iowa State by Holloway Smith, who played football for ISU in 1926 and 1927. After Smith, the league's teams were all-white for more than two decades. (During this time all of the major professional sports leagues in the U.S. were also segregated.)


Modern era

The modern era of full integration of league sports began at Kansas State, with Harold Robinson. In 1949, Harold Robinson played football for Kansas State with an athletic scholarship. In doing so, Robinson broke the modern "color barrier" in conference athletics, and also became the first ever African-American athlete on scholarship in the conference. Harold Robinson later received a letter of congratulations from
Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...
, who had reintegrated major league baseball in 1947 while playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the spring of 1951 the conference's baseball color barrier was broken by Kansas State's Earl Woods, and in the winter of 1951–1952 Kansas State's Gene Wilson and Kansas's LaVannes Squires jointly broke the conference color barrier in basketball. Nebraska was the third league school to (re)integrate its athletic teams, with Charles Bryant joining the football team in 1952. Iowa State would be next, with Harold Potts and Henry Philmon reintegrating the Cyclone football team in 1953. The following season, Franklin Clarke became the first varsity African-American football player at the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...
. In 1955, Homer Floyd became the first African-American to play football for
Kansas Kansas () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its Capital city, capital is Topeka, Kansas, Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita, Kansas, Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebras ...
since Ed Haney in 1893. Sports teams at the remaining three conference schools (Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State) were subsequently all integrated by the end of the 1950s. Most notably, Prentice Gautt became the first black player for
Bud Wilkinson Charles Burnham "Bud" Wilkinson (April 23, 1916 – February 9, 1994) was an American football player, coach, broadcaster, and politician. He served as the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1947 to 1963, compiling a record of ...
at Oklahoma in 1956. Every college football team of the Big Eight was fully integrated by the end of the 1950s, and this gave the conference an advantage throughout the 1960s, as many opposing conferences had not yet integrated their sports teams. The
Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...
, the last major college sports conference to oppose integration, had particular trouble against the Big Eight during its final years fielding all white teams. The first SEC school to integrate,
Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
, did so in 1967, and the last school to do so,
Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
, did so in 1972. During the SEC’s 8-year national championship drought between 1965 and 1973, the Big Eight teams repeatedly defeated the SEC teams in inter-conference games, largely due to their integrated teams. The Big Eight's best season ever, 1971, ended with three Big Eight schools - Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado - finishing Number 1, 2, and 3 in the final AP poll, the only season in college football history that three teams from the same conference finished in the top three rankings. During that season, all three of those teams beat SEC schools - Alabama, Auburn, and LSU - in blowout victories. In each of the Big Eight victories throughout that period, and especially in the 1971 season, the performance of each Big Eight schools’ black players, many of whom were All-Americans, was a deciding factor in their teams' victories. These players' performance contributed to the SEC schools recruitment of black players, with the result that the next national championship won by the SEC was by the 1973 Alabama team, which was fully integrated.


Conference facilities

This is a listing of the conference facilities as of the last year of the conference 1995–1996.


See also

* List of Big Eight Conference champions *
Big Eight Conference football The Big Eight Conference is a defunct college athletic conference that was formerly affiliated with the NCAA's Division I-A (now known as FBS). The Big Eight Conference was a successful football conference, with its member schools being recogniz ...


References

{{Reflist, 2


External links


BigEightSports.com
Sports organizations established in 1907 Organizations disestablished in 1996 1907 establishments in the United States Articles which contain graphical timelines