The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference comprised of 14 private institutions of higher education from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. The KCAC is the oldest conference in the NAIA and the second-oldest athletic conference in the United States.
The origins of the KCAC are traced to February 15, 1890, when the Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (KIAC) became the result of the first successful attempt at organization among Kansas colleges, "to promote and regulate amateur intercollegiate athletics." In 1902 this early association became allied with the Kansas College Athletic Conference, a group which was the first to adopt a definite set of rules and regulations.
In 1902 the conference included 18 full members and two allied members: Baker University, Bethany College, Bethel College, College of Emporia, Sterling College, Wichita State University, Friends University, Kansas Wesleyan University, Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Pittsburg State University, Kansas State University, McPherson College, Ottawa University, Benedictine College, St. Mary’s College, Southwestern College, and Washburn University. Allied members were St. John’s College and Kansas City University.
13 teams left the conference by the end of the 1926-1927 season. Kansas State University (1913) and the University of Kansas (1907) joined the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA). College of Emporia, Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Pittsburg State University, Southwestern College, Washburn University, and Wichita State University left to form the Central Intercollegiate Conference. Benedictine College, Bethel College, Friends University, and Sterling College left the fold to become independents in 1928-29.
Due to the changes in the athletic landscape, the KIAC reorganized on December 1,1928 becoming the Kansas College Athletic Conference (KCAC)
The members of the newly restructored conference were Baker University, Bethany College, Kansas Wesleyan University, McPherson College, Ottawa University, and St.Mary's College. At that time sportswriters quickly gave the KCAC league a nickname: the "Little Six," in contrast to the Big Six (which became Big 8, now Big 12) which also was organized in 1928.
There were more changes to the KCAC that happened in the 1930s with one school closing and two returning to the conference. St.Mary's College closed its doors in 1931-32, the College of Emporia returned to the fold in 1933-34, and Bethel College was readmitted in 1939-40.
Members of the original conference returned in the 1950s. Friends University returned in 1953-54 and both Sterling College and Southwestern College were readmitted to the KCAC in 1958-59. Two new members joined with the addition of Tabor College and St. Mary of the Plains College (Dodge City, Kan.) in 1968-69.
These two new members in 1968-69 gave the KCAC 12 schools, moving the conference to rebrand itself as the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. Due to the KCAC having 12 members, the conference was organized into a Northern and Southern Division. This lasted from 1969-70 to 1970-71 due to another restricting of the KCAC membership. Baker University, College of Emporia, and Ottawa University left to join the Heart of America Athletic Conference (Heart) in 1971-72, giving the KCAC nine members.
The KCAC moved back to 10 members with Ottawa University returning to the KCAC in 1982-83. The conference dropped to nine members with the closing of St. Mary of the Plains College in 1991-92. In 1999-2000, the conference was able to push its membership to 10 with the addition of the University of Saint Mary from Leavenworth, Kan.
Wanting to add more opportunities to its member schools and expand the reach of the KCAC, the conference expanded to 14 teams with the addition of Oklahoma Wesleyan University (2015-16), York University (2015-16), Avila University (2018-19), and Evangel University (2023-24).
The KCAC has been part of the collegiate landscape since 1902. The KCAC has held its annual outdoor track and field meet every season since 1902 except during World War I, World War II, and CoVid-19. Men’s basketball has been sponsored since 1904, football was restarted in 1907, men’s tennis began as early as 1912, and men’s golf was added in 1923.
The first college football game in the state of Kansas was played between two of the original members of the KCAC, the University of Kansas and Baker University in 1890. The first night football game held west of the Mississippi River was played between Sterling College and Wichita State University in 1905 thanks to the Coleman Company that set up temporary gas-powered lighting.
In 1975 women’s intercollegiate athletics was added to the KCAC with the addition of basketball, volleyball, and track and field.
Today’s KCAC offers 28 conference championships: men’s cross country, women’s cross country, football, women’s volleyball, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, esports, women’s basketball, men’s basketball, women’s wrestling, men’s wrestling, men’s bowling, women’s bowling, men’s indoor track and field, women’s indoor track and field, men’s swimming and diving, women’s swimming and diving, cheer, dance, baseball, softball, women’s flag football, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, men’s outdoor track and field, and women’s outdoor track and field.
The KCAC is an affiliated conference of the National Association of intercollegiate Athletics with headquarters in Kansas City, Mo. The NAIA has maintained the highest standards while administering first-rate athletics programs since 1937, when intercollegiate championship basketball was introduced. The NAIA provides strong leadership for all aspects of intercollegiate sports. The NAIA administers athletics programs and championships in proper balance with overall collegiate educational experience. Serving higher education in this manner is a responsibility the NAIA does not take lightly. It is a relationship built on confidence and trust -- a relationship which is strengthened year after year. The future of 60,000 young people is too important to handle any other way.
—KCAC—