October 31 – The first playing of the "Border War" between Kansas and Missouri, in Kansas City, Missouri.[2] Border War games are played Kansas City until 1911. In 1912, Kansas hosts the game for the first time in Lawrence.
1893
African American Ed Haney plays on the football team for the University of Kansas.[3]
November 30 – Kansas State competes in its first intercollegiate football game, against St. Mary's College. The Manhattan Mercury reports afterward on its front page: "About 30 spectators and lovers of the game accompanied our college foot ball team to St. Marys on Thanksgiving day and witnessed the defeat of St. Marys' college team by a score of 18 to 10."[4]
October 28 – Haskell College faces Carlisle at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, in front of a crowd of 12,000 people, in an early inter-sectional college football "championship" game.[2][5]
1905
October 6 – Cooper College (Sterling) plays Fairmount (Wichita State) in a night game – the first night college football game west of the Mississippi River.[6]
December 25 – Washburn and Fairmount play an "experimental" game to test new rules.[2][7]
October 21 – Kansas beats Kansas State 6–0. After the teams did not play in 1910, this is the first game in a continuous series that has lasted more than 100 years – the sixth-longest continuous series in college football history.
November 25 – Over 1,000 people gather in downtown Lawrence to watch a live scale model reenactment of the Kansas Jayhawks game against Missouri. Game statistics were transmitted by telegraph.
1913
Kansas State formally leaves the Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association to join the Missouri Valley and compete against the University of Kansas and other larger schools in the region.
1920s
1928
December 1 – The former Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference disbanded to form the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference ("little six").[citation needed]
1930s
1939
October 28 – Kansas State's homecoming game against Nebraska is broadcast on W9XAK television. This is the first college football game broadcast in Kansas and the second anywhere in the nation.
1940s
1948
January 1 – Both Wichita State and Kansas play in bowl games on the same date – the first bowl appearances for any of the state's schools. Wichita State plays in the Raisin Bowl, while KU plays in the Orange Bowl. After the season ends, WSU's head coach Ralph Graham leaves to coach at his alma mater, Kansas State, which is at the time in the midst of an NCAA-record 28-game losing streak.
1949
September 24 – Harold Robinson plays his first game for Kansas State, breaking the modern "color barrier" in Big Eight Conference athletics, and also becoming the first ever African-American athlete on scholarship in the conference.[8]
1950s
1951
September 14 – Head coach Harold Hunt of Southwestern gains national praise by rejecting a touchdown when he observes his ball carrier stepping out of bounds.[9]
Former Kansas State head coach Pappy Waldorf is voted in to the College Football Hall of Fame.[14]
1969
October 11 – Kansas State beats KU 26–22, in the first contest in the Governor's Cup series. The game features star players on both sides, with KU led by future Pro Football Hall of Fame running back John Riggins, and KSU led by quarterback Lynn Dickey.
November 22 - The Kansas State High School Activities Association holds its first state championship games. Previously, there were no playoffs for high school teams, and champions were determined by media polls.
Former Kansas State head coach Charlie Bachman is voted in to the College Football Hall of Fame.[16]
1979
Willie Jeffries is named the head coach at Wichita State, the first African-American head coach of an NCAA Division-I program at a predominantly white school.[17]
Saint Mary of the Plains closes (and also its football program)
1995
October 28 – Kansas State and Kansas face each other as ranked football teams for the first time. KU comes into the game ranked number 6 in the nation in the AP Poll, while KSU is ranked number 14. KSU wins the game, 41–7.
November 9 – Kansas State rises to the number 1 ranking in the Coaches Poll after improving to 9–0, the first time a state school is ranked first in the nation in the Division I college football polls. The Wildcats finish the regular season 11-0, but squander a chance to play for the national championship by losing 36-33 in double overtime to Texas A&M in the Big 12 Championship game.
2000s
2001
Former Kansas tackle/halfback and former head coach at Kansas, Washburn and HaskellJohn H. Outland is inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.[18]
2002
Former Wichita State head coach Marcelino Huerta is inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.[19]
2004
Charlie Richard, former head coach at Baker University, is inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame[20]
2005
November 19 - Bill Snyder retires after 17 seasons as head coach at Kansas State.
2006
The final Wheat Bowl game is played.
2007
November 24 - Kansas, ranked second in the Associated Press poll, has an opportunity to ascend to No. 1 by defeating archrival Missouri at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. However, the Tigers win 36-28 and ascend to the top.
2008
November 24 - Bill Snyder returns as head coach at Kansas State. His second tenure will last 10 seasons (2009-18).
September 2, 2017 – Kansas State football player Scott Frantz becomes the first openly gay college football player to play at the NCAA's highest level. Frantz announced to ESPN prior to the season that he is gay.[25]
