The Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) was a

college athletic conference In college athletics in the United States, institutions typically join in conferences for regular play under different governing bodies. Varsity sports There are several national and regional associations governing the varsity teams of colleges ...

affiliated with the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

(NAIA), operated in the western United States. It was aligned with the

Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N ...

(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 College (now Fort Hays State University); Kansas State College of Emporia (now Emporia State University); Kansas State College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University);

Southern Colorado State College Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) is a public university in Pueblo, Colorado. It is a member of the Colorado State University System (CSU System) and a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). History 1933 to 1959 The idea for startin ...

(now Colorado State University–Pueblo); the

University of Nebraska at Omaha The University of Nebraska Omaha (Omaha or UNO) is a public research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a private non-sectarian college, the university was originally kno ...

, the

University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially changed ...

and

Washburn University Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 u ...

. The conference only lasted four years, as Nebraska–Omaha and Northern Colorado left for the

North Central Conference The North Central Conference (NCC), also known as North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, was a college athletic conference which operated in the north central United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division II. History The NCC ...

(NCC), Southern Colorado went back to the RMAC, and the rest of the schools started the

Central States Intercollegiate Conference The Central States Intercollegiate Conference (CSIC) was an American intercollegiate athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1976 to 1989. It was known to be one of the toughest NAIA c ...

(CSIC), which merged into the

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, headquartered ...

(MIAA) effective in the 1989–90 school year.

Member schools

Final members

;Notes:

Membership timeline

DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 Period = from:1972 till:1992 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: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:1972 till:1976 text: Fort Hays State (1972–1976) bar:1 color:OtherC1 from:1976 till:1989 text: CSIC bar:1 color:OtherC2 from:1989 till:end text:

RMAC The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), commonly known as the Rocky Mountain Conference (RMC) from approximately 1910 through the late 1960s, is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiat ...

bar:2 color:Full from:1972 till:1976 text: KSC–Emporia (1972–1976) bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1976 till:1989 text: CSIC bar:2 color:OtherC2 from:1989 till:1991 text: D-II Ind. bar:2 color:OtherC1 from:1991 till:end text: MIAA bar:3 color:Full from:1972 till:1976 text: KSC–Pittsburg (1972–1976) bar:3 color:OtherC1 from:1976 till:1989 text: CSIC bar:3 color:OtherC2 from:1989 till:end text: MIAA bar:4 color:Full from:1972 till:1976 text: Nebraska–Omaha (1972–1976) bar:4 color:OtherC1 from:1976 till:end text:

NCC NCC may refer to: Biology *Neural correlates of consciousness, neuronal events and mechanisms relating to perception phenomena *Sodium-chloride symporter, abbreviated as NCC Companies *National Certification Corporation, a nursing specialty cer ...

bar:5 color:Full from:1972 till:1976 text:

Northern Colorado Northern Colorado is the name for a region in the state of Colorado and a proposed state in the northeastern portion of Colorado. Region Northern Colorado is a region in the northern portion of Colorado. It borders northwestern Colorado, nort ...

(1972–1976) bar:5 color:OtherC1 from:1976 till:1978 text: Ind. bar:5 color:OtherC2 from:1978 till:end text:

bar:6 color:Full from:1972 till:1976 text:

Southern Colorado South-Central Colorado is a region of the U.S. state of Colorado. It can be roughly defined by Chaffee County in the northwest, El Paso County in the northeast, Las Animas County in the southeast, and Conejos County in the southwest. Some notable ...

(1972–1976) bar:6 color:OtherC1 from:1976 till:1990 text:

bar:6 color:OtherC2 from:1990 till:end text:

CAC CAC may refer to: Arts * California Arts Council, an agency for advancing California through the arts and creativity * Campbelltown Arts Centre, multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre south-west of Sydney, Australia * Comics Arts Conference, ...

bar:7 color:Full from:1972 till:1976 text:

Washburn Washburn (alternatively Wasseburne, Wasseborne, Wasshebourne, Wassheborne, Washbourne, Washburne, Washborne, Washborn, Wasborn, Washbon) is a toponymic surname, probably of Old English origin, with likely Anglo-Norman and Norman-French influen ...

(1972–1976) bar:7 color:OtherC1 from:1976 till:1989 text: CSIC bar:7 color:OtherC2 from:1989 till:end text: MIAA ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1972

Football champions

* 1972 – * 1973 – and * 1974 – * 1975 –

References

{{Reflist