End of the
By Mike Kluck
On Nov. 22,1963, as a bullet
ripped through the skull of
President John F. Kennedy in
Dallas, the Oklahoma football
team’s plane touched down at Lincoln
Municipal Airport.
When the Sooners arrived at their
hotel, they rushed to their rooms to try
to learn alxrnt Kennedy’s death. At the
same time, members of the Oklahoma
and Nebraska football staffs and the Big
Eight Conference gathered to decide the
fate of the 43rd contest between the
two schools.
Later that night in Washington, D.C.,
Kennedy’s casket was removed from
Air Force One, while in Lincoln the
debate on playing football continued.
Many times throughout the night, the
game was canceled.
Finally, in the early-morning hours on
Nov. 23, Oklahoma football coach Bud
Wilkinson decided to call Robert F.
Kennedy, the slain president’s brother.
Wilkinson was a member of the
* President’s Fitness Council, which was
headed by Bobby Kennedy. And when
the younger Kennedy said to go ahead
and play the game, the decision was
simple.
Later that day, the only college football
game in the country kicked off in front
of 38,362 fans at Memorial Stadium.
When Nebraska emerged three hours
later as a 29-20 victor, the biggest
winner became the Big Eight Confer
ence.
“That game signaled a change m the
Big Eight Conference,” said Wayne
Duke, a former Big Eight commissioner.
“The conference literally changed from
being known as Oklahoma and the
seven dwarfs to one where five
different teams won conference titles in
the 1960s.”
Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska
and Oklahoma all won or shared a
championship from I960 to 1969.
But it was Duke who in July 1963
made one of the bigger changes in the
conference by making the Big Eight the
official name of the conference. Up until
that time, the conference had been
called the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate
Athletic Association. Because most
people called the MV IA A the Big Eight
anyway, Duke said the change was
simple.
Besides the 1963 Oklahoma-Nebraska
game, Duke said the conference also
was aided in 1954 when the Orange
Bowl ceased its contract with the
conference.
“The termination of the Orange Bowl
brought a resurgence and a boom to the
Big Eight,” Duke said. “We were able to
play a lot of different games in different
places during that time.
DN file photo
Former Oklahoma running back and Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims tries to elude Nebraska defensive back Earl
Everett.
“We also felt we had a powerful
force emerging with the conference.”
That powerful force continued to
develop throughout the 1960s, Duke
said, thanks to the coaches’ promo
tion of the conference.
Bob Devaney, former Nebraska
coach and athletic director, said the
coaches at the time felt the Big Eight
had become something special.
Former Colorado coach and athletic
director Eddie Crowder said selling
the Big Eight at that time had been
simple.
“During that time there were no
other professional sports among the
Big Eight schools,” Crowder said. “For
example, the West Coast is very
competitive with college and
professional football, which was not
true of the Big Eight schools.
“The focus of attention among the
Big Eight schools is their college
football programs. That focus of
attention has contributed to a great
extent to the strength of the confer
ence. Most athletes would far prefer to
go to a school with great loyalty.”
The selling, dedication and
commitment began to pay off for the
conference by the end of the 1960s.
More teams began moving onto the
national scene, starting with Missouri.
In 1969, Missouri, coached by
football legend Dan Devine from
1958 to 1970, tied Nebraska for the
league crown. But more importantly,
the Tigers became the team of the
’60s, not losing more than three
games during any season that decade.
The Tigers’ success at the end of the
decade gave Big Eight fans a preview
of what was to come in the next few
years.
The ’70s started with Nebraska
winning its first national title to
become the Big Eight’s first national
champion with a 17-12 win in the
Orange Bowl. But each of the other
seven conference teams had at least
four losses.
At the end of the 1971 season, the
story was different.
The Big Eight reached its pinnacle by
televising “The Game of the Century,”
DN file photo
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne conducts
practice at Memorial Stadium.