In 1928, the conference split apart into two conferences, both of which claimed to be the legitimate heir to the MVIAA's history. Six schools — Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma — reorganized under the MVIAA name. This conference, popularly known as the "Big Six Conference" at the time and later as the Big Seven Conference, would eventually evolve into the Big Eight Conference. Drake, Grinnell, Washington, and Oklahoma A&M formed the Missouri Valley Conference, which retained the same administrative staff as the MVIAA. Until the Big Eight disbanded in 1996, both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date and the same history through May 1928. To this day, it has never been definitively established which conference was the original.
^Currently known as Oklahoma State University–Stillwater.
^During Oklahoma A&M's tenure in the MVIAA, the nicknames "Aggies" and "Cowboys" were used interchangeably. When the school adopted its current name in 1957, the "Cowboys" nickname was exclusively adopted.
^ abDavid A. Campaigne and John R. Thelin, "Big Twelve Conference", in Andrew R. L. Cayton, Richard Sisson, Chris Zacher, eds., The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia (2006), p. 897.
