Established 1972 Association NCAA | Dissolved 1976 Region Mountain States | |
The Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) was a collegiate athletic conference which operated in the western United States. It was aligned with the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC). The two allied conferences worked under the name of the Mountain and Plains Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MPIAA). It was announced on May 15, 1972. The founding schools were Fort Hays State; Kansas State College, Pittsburg; Kansas State College of Emporia; Southern Colorado State College; Nebraska-Omaha, Northern Colorado, and Washburn. The conference only lasted four years, as Nebraska-Omaha and Northern Colorado left for the North Central Conference, Southern Colorado went back to the RMAC, and the rest of the schools started the Central States Intercollegiate Conference, which merged into the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association in 1989.