WICHITA, Kan. - The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference has a new logo.
Tabor College senior graphics design major Dallas Pruitt of McPherson, Kansas, submitted the winning entry in a multi-stage contest entered by many students attending a KCAC institution this past spring, according to Commissioner Scott Crawford.
The new logo will be used on all official KCAC documents, immediately replacing the previous logo which had been in use for many decades.
Dr. Crawford in announcing the logo winner stated: “Dallas’ logo is highly symbolic of the mission the KCAC serves within our state, the Midwest, and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. Our defining purpose is to provide the opportunity to blend, at a minimum, a high quality intercollegiate athletic experience and a great academic experience for the young men and women who choose to attend one of the ten liberal arts colleges within this conference.”
“Dallas’ logo will serve as a proud public symbol which our students, our athletes, our fans, and our alumni will associate with the excellence which we expect of ourselves within this great conference. Not only is the logo striking in color, but it also is very impressive as a black and white mark as well,” Dr. Crawford said.
The ten member-institutions of the KCAC, all in Kansas, are: Bethany College, Lindsborg; Bethel College, North Newton; Friends University, Wichita; Kansas Wesleyan University, Salina; McPherson College, McPherson; Ottawa University, Ottawa; Southwestern College, Winfield; Sterling College, Sterling; Tabor College, Hillsboro; and University of Saint Mary, Leavenworth.
Pruitt Explain His Logo Design
Dallas Pruitt said ten stars in the new KCAC logo represent the ten current institutional members of the Kansas Conference. He wrote that the torch has two significant meanings, first as a symbol of the Flame of Knowledge to represent academics found in the KCAC, and secondly to represent athleticism in the KCAC and symbolically the universal torch that has been used since the beginning of athletic competition.
“I wanted my design to include representations for academic, athletic, and spiritual aspects of the ten member institutions,” Pruitt said. He said the overall light is a spiritual light.
Pruitt plays soccer for the Tabor College Bluejays, and he has been a team captain. He will serve on the college’s Student Activities Board. After graduation next year Pruitt is seeking to find a position in graphics design.
While in college he attends a church in Hillsboro. In high school he was active in Countryside Covenant Church of McPherson, where he was a member of the Youth Group. He continues to return there at least once a month to play drums.
Dallas Pruitt is a son of Tom and Joni Pruitt of McPherson.
The Logo Contest
Commissioner Crawford said 41 total entries were received in the student-driven logo contest, representing seven different KCAC institutions. A preliminary vote by the KCAC Governing Council reduced the entries to six semifinalists.
The semifinalists were: Nicholas Gauna, Friends University; Daniel Hill, Kansas Wesleyan University; Nate Jones, Southwestern College; Matt Parmalee, University of Saint Mary; Dallas Pruitt, Tabor College; and Zac Remboldt, Tabor College.
A second vote among presidents, athletic directors, faculty athletic representatives, and sports information directors in the conference reduced the semifinal pool down to three finalists: Daniel Hill, Nate Jones, and Dallas Pruitt.
The third vote produced the winning entrant, Dallas Pruitt of Tabor College.
History of the KCAC
Origins of the KCAC are traced to February 15, 1890, when the Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association resulted from the first successful attempt at organization among Kansas colleges "to promote and regulate amateur intercollegiate athletics." At that time the association or conference included not only private universities and colleges but also Kansas Agriculture College (now KSU), Kansas University, and Washburn University.
The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, commonly called "The Kansas Conference," is a prominent intercollegiate athletics conference comprised of ten outstanding independent or private institutions of higher education in the state.
In 1890 when the KIAA was founded, football seems to have been the major sponsored sport, and Baker University won the championship for the first three or four years. In about 1902 this early association became allied with the Kansas College Athletic Conference, the first group to adopt a definite set of rules and regulations. It also promoted an annual track and field meet which has continued yearly since, except for World War years. Basketball has been sponsored since 1904. Football was revived in 1907. Tennis began as early as 1912. Golf was added in 1923. By this time the name of the conference had been altered to Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, and it had grown to 17 college members and two allied members: Baker, Bethany, Bethel, College of Emporia, Fairmount (now WSU), Friends, Kansas Wesleyan, KSTC of Emporia (now ESU), KSTC of Hays (now FHSU), KSTC of Pittsburg (now PSU), McPherson, Ottawa, St. Benedict's (now Benedictine), St. Mary's (in Saint Mary, Kansas), Sterling (formerly Cooper College), Southwestern, and Washburn, and with St. John's and Kansas City University (Kansas) as allied members. Kansas University and Kansas Aggies had dropped out earlier to join other conferences. In 1923 the College of Emporia, KSTC of Emporia, KSTC of Hays, KSTC of Pittsburg, Wichita (formerly Fairmount), Southwestern, and Washburn withdrew to form the Central Conference.
At present the KCAC legal entity comes from a reorganization of the conference when the predecessor Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference formally disbanded on December 1, 1928, and a new conference was formed which again was called the Kansas College Athletic Conference. The members then were Baker, Bethany, Kansas Wesleyan, McPherson, Ottawa, and St. Mary's colleges. Sportswriters quickly gave the KCAC league a nickname, the "Little Six," in contrast to the Big Six (which became Big Eight, now Big 12) which also was organized in 1928. St. Mary's College was discontinued in 1931. The College of Emporia returned in 1933. Bethel was re-admitted in 1939. Friends, a former member of the KIAC, was admitted in 1953. Sterling and Southwestern were approved for membership in 1958. In 1968 Tabor College and St. Mary of the Plains College were admitted to make twelve members in the conference, and the conference was organized into Southern and Northern divisions until 1970 — when Baker, College of Emporia, and Ottawa withdrew to join two separate Missouri-based conferences.
The formal name which had been changed to Kansas College Athletic Conference, was changed again in the mid-1970s to Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. In 1975 women's intercollegiate athletics were incorporated into programs of the KCAC. In 1981 Ottawa was re-admitted, bringing the conference membership to 10. In 1992 St. Mary of the Plains College in Dodge City left the conference and closed. In 1999 Saint Mary College in Leavenworth (now named University of Saint Mary) was admitted with eligibility for championships beginning in the 2000-2001 academic year — and the conference returned to ten institutions.
The KCAC continues to be an all-Kansas conference.
The KCAC is an affiliated conference of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics with headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri.
Today the KCAC sponsors conference intercollegiate athletics in football, volleyball, men's cross country, women's cross country, men's soccer, women's soccer, men's basketball, women's basketball, men's indoor track and field, women's indoor track and field, men's outdoor track and field, women's outdoor track and field, baseball, softball, golf, women's tennis, and men's tennis.
The KCAC is a widely respected conference governing intercollegiate athletics in cooperation with the NAIA.
www.kcacsports.com