BIG TWELVE CONFERENCE

original name Big Six Conference, American collegiate athletic organization, composed of the universities of Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, and Missouri, as well as Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Baylor, Texas A & M, and Texas Tech universities. Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa State, and Kansas State had been members of the Missouri Valley Conference (formed in 1907) but split in 1928 to form the Big Six Conference. It became the Big Seven when Colorado joined the conference in 1948, and the Big Eight in 1959, when Oklahoma State was added. The conference grew in 1996, when four Texas universities left the Southwest Conference.