The
Big Eight Conference, a former
NCAAThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada...
-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
, was formed in January 1907 as the
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) by its charter member schools: the
University of KansasThe University of Kansas , the State of Kansas Flagship university , is a public research university with campuses located in Lawrence, Kansas City, and Overland Park, Kansas with the main campus being located atop Mount Oread in Lawrence...
, University of Missouri,
University of NebraskaThe University of Nebraska–Lincoln, often called UNL, but also known as Nebraska or NU, is referred to as the flagship institution of the University of Nebraska system. UNL was founded in 1869 as a land-grant university under the provisions of the Morrill Act. Its main campus is located in Lincoln...
, and
Washington University in St. LouisWashington University in St. Louis is a nonsectarian, private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853 and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than one hundred and twenty five nations...
. Additionally, the
University of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public research university located in Iowa City, Iowa. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
was a joint member of the newly formed MVIAA and the older Western Conference (now the
Big Ten ConferenceThe Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its eleven member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Iowa and Minnesota in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
).
The Big Eight's headquarters were in
Kansas City, MissouriKansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. It is one of two county seats of Jackson County, the other being Independence, just to the city's east...
.
| Big Eight Conference |
| |
| Data |
| Classification |
NCAA Division I |
| Established |
1907 |
| Dissolved |
1996 |
| Members |
8 |
| Country |
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
|
| Region |
Midwest |
| States |
6 - OklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,617,316 residents in 2007 and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, ColoradoColorado is a U.S. state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. It may also be considered to be part of the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States. Colorado entered statehood in 1876 and was nicknamed the “Centennial State”...
, IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
,
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
, MissouriMissouri is a state in the Midwest region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 18th most populous state with a 2008 estimated population of 5,911,605. It comprises 114 counties and one independent city....
, NebraskaNebraska is a state located on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha....
|
| Headquarters |
Kansas City, MissouriKansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. It is one of two county seats of Jackson County, the other being Independence, just to the city's east...
|
| Locations |
| |
The
Big Eight Conference, a former
NCAAThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a voluntary association of about 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada...
-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored
American footballAmerican football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, and often as Gridiron or Tackle football outside North America, is a competitive team sport known for combining strategy with physical play. The objective of the game is to score points by advancing the ball into the...
, was formed in January 1907 as the
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) by its charter member schools: the
University of KansasThe University of Kansas , the State of Kansas Flagship university , is a public research university with campuses located in Lawrence, Kansas City, and Overland Park, Kansas with the main campus being located atop Mount Oread in Lawrence...
, University of Missouri,
University of NebraskaThe University of Nebraska–Lincoln, often called UNL, but also known as Nebraska or NU, is referred to as the flagship institution of the University of Nebraska system. UNL was founded in 1869 as a land-grant university under the provisions of the Morrill Act. Its main campus is located in Lincoln...
, and
Washington University in St. LouisWashington University in St. Louis is a nonsectarian, private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853 and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than one hundred and twenty five nations...
. Additionally, the
University of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public research university located in Iowa City, Iowa. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
was a joint member of the newly formed MVIAA and the older Western Conference (now the
Big Ten ConferenceThe Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its eleven member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Iowa and Minnesota in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
).
The Big Eight's headquarters were in
Kansas City, MissouriKansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. It is one of two county seats of Jackson County, the other being Independence, just to the city's east...
. Kansas City fought to be the home for the headquarters of the new
Big 12 ConferenceThe Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of twelve schools located mostly in the central United States. It is a member of the NCAA's Division I for all sports; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition...
, but pressure from the four
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
schools coming over from the Southwest Conference led to the office being located in
Irving, TexasIrving is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within Dallas County. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the city population was 191,615; the 2006 estimate was 201,927 according to the North Central Texas Council of Governments, and 196,084 according to the U.S. Census Bureau...
, a suburb of
DallasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
.
History
1908 saw the departure of Iowa. However, the addition of
Drake UniversityDrake University is a private, co-educational university located in the city of Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The institution offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and pharmacy. Today, Drake is one of the twenty-five oldest law schools in the...
and Iowa State College (now
Iowa State UniversityThe Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced a number of astronauts, scientists, Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners,...
) increased conference membership to six.
Kansas State UniversityKansas State University, officially named Kansas State University of Agriculture and Applied Science but commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...
joined the conference in 1913. Nebraska left in 1919 to play two seasons as an independent. That year, the conference added
Grinnell CollegeGrinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. with a strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
, with the
University of OklahomaThe University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. As of 2007, the university has 29,931 students enrolled, most...
following suit in 1920; its intrastate rival Oklahoma A&M joined in 1925.
1928 proved to be a pivotal year as the conference split up. The larger state schools of Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma remained together as the MVIAA, which became known informally to fans and the media as the
Big Six Conference, while the smaller schools plus Oklahoma A&M formed a new conference, the
Missouri Valley ConferenceThe Missouri Valley Conference is a college athletic conference whose members are located in the midwestern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I....
(MVC). The similarity of the two conferences' official names, as well as the competing claims of the two conferences has led to considerable debate over which conference was the original and which was the spin-off (even though the MVIAA eventually went on to become the more prestigious of the two). Both conferences considered 1907 as their founding date, and claimed the same history through 1927.
The conference membership remained unchanged until the addition of the
University of ColoradoThe University of Colorado at Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system and was founded five months before Colorado was admitted to the union in 1876...
in 1948 from the Mountain States Conference(also known as Skyline Conference, a forerunner of the
Western Athletic ConferenceThe Western Athletic Conference was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision...
). The conference's unofficial name became the
Big Seven Conference. Oklahoma A&M, which by this time had changed its name to Oklahoma State, joined (or rejoined, depending on one's view) in 1958, and the conference's unofficial name became the Big Eight.
In 1964 the MVIAA officially renamed itself the Big Eight Conference. In 1968 the conference began its long association with the Orange Bowl, sending its champion annually to play in the prestigious
bowl gameIn the United States, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...
in Miami,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
.
The conference remained essentially unchanged until 1996, when the eight member schools combined with four former members of the now-defunct Southwest Conference (
Baylor UniversityBaylor University is a private, Baptist-affiliated research university located in Waco, Texas, United States. It is the largest Baptist university in the world by enrollment. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and is a member of the Association...
,
University of TexasThe University of Texas at Austin is a public research university located in Austin, Texas, United States, and is the flagship institution of The University of Texas System. The main campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol...
,
Texas A&M UniversityTexas A&M University, often referred to as A&M or TAMU, is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas. It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The seventh-largest university in the United States, A&M enrolls over 48,000 students in ten...
, and
Texas Tech UniversityTexas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public, coeducational, research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System...
) to form the
Big 12 ConferenceThe Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of twelve schools located mostly in the central United States. It is a member of the NCAA's Division I for all sports; its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision , the higher of two levels of NCAA Division I football competition...
. Although the Big 12 is essentially the Big Eight plus the four Texas schools, the Big 12 does not claim the Big Eight's history as its own.
Members
- Colorado
The University of Colorado at Boulder is a public research university located in Boulder, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the University of Colorado system and was founded five months before Colorado was admitted to the union in 1876...
BuffaloesThe University of Colorado at Boulder sponsors 16 varsity sports teams. Both men's and women's team are called the Buffaloes or Golden Buffaloes . "Lady Buffs" referred to the women's teams beginning in the 1970s, but was officially dropped in 1993...
- Iowa State
The Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced a number of astronauts, scientists, Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners,...
CyclonesThe Iowa State Cyclones are the athletic teams of Iowa State University. The university is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams in 11 sports.-Overview:...
- Kansas
The University of Kansas , the State of Kansas Flagship university , is a public research university with campuses located in Lawrence, Kansas City, and Overland Park, Kansas with the main campus being located atop Mount Oread in Lawrence...
JayhawksThe sports teams at the University of Kansas are known as the Jayhawks. They participate in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big 12 Conference...
- Kansas State
Kansas State University, officially named Kansas State University of Agriculture and Applied Science but commonly shortened to K-State, is an institution of higher learning located in Manhattan, Kansas, in the United States...
WildcatsKansas State University's athletic teams are called the Wildcats. The official color of the teams is Royal Purple, making Kansas State one of very few schools that have only one official color; white and silver are generally used as complementary colors.Kansas State participates in...
- Missouri Tigers
The Missouri Tigers athletics programs include the extramural and intramural sports teams of the University of Missouri, located in Columbia, Missouri, United States. The name comes from a band armed guards called the Missouri Tigers who, in 1864, protected Columbia from plundering Union squads as...
- Nebraska
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln, often called UNL, but also known as Nebraska or NU, is referred to as the flagship institution of the University of Nebraska system. UNL was founded in 1869 as a land-grant university under the provisions of the Morrill Act. Its main campus is located in Lincoln...
CornhuskersThe Nebraska Cornhuskers is the name given to several sports teams of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 21 varsity teams in 14 sports:Early nicknames for the university's athletic teams included the...
- Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. As of 2007, the university has 29,931 students enrolled, most...
SoonersThe University of Oklahoma features 17 varsity sports teams. Both men's and women's teams are called the Sooners, a nickname given to the early participants in the land rushes which initially opened the Oklahoma Indian Territory to non-native settlement. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A,...
- Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA, is a land-grant, sun-grant, coeducational public research university founded in 1890 under the Morrill Act...
CowboysOklahoma State Cowboys are the athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University. Their mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates in the NCAA's Division I-A and in the Big 12 Conference's South Division. The university's current athletic director is Mike Holder...
Former members
- Drake Bulldogs
Drake University is a private, co-educational university located in the city of Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The institution offers a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and pharmacy. Today, Drake is one of the twenty-five oldest law schools in the...
- Grinnell Pioneers
Grinnell College is a private liberal arts college in Grinnell, Iowa, U.S. with a strong tradition of social activism. It was founded in 1846, when a group of pioneer New England Congregationalists established the Trustees of Iowa College....
- Iowa Hawkeyes
The University of Iowa is a public research university located in Iowa City, Iowa. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
- Washington Bears
Washington University in St. Louis is a nonsectarian, private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853 and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than one hundred and twenty five nations...
Men's basketball
Following are the MVIAA/Big Eight conference championships from 1907 to 1996.
- Kansas: 32 outright/43 total
- Kansas State: 14/17
- Missouri: 12/15
- Nebraska: 2/7
- Colorado: 3/5
- Iowa State: 2/4
- Oklahoma: 8/13
- Oklahoma State: 1/2
Regular season champions
This includes titles in the MVIAA and the Big 6 and Big 7 conferences, with records in parentheses.
MVIAA
- 1908: Kansas (6-0)
- 1909: Kansas (8-2)
- 1910: Kansas (7-1)
- 1911: Kansas (9-3)
- 1912: Nebraska (8-2)/Kansas (6-0)*
- 1913: Nebraska (10-0)
- 1914: Nebraska (7-0)/Kansas (13-1)*
- 1915: Kansas (13-1)
- 1916: Nebraska (12-0)
- 1917: Kansas State (10-2)
- 1918: Missouri (15-1)
- 1919: Kansas State (10-2)
- 1920: Missouri (17-1)
- 1921: Missouri (17-1)
- 1922: Missouri/Kansas (15-1)
- 1923: Kansas (16-0)
- 1924: Kansas (15-1)
- 1925: Kansas (15-1)
- 1926: Kansas (16-2)
- 1927: Kansas (10-2)
- 1928: Oklahoma (18-0)
* In 1912 and 1914, KU and NU were divisional winners and declared conference co-champions since no playoffs were staged either year.
Big 6 Conference
- 1929: Oklahoma (10-0)
- 1930: Missouri (8-2)
- 1931: Kansas (7-3)
- 1932: Kansas (7-3)
- 1933: Kansas (8-2)
- 1934: Kansas (9-1)
- 1935: Iowa State (8-2)
- 1936: Kansas (10-0)
- 1937: Kansas/Nebraska (8-2 apiece)
- 1938: Kansas (9-1)
- 1939: Missouri/Oklahoma (7-3 apiece)
- 1940: Kansas/Missouri/Oklahoma (8-2 apiece)
- 1941: Iowa State/Kansas (7-3 apiece)
- 1942: Kansas/Oklahoma (8-2 apiece)
- 1943: Kansas (10-0)
- 1944: Iowa State/Oklahoma (9-1 apiece)
- 1945: Iowa State (8-2)
- 1946: Kansas (10-0)
- 1947: Oklahoma (8-2)
Big 7 Conference
- 1948: Kansas State (9-3)
- 1949: Nebraska/Oklahoma (9-3 apiece)
- 1950: Kansas State/Nebraska/Kansas (8-4 apiece)
- 1951: Kansas State (11-1)
- 1952: Kansas (11-1)
- 1953: Kansas (10-2)
- 1954: Kansas/Colorado (10-2)
- 1955: Colorado (10-2)
- 1956: Kansas State (9-3)
- 1957: Kansas (11-1)
- 1958: Kansas State (10-2)
Big 8 Conference
- 1959: Kansas State (14-0)
- 1960: Kansas/Kansas State (10-4 apiece)
- 1961: Kansas State (13-1)
- 1962: Colorado (13-1)
- 1963: Colorado/Kansas State (11-3 apiece)
- 1964: Kansas State (12-2)
- 1965: Oklahoma State (12-2)
- 1966: Kansas (13-1)
- 1967: Kansas (13-1)
- 1968: Kansas State (11-3)
- 1969: Colorado (10-4)
- 1970: Kansas State (10-4)
- 1971: Kansas (14-0)
- 1972: Kansas State (12-2)
- 1973: Kansas State (12-2)
- 1974: Kansas (13-1)
- 1975: Kansas (11-3)
- 1976: Missouri (12-2)
- 1977: Kansas State (11-3)
- 1978: Kansas (13-1)
- 1979: Oklahoma (10-4)
- 1980: Missouri (11-3)
- 1981: Missouri (10-4)
- 1982: Missouri (12-2)
- 1983: Missouri (12-2)
- 1984: Oklahoma (13-1)
- 1985: Oklahoma (13-1)
- 1986: Kansas (13-1)
- 1987: Missouri (11-3)
- 1988: Oklahoma (12-2)
- 1989: Oklahoma (12-2)
- 1990: Missouri (12-2)
- 1991: Kansas/Oklahoma State (10-4)
- 1992: Kansas (11-3)
- 1993: Kansas (11-3)
- 1994: Missouri (14-0)
- 1995: Kansas (11-3)
- 1996: Kansas (12-2)
Tournament champions
- 1977: Kansas State
- 1978: Missouri
- 1979: Oklahoma
- 1980: Kansas State
- 1981: Kansas
- 1982: Missouri
- 1983: Oklahoma State
- 1984: Kansas
- 1985: Oklahoma
- 1986: Kansas
- 1987: Missouri
- 1988: Oklahoma
- 1989: Missouri
- 1990: Oklahoma
- 1991: Missouri
- 1992: Kansas
- 1993: Missouri
- 1994: Nebraska
- 1995: Oklahoma State
- 1996: Iowa State
Football
Following are the MVIAA/Big Eight conference championships from 1907 to 1995.
- Colorado (3 outright/5 total): 1961; 1976 (Co-Champions); 1989; 1990; 1991 (Co-Champions)
- Iowa (0/1): 1907 (Co-Champions)
- Iowa State (0/2): 1911 (Co-Champions); 1912 (Co-Champions)
- Kansas (2/5): 1908; 1930; 1946 (Co-Champions); 1947 (Co-Champions); 1968 (Co-Champions)
- Kansas State (1/1): 1934
- Missouri (10/12): 1909; 1913 (Co-Champions); 1919; 1924; 1925; 1927; 1939; 1941; 1942; 1945; 1960; 1969 (Co-Champions)
- Nebraska (30/41): 1907 (Co-Champions with the University of Iowa); 1910; 1911 (Co-Champions); 1912 (Co-Champions); 1913 (Co-Champions); 1914; 1915; 1916; 1917; 1921; 1922; 1923; 1928; 1929; 1931; 1932; 1933; 1935; 1936; 1937; 1940; 1963; 1964; 1965; 1966; 1969 (Co-Champions); 1970; 1971; 1972; 1975 (Co-Champions); 1978 (Co-Champions); 1981; 1982; 1983; 1984 (Co-Champions); 1988; 1991 (Co-Champions); 1992; 1993; 1994; 1995
- Oklahoma (26/33): 1920; 1938; 1943; 1944; 1946 (Co-Champions); 1947 (Co-Champions); 1948; 1949; 1950; 1951; 1952; 1953; 1954; 1955; 1956; 1957; 1958; 1959; 1962; 1967; 1968 (Co-Champions); 1973; 1974; 1975 (Co-Champions); 1976 (Co-Champions); 1977; 1978 (Co-Champions); 1979; 1980; 1984 (Co-Champions); 1985; 1986; 1987
- Oklahoma State (1/2): 1926; 1976 (Co-Champions)
Basketball
- Kansas: 1922*, 1923*, 1952, 1988
- Oklahoma State: 1945, 1946
(*)
Helms Foundation championshipThe Helms Athletic Foundation was an athletic foundation based in Los Angeles, founded in 1936 by Bill Schroeder and Paul Helms. It put together a panel of experts to select National Champion teams and make All-America team selections in a number of college sports including football and basketball...
Football
- Colorado: 1990
- Nebraska: 1970, 1971, 1994, 1995
- Oklahoma: 1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985
See also