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Big Eight Conference

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This article is about the dissolved NCAA Division I-A conference. For other uses, see Big Eight Conference (disambiguation).

Big Eight Conference
FormerlyMissouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1907–1964)
Big Six Conference
(1928–1948, unofficial)
Big Seven Conference
(1948–1957, unofficial)
Big Eight Conference
(1957–1964, unofficial)
AssociationNCAA
Founded1907
Ceased1996
CommissionerCarl C. James (final) 1980–1996
Sports fielded
  • 21[1]
    • men's: 11
    • women's: 10
DivisionDivision I
No. of teams8 (final), 12 (total)
HeadquartersKansas City, Missouri, U.S.
RegionMidwestern United States, Mountain States, West South Central States
Locations
Location of teams in

The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA)[2] by its charter member schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri,[2] University of Nebraska, and Washington University in St. Louis. Additionally, the University of Iowa was an original member of the MVIAA, while maintaining joint membership in the Western Conference (now the Big Ten Conference).

The conference's membership at its dissolution consisted of the University of Nebraska, Iowa State University, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, the University of Missouri, the University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University. The Big Eight's headquarters were located in Kansas City, Missouri.

In February 1994, all eight members of the Big Eight Conference and four of the members of the Southwest Conference announced that the 12 schools had reached an agreement to form the Big 12 Conference.[3] From a conventional standpoint, the Big 12 was a renamed and expanded Big Eight. But from a legal standpoint, the Big Eight ceased operations in 1996, and its members joined with the four SWC schools (Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Texas Tech) to form the Big 12 the following year.

History

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Formation

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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 Missouri, the University of Nebraska, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Iowa, 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.[4]

Early membership changes

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In 1908, Drake University 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 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 applied for membership, but were not approved due to deficient management of their athletic programs.[5] The conference then added Grinnell College in 1919, with the University of Oklahoma applying again and being approved in 1920. Oklahoma A&M University (now Oklahoma State University) joined in 1925, bringing conference membership to ten, an all-time high.[6]

Split into Big Six Conference

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At a meeting in Lincoln, Nebraska, 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.[2] 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).[7] 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.

Big Seven adds Colorado

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Conference membership grew with the addition of the University of Colorado on December 1, 1947, from the Mountain States Conference.[8] 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.

Big Eight adds Oklahoma State

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Locations of final Big Eight Conference full member institutions between 1957 and 1995

The final membership change happened ten years later, when Oklahoma A&M, newly renamed Oklahoma State, joined (or rejoined, depending on the source) the conference on June 1, 1957,[9] and the conference became known as the Big Eight. However, Oklahoma State did not begin conference play until the 1958–59 season for basketball and the 1960 season for football.[10][11] Peters' title was changed to "Executive Secretary" of the conference in 1957. 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, sending its champion annually to play in the prestigious bowl game in Miami, Florida, all except the 1974 Orange Bowl and the 1975 Orange Bowl. Instead, Big Eight representative Nebraska Cornhuskers played in the 1974 Cotton Bowl Classic and the 1974 Sugar Bowl.

Formation of the Big 12 Conference

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Main article: Big 12 Conference

In the early 1990s, most of the colleges in Division I-A (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 decision 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 announced that they, like the Big Ten, 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 to proclaim that "the College Football Association as a television entity is dead".[12] 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 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. 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.[13][14][15] Though the name would not be made official for several months, newspaper accounts immediately dubbed the new entity the "Big 12".[16] Charter members of the Big 12 included the members of the Big Eight plus Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

Dissolution

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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

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Final members

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Institution Location Founded Joined Type Enrollment Endowment Nickname Colors Varsity Sports National Titles
University of Colorado Boulder, Colorado 1876 1947 Public 30,128 $665,000,000[17] Buffaloes      * 14 28
Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1858 1908 Public 28,682[18] $452,200,000[19] Cyclones     16 18
University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas 1865 1907 Public 30,004[20] $1,005,000,000[17] Jayhawks     16 13
Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas 1863 1913 Public 23,588[21] $277,600,000[17] Wildcats     14 0
University of Missouri Columbia, Missouri 1839 1907 Public 33,318[22] $974,900,000[17] Tigers     18 2
University of Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska 1869 1907 Public 24,100[23] $1,140,000,000[17] Cornhuskers     21 23
University of Oklahoma Norman, Oklahoma 1890 1919 Public 29,721 $968,400,000[17] Sooners     19 27
Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma 1890 1958 Public 23,307 $311,000,000[24] Cowboys     16 55

(*In the early 1980s, Colorado's colors were sky blue and gold.)

Previous members

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Institution Location Founded Type Enrollment Endowment Nickname Colors Varsity Sports NCAA Titles[25]
Drake University Des Moines, Iowa 1881 Private 3,164 $135,000,000[17] Bulldogs     18 3
Grinnell College Grinnell, Iowa 1846 Private 1,688 $1,260,000,000[26] Pioneers     18 0
University of Iowa Iowa City, Iowa 1847 Public 30,825 $1,580,000,000[17] Hawkeyes     24 25
Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, Missouri 1853 Private 13,995 $4,600,000,000[27] Bears[28]     17 19 (Div. III)

Membership timeline

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Big 12 ConferenceUniversity of Colorado BoulderBig 12 ConferenceOklahoma State UniversityOklahoma State UniversityBig 12 ConferenceUniversity of OklahomaGrinnell CollegeBig 12 ConferenceKansas State UniversityBig 12 ConferenceIowa State UniversityDrake UniversityBig 12 ConferenceUniversity of NebraskaBig 12 ConferenceUniversity of MissouriBig 12 ConferenceUniversity of KansasWashington University in St. LouisUniversity of Iowa

Full members
Other conference
Big Eight members who were among the founding members of the Big 12 Conference 

Subsequent conference affiliations

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Team Left for Current home
Colorado Big 12 Conference1
Drake Missouri Valley Conference Pioneer Football League
Missouri Valley Conference2
Grinnell Missouri Valley Conference Midwest Conference3
Iowa Big Ten Conference
Iowa State Big 12 Conference
Kansas
Kansas State
Missouri Big 12 Conference Southeastern Conference4
Nebraska Big 12 Conference Big Ten Conference5
Oklahoma Big 12 Conference Southeastern Conference6
Oklahoma State Big 12 Conference
Washington University in St. Louis Missouri Valley Conference University Athletic Association7
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin
  1. ^ Colorado left the Big 12 for the Pac-12 beginning with the 2011–12 season. It will rejoined the Big 12 in 2024.[29]
  2. ^ 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 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.
  3. ^ Grinnell joined the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference beginning with the 1939–40 season; their affiliation from 1928 to 1939 is unclear.[30] The MCAC merged with the Midwest Athletic Conference for Women to form the Midwest Conference beginning with the 1994–95 season.
  4. ^ Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC beginning with the 2012–13 season.
  5. ^ Nebraska left the Big 12 for the Big Ten beginning with the 2011–12 season.
  6. ^ Oklahoma left the Big 12 for the SEC beginning with the 2024–25 season.
  7. ^ 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 in all other years.[31] Washington University is now a football-only affiliate member of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.

Commissioners

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Conference champions

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Main article: List of Big Eight Conference champions

Men's basketball

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Main article: Big Eight Conference men's basketball tournament

Following are the MVIAA/Big Eight regular-season conference champions from 1908 to 1996 (showing shared championships in italics):[1][37]

Men's basketball regular-season championships (1908–1996)
School Total titles Outright titles Years
Colorado 5 3 1954 · 1955 · 1962 · 1963 · 1969
Drake 0 0
Grinnell 0 0
Iowa State 4 2 1935 · 1941 · 1944 · 1945
Kansas 43 32 1908 · 1909 · 1910 · 1911 · 1912 · 1914 · 1915 · 1922 · 1923 · 1924 ·
1925 · 1926 · 1927 · 1931 · 1932 · 1933 · 1934 · 1936 · 1937 · 1938 ·
1940 · 1941 · 1942 · 1943 · 1946 · 1950 · 1952 · 1953 · 1954 · 1957 ·
1960 · 1966 · 1967 · 1971 · 1974 · 1975 · 1978 · 1986 · 1991 · 1992 ·
1993 · 1995 · 1996
Kansas State 17 14 1917 · 1919 · 1948 · 1950 · 1951 · 1956 · 1958 · 1959 · 1960 · 1961 ·
1963 · 1964 · 1968 · 1970 · 1972 · 1973 · 1977
Missouri 15 12 1918 · 1920 · 1921 · 1922 · 1930 · 1939 · 1940 · 1976 · 1980 · 1981 ·
1982 · 1983 · 1987 · 1990 · 1994
Nebraska 7 2 1912 · 1913 · 1914 · 1916 · 1937 · 1949 · 1950
Oklahoma 13 8 1928 · 1929 · 1939 · 1940 · 1942 · 1944 · 1947 · 1949 · 1979 · 1984 ·
1985 · 1988 · 1989
Oklahoma State 2 1 1965 · 1991
Washington (St. Louis) 0 0

Football

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Main article: Big Eight Conference football

Shared championships are shown in italics:[1][38]

Football conference championships (1907–1995)
School Total titles Outright titles Years
Colorado 5 3 1961 · 1976 · 1989 · 1990 · 1991
Drake 0 0
Grinnell 0 0
Iowa 1 0 1907
Iowa State 2 0 1911 · 1912
Kansas 5 2 1908 · 1930 · 1946 · 1947 · 1968
Kansas State 1 1 1934
Missouri 12 10 1909 · 1913 · 1919 · 1924 · 1925 · 1927 · 1939 · 1941 · 1942 · 1945 ·
1960† · 1969
Nebraska 41 31 1907 · 1910 · 1911 · 1912 · 1913 · 1914 · 1915 · 1916 · 1917 · 1921 ·
1922 · 1923 · 1928 · 1929 · 1931 · 1932 · 1933 · 1935 · 1936 · 1937 ·
1940 · 1963 · 1964 · 1965 · 1966 · 1969 · 1970 · 1971 · 1972‡ · 1975 ·
1978 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1988 · 1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 ·
1995
Oklahoma 34 26 1920 · 1933 · 1938 · 1943 · 1944 · 1946 · 1947 · 1948 · 1949 · 1950 ·
1951 · 1952 · 1953 · 1954 · 1955 · 1956 · 1957 · 1958 · 1959 · 1962
1967 · 1968 · 1972‡ · 1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979 · 1980 ·
1984 · 1985 · 1986 · 1987
Oklahoma State 2 1 1926 · 1976
Washington (St. Louis) 0 0

† 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 initially won the 1972 title, but after it was found that they used ineligible players, they were penalized by the NCAA, though they did not force OU to forfeit games. The Big Eight asked them to forfeit three games and awarded the title to Nebraska, but Oklahoma still claims these wins and this title.

National championships won by MVIAA/Big Eight members

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The following is a complete list of the 100 AIAW, NCAA and college football championships won by teams that were representing the Big Eight Conference in NCAA- or AIAW-recognized sports at the time of the championship.[25]

National team titles by institution

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The national championships listed below are for the final eight members of the conference, as of July 2014. Football, Helms, and equestrian titles are included in the total, but excluded from the column listing NCAA and AIAW titles.

Big Eight National Championships
School Total titles Titles as a member
of the Big Eight		 NCAA and AIAW titles[25] Notes
Colorado 28 15 27 CU has 1 recognized football title and 1 AIAW title
Iowa State 18 18 18 ISU has 5 AIAW titles
Kansas 13 11 11 KU has 2 Helms basketball titles
Kansas State 0 0 0
Missouri 2 2 2
Nebraska 23 16 18 NU has 5 recognized football titles and 1 AIAW title
Oklahoma 27 19 20 OU has 7 recognized football titles
Oklahoma State 57 21 52 OSU has 4 equestrian titles and 1 recognized football title

Racial integration

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The history of the Big Eight Conference straddles the era of racial segregation in the United States, particularly as it relates to African Americans.

Before the formation of the conference, three African-American brothers at the University of Kansas 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.[40] At the same time, the University of Nebraska football team had on its roster George Flippin, the son of a slave, beginning in 1891.[40] 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.[41]

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. 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). 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

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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.[42][43] Harold Robinson later received a letter of congratulations from Jackie Robinson, who had reintegrated major league baseball in 1947 while playing with the Brooklyn Dodgers.[42]

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.[44] Iowa State would be next, with Harold Potts and Henry Philmon reintegrating the Cyclone football team in 1953.[45] The following season, Franklin Clarke became the first varsity African-American football player at the University of Colorado. In 1955, Homer Floyd became the first African-American to play football for Kansas 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 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 (SEC), 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, did so in 1967, and the last school to do so, Mississippi, did so in 1972. During the SEC's eight-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.[46]

The 1971 football season ended with three Big Eight schools—Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Colorado—ranked first, second, and third the final AP poll, the only season in college football history that three teams from the same conference finished in the top three rankings.[47] During the 1971 season, those three Big Eight teams beat three SEC schools—Alabama, Auburn, and LSU—in decisive victories (Colorado defeated LSU, 31–21 in September; Nebraska defeated Alabama, 38–6 in the Orange Bowl; Oklahoma defeated Auburn, 40–22 in the Sugar Bowl). In each of the Big Eight victories throughout this period, and especially in the 1971 season, the performance of the Big Eight schools’ black players was considered a deciding factor in their teams' victories.[48] These players' performance contributed to the SEC schools recruitment of black players—the next national championship won by the SEC was by the 1973 Alabama team, which was fully integrated.[49]

Conference facilities

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This is a listing of the conference facilities as of the final athletic season of the conference, 1995–1996.

School Football stadium Capacity Basketball arena Capacity Baseball stadium Capacity
Colorado Folsom Field 51,655 Coors Events Center 11,065 — —†
Iowa State Jack Trice Stadium 43,000 Hilton Coliseum 14,356 Cap Timm Field 3,500
Kansas Memorial Stadium 50,250 Allen Fieldhouse 16,300 Hoglund Ballpark 2,500
Kansas State KSU Stadium 43,000 Bramlage Coliseum 13,500 Frank Myers Field 2,000
Missouri Faurot Field 62,023 Hearnes Center 13,611 Simmons Field 2,000
Nebraska Memorial Stadium 76,500 Bob Devaney Center 13,000 Buck Beltzer Stadium 1,500
Oklahoma Owen Field 74,897 Lloyd Noble Center 11,528 L. Dale Mitchell Baseball Park 2,700
Oklahoma State Lewis Field 55,509 Gallagher-Iba Arena 6,381 Allie P. Reynolds Stadium 3,821

† The Colorado Buffaloes baseball program, which played home games at Prentup Field, was discontinued in June 1980.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "BigEightSports.com". Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c Murphy, Austin (November 28, 2011). "Bordering On Hatred: Rivalry Week will once again deliver must-see matchups, but this year's Kansas-Missouri showdown is like no other: It may very well be the last". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2011.
  3. ^ "Texas Giants Merge With Big 8". Associated Press. February 27, 1994.
  4. ^ "Iowa". www.bigeightsports.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  5. ^ "Oklahoma Refused". Lawrence Journal-World. Lawrence, Kansas. May 31, 1919.
  6. ^ "Oklahoma Aggies in Valley Group". Lawrence Journal-World. December 6, 1924.
  7. ^ "Big Six Grid Squads Take Field Tomorrow". The Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. September 16, 1928.
  8. ^ Fullerton, Hugh Jr. (May 27, 1947). "Sports Roundup". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Associated Press.
  9. ^ a b "Group To Ask NCAA Opinion". St. Petersburg Times. Associated Press. May 19, 1957.
  10. ^ "Football Record Book: Big Eight Conference Annual Standings" (PDF). Big 12 Conference. Archived from the original on November 7, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ^ "Men's Basketball Record Book: Big Eight Conference Annual Standings" (PDF). Big 12 Conference. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 5, 2012. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  12. ^ Maisel, Ivan (February 12, 1994). "SEC Officially Leaves CFA; Big East Will Follow Soon". The Dallas Morning News. Archived from the original on December 10, 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
  13. ^ "Politics played big part information of Big 12". The Deseret News. February 28, 1994. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
  14. ^ "Texas Giants Merge With Big 8". The Nevada Daily Mail. Associated Press. February 27, 1994.
  15. ^ "Presidents Decide on Name: Big 12". Lawrence Journal-World. Associated Press. May 13, 1994.
  16. ^ "Politics played big part in formation of Big 12". February 28, 1994. Retrieved August 26, 2012.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2012. Retrieved January 29, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. ^ "Iowa State University fall enrollment soars to a record 28,682 students". Iowa State University. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  19. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 14, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  20. ^ "KU Fall 2009 Enrollment" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 19, 2011.
  21. ^ "Kansas State University Fact Book 2010" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 21, 2012. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
  22. ^ "New Semester Sets Records". Archived from the original on September 20, 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2011.
  23. ^ "NU enrollment highest in 13 years; up for 5th consecutive year". nebraska.edu. Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  24. ^ Oklahoma stateUS News Archived August 21, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ a b c "Summary ALL DIVISIONS/COLLEGIATE TOTAL CHAMPIONSHIPS" (PDF). Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  26. ^ Brainard, Jeffrey (January 27, 2011). "Endowments Regain Ground With 12% Returns" – via The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  27. ^ "Trustees meet, dedicate Brauer Hall – The Source – Washington University in St. Louis". October 1, 2010.
  28. ^ "WU Libraries: Washington University Mascot: "Battling Bear"". Archived from the original on August 23, 2011. Retrieved September 4, 2011.
  29. ^ "Colorado To Join Big 12 Conference In 2024-25". University of Colorado Athletics. July 27, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023.
  30. ^ http://www.grinnell.edu/files/downloads/Grinnell%20College%20Football%20Season-by-Season%20Records_0.pdf[permanent dead link]
  31. ^ "Washington University in St. Louis - Official Athletics Website". Washington University in St. Louis.
  32. ^ "Reaves Peters, Ex-Big 8 Head, Dies of Cancer". Kansas City, Missouri: Lawrence Journal-World. January 31, 1966. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  33. ^ "Big Ten Official Athletic Site". Big Ten Conference. Archived from the original on April 7, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  34. ^ "Neinas Sports Services". www.neinassports.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
  35. ^ "Carl James". Duke University. December 14, 2005.
  36. ^ "Former Big Eight Commissioner Carl James Passes Away Saturday". big12sports.com. July 3, 2004.
  37. ^ "Big Eight Conference basketball history" (PDF). Big 12 Conference. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  38. ^ "Big Eight Conference football record book" (PDF). Big 12 Conference. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
  39. ^ https://storage.googleapis.com/huskers-com-prod/2023/06/27/edeuPWK1DXACANpETXsiztOD0vpxWp1ezyBzMuqT.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  40. ^ a b "Lapchick: Pioneering student-athletes required courage". ESPN.com. February 20, 2008.
  41. ^ "Nebraska U". unlhistory.unl.edu.
  42. ^ a b "Athlete Who Broke Big 12 Race Barrier Dies". CBS College Sports. May 13, 2006. Archived from the original on September 3, 2006. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
  43. ^ Baker, S Zebulon, "'To help foster athletic equality here in the Midwest': Defeating Jim Crow in the Big Seven Conference." Kansas History 39:2 (2016): 74-93. http://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/2016summer_baker.pdf
  44. ^ "Ken Geddes – No. 89 – Nebraska's Greatest Athletes". dataomaha.com.
  45. ^ "Iowa State Athletics". www.cyclones.com.
  46. ^ York, Randy (January 13, 2013). "Was Nebraska a Catalyst in ?Bama Dynasty?". huskies.com. Archived from the original on February 28, 2021 – via Wayback Machine.
  47. ^ "Fixing the Final 1971 AP College Poll". tiptop25.com.
  48. ^ "LSU fully integrated 45 years after last All-White team". tigerrag.com. August 2016.
  49. ^ Schexnayder, C. J. (December 11, 2012). "The Historical: Alabama vs Notre Dame - The 1973 Sugar Bowl". rollbamaroll.com.
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