The Western Interstate University Football Association (WIUFA) was one of the first intercollegiate

athletic conferences An athletic conference is a collection of sports teams which play competitively against each other in a sports league. In many cases conferences are subdivided into smaller divisions, with the best teams competing at successively higher levels. C ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, existing from 1892 to 1897.

Formation, history and evolution

The football teams from the Universities of

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, and

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

formed the conference and competed against each other annually. Early WIUFA play led to the transition of the famous

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

between Kansas and Missouri to the football field as many of the fans and some of the first players on both teams were the sons of men who had fought each other on either side of the conflict in

Bleeding Kansas Bleeding Kansas, Bloody Kansas, or the Border War, was a series of violent civil confrontations in Kansas Territory, and to a lesser extent in western Missouri, between 1854 and 1859. It emerged from a political and ideological debate over the ...

and later the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. Racial tension surrounding the participation of Iowa's Frank Kinney Holbrook in the 1896 game between Iowa and Missouri ended up preventing what may have become a long-standing rivalry between the two schools. All four members of the WIUFA would later be among the original members of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA), which was formed in 1907. Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska stayed with the MVIAA as it evolved over the decades into the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

, which existed through the 1995 season, while Iowa remained a member of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

and left after only one season of MVIAA competition. Beginning in 1996, the members of the Big Eight joined with four schools of the former

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 also included schools from Oklaho ...

to form the new

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

Record-keeping discrepancies

For every year of the conference's existence, except 1896, there was at least one disagreement as to the final score of a game between member schools. However, in no cases is the final outcome of any game disputed.

Seasons

References

{{Reflist Defunct NCAA Division I conferences 1892 establishments in the United States 1897 disestablishments in the United States Sports leagues established in 1892 Sports leagues disestablished in 1897

Formation, history and evolution

Record-keeping discrepancies

Seasons

See also

References