Kansas State University - The Royal Purple Yearbook

“CONFERENCE KICK-OFF A Wildcat victory marked the birth of the Big 12 Conference. KSU Stadium hosted the inaugural conference game against Texas Tech Aug. 31. The Wildcats beat the Red Raiders 21-14 in front of the sixth-largest crowd in school history. " Of course, Kansas State was very honored, privileged and deserving to be host for the first athletic competition for the Big 12 Conference, " Max Urick, athletic director, said. " It ' s positive all the way around due to the prestige and exposure involved with the conference, " he said. Planning for the pre-game ceremony began in spring 1995. " It was the luck of the draw that K-State was selected for the inaugural game, " Cindy Fox, assistant athletic director, said. " It was tough to have the first game be a conference game, but it paid off in the end. " Fox coordinated meetings between the athletic department and the Big 12 office to explore possible events for the inaugural ceremony. Events included a presentation of plaques commemorating the inaugural game to Urick and Gerald Myers, interim Texas Tech athletic director. Keith Jackson, ABC sports broadcaster, narrated a video on Big 12 schools ' football histories, which was shown on the stadium ' s new Sony JumboTron. As the last scenes from the JumboTron ended, attention turned to the field as four KSU Parachute Club members parachuted to the center of the field. The first carried a Big 12 flag, and the second carried a K-State flag. A Texas Tech flag was booed by fans, but the last flag read " Beat Tech. " " I thought that it was really weird that they did that with all the Tech stuff, " Casey Noble, senior in pre-denistry, said. " Considering it was the first game though, it was kind of neat that they had a ceremony like that to see. " The day ' s festivities continued with the release of about 5,000 balloons in Texas Tech and K-State colors, followed by a fireworks display. " It was neat they had the fireworks, even though they were kind of hard to see in the daylight, " Alisa Landwehr, junior in elementary education, said. " It really added to the importance of the first game. " Chris Thiesen, Big 12 assistant service bureau director, said the Big 12 office was impressed with the pre-game festivities. " It was a great way to kick off the Big 12 and a great game to boot, " he said. BY SUN DEE MILLS Paul Taylor, junior in arts and sciences and trombone player for the K-State Marching Band, yawns between songs at the game against Texas Tech. Besides band performances, events at the inaugural game included a fireworks display and an exhibition by the KSU Parachuting Club. (Photo by Cary Conover) Wildcat fans Pat Beedles, junior in architecture, and Bret Nickell, junior in science, cheer on the football team. As members of ICAT, a student organization that supported K-State athletics, they were guaranteed seats. (Photo by Cary Conover) 10 big CONFERENCE ”