Big Eight Conference

Conference logo.

The Big Eight Conference, a former NCAA-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) by its charter member schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, and Washington University in St. Louis. Additionally, the University of Iowa was a joint member of the newly formed MVIAA and the older Western Conference (now the Big Ten Conference).

The Big Eight's headquarters were in Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City fought to be the home for the headquarters of the new Big 12 Conference, but a 7-5 vote (the four Texas schools plus Colorado, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, with Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Nebraska in dissent) led to the office being located in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas.

History

In 1908 Drake University and Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) joined, increased conference membership to seven. Iowa departed in 1911 but Kansas State University joined the conference in 1913. Nebraska left in 1919 to play two seasons as an independent. That year, the conference added Grinnell College, with the University of Oklahoma following suit in 1920; its intrastate rival Oklahoma A&M joined in 1925.

The year 1928 proved to be a pivotal one 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 Conference (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. 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.

The conference membership remained unchanged until the addition of the University of Colorado in 1948 from the Mountain States Conference (a forerunner of the Western Athletic Conference). The conference's unofficial name became the Big Seven Conference, coincidentally, the former unofficial name of the MSC. Oklahoma A&M, which by this time had changed its name to Oklahoma State, rejoined the conference in 1958, and the conference became known as the Big Eight.

In 1964 the conference legally claimed the name "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 game in Miami, Florida.

The conference remained unchanged until 1996, when four former members of the now-defunct Southwest Conference (Baylor, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech) joined the eight member schools to form the Big 12 Conference. The Big 12 is the old Big Eight plus the four Texas schools. The Big 12 conference considered itself a new conference, meaning that it no longer claims the Big Eight's history as its own.

Members

Final members

• Colorado Buffaloes
• Iowa State Cyclones
• Kansas Jayhawks
• Kansas State Wildcats
• Missouri Tigers
• Nebraska Cornhuskers
• Oklahoma Sooners
• Oklahoma State Cowboys

Earlier members

• Drake Bulldogs
• Grinnell Pioneers
• Iowa Hawkeyes
• Washington Bears

Membership timeline

Conference champions

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

All Big Eight men's basketball tournaments were held at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri

• 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