By Tyler Cundith

Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) 

With 21 members, the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference is second largest major conference in community college athletics and one of the most prolific in the National Junior College Athletic Association.

Since it’s founding in 1923, the KJCCC is dedicated to achieving the highest goals in the integration of academic and athletic endeavors. Individually, member schools have long been respected for successes both in the classroom and in its stadiums.

The Kansas Jayhawk Conference crowns champions in 23 sports – 12 women’s sports, and 11 men’s sports. They include baseball, men’s D-I and D-II basketball, women’s D-I and D-II basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, football, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, D-I and D-II softball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, D-I and D-II volleyball and wrestling. KJCCC schools also compete on a national level in bowling, dance, half marathon and swim and dive.

In its history, the KJCCC has won 141 NJCAA national championships in 16 different men’s and women’s sports. In addition, 17 of its 21 members have one at least one national championship, and 14 have captured multiple titles. Since 2000, the KJCCC has won 66 national crowns, 27 men’s and 39 women’s titles.

Individually, the conference has produced an impressive number of NJCAA individual champions and All-Americans, and a significant number of athletes have gone on to excel on the NAIA, NCAA, Olympic and professional levels.

The KJCCC can take pride in success of former athletes on the world stage. At the 2004 Olympics, former Barton County athletes earned a total of seven medals, including three gold medals.  Among that group was Veronica Campbell, who won gold in the 200-meters and 4x100, and bronze in the 100-meters for Jamaica, and former Cougar Derrick Brew ran a leg on USA’s gold medal 4x400 relay.  

Four years later in 2008, Campbell again took gold in the 200-meters, and former Barton County track stars Aaron Armstrong and Leevan Sands also earned Olympic hardware.  Armstrong earned silver for Trinidad & Tobago in the men’s 4x100 relay and Sands took the bronze in the triple jump.  For team USA, former Cougar Hyleas Fountain finished with a Bronze medal in the women’s heptathlon and former Pratt baseball standout Terry Tiffee helped USA to a Bronze medal.

Another former Barton County track athlete, Tyson Gay, is considered one of the more decorated former NJCAA track and field athletes.  In 2008 at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Gay set an American record in the 100-meters. He was clocked in a time of 9.77, which was the third-fastest time ever in the event.  A day later he posted a wind-aided 9.68 which is the fastest ever 100-meter time under any conditions -even faster than the official 9.69 mark set by Jamaica’s Usain Bolt at the Olympics in Beijing.  In 2007, Gay became just the third athlete in history to claim both the 100-meter and 200-meter world titles.  He also anchored the USA 4x100 relay that won gold.  For his efforts in 2007, Gay was selected as the 2007 IAAF Male World Athlete of the Year and the 2007 Men’s Athlete of the Year by Track and Field News.  

KJCCC athletes have also made an impact in the NFL, with over 300 players having played for all 32 teams in the league. Among that group include former Coffeyville running back Mike Rozier, who also was the Heisman Trophy winner in 1983 at the University of Nebraska; former Ravens back Brandon Jacobs, who won Super Bowl rings with the New York Giants and New England Patriots and former Garden City running back Corey Dillon, who won a Super Bowl with the Patriots in 2004. Lavonte David, Cordarrelle Patterson, Alvin Kamara, and Tyreek Hill are KJCCC athletes currently starring in the NFL.

On the diamond, former standouts Travis Hafner of Cowley and Adam La Roche of Fort Scott put up big numbers at the Major League level. Hafner hit 213 home runs and drove in 731 runners over his 12 season with the Rangers, Indians and Yankees, and LaRoche belted 255 career homers and drove in 882 runs in his 12-year pro career playing for the Braves, Pirates, Red Sox, Diamondbacks, Nationals and White Sox. Former Kansas City Kansas sluggers David Segui and Kevin Young combined for 27 years of service, 2,419 hits and 283 home runs at the Major League level.  

Several former athletes also went on to pro career in sports different from what they played while attending KJCCC schools.  Basketball players Marcus Pollard of Seward County, James’ Buster” Douglas of Coffeyville and Steve Fritz of Hutchinson all went on to have successful professional careers in other sports. Pollard has played 12 seasons at a tight end in the NFL.  Douglas was a former undisputed world heavy weight boxing champion and scored the biggest upset in the history of the sport by knocking out Mike Tyson in 1990 in Tokyo.  Fritz was the 1997 U.S. national champion in the decathlon.  He also hit the game-winning shot to give Hutchinson the 1988 national basketball title.

Organized in 1923, the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference arose out of the special needs of the Kansas community colleges to create an organization which would further the best interest of intercollegiate athletics. Originally named the Kansas Public Junior College Association, the name Kansas Jayhawk Junior College Conference was adopted in 1962. Thirteen years later, the name as it is now today, the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, was adopted.

Composed by five members at the outset, the conference has changed its makeup several times. Today, the conference has separate division based on geography (East or West) or national participation (Division I or Division II).

Nine individuals shave held the title of commissioner. Mike Saddler, former athletic director at Neosho County Community College and Colby Community College, took over as commissioner in the summer of 2023 following the retirement of Carl Heinrich.

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Mike Saddler enters his first year serving as commissioner of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. He is the ninth individual to serve as conference commissioner.

Prior to taking over as commissioner, Saddler served a as director of athletics at Colby Community College from May 2018 to May 2023. In addition to his responsibilities, Saddler also served as the Region VI Men’s Director and the KJCCC secretary and treasurer. In his role as region director, he served as chair of the NJCAA Division I Baseball Committee and the Sanction Review Committee, vice chair of the Eligibility Committee, while also serving on the the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.

Colby enjoyed tremendous success during his five years with the Trojans highlighted by the 2022 Men’s Division I Cross Country National Championship which was the school’s first national title in more than 20 years. The Trojans also claimed five Jayhawk Conference Championships and two Region 6 Championships while earning the first trip the Division I Men’s Basketball National Tournament in 2020. In July of 2022 Saddler was honored with the Cushman & Wakefield Athletics Director of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics.

Saddler came to Colby after spending nine years at Neosho County Community College. He began his time at Neosho County as an assistant baseball coach before being promoted to assistant athletic director in 2012 and athletic director in February of 2015. Under Saddler’s leadership, the Panthers claimed conference championships in baseball (2016), cheer (2017) and men’s soccer (2017). In addition, the 2016 men’s basketball team qualified for the school’s first-ever trip to the NJCAA National Tournament following a District Championship.

While at Neosho, Saddler launched the Panther Cup which rewarded team success in the classroom and community service, as well as on-field success. Since its inception, the athletic department grade point average climbed every year including a then school record 3.01 cumulative GPA at the end of the 2016-17 school year. Neosho teams were also active in the community, as student-athletes combined for more than 4,000 hours of community service each year.

Prior to being named Neosho’s athletic director, Saddler spent three years as the assistant athletic director and sports information director. In his roll, Saddler handled media relations for each of the 13 sports. Other responsibilities included compliance, eligibility, fundraising, game management, and other administrative duties. Before entering administration, Saddler spent eight years as a baseball coach at Baker University, Fort Hays State University, and Neosho. During his three seasons as an assistant at Neosho, the Panthers twice set school records for wins and earned the program’s second trip to the JUCO World Series in 2012.

A native of Colby, Saddler received an associate degree from Colby Community College. He was a member of the baseball team and earned NJCAA All-Academic team honors. Later he received his bachelor’s degree in sports management from the University of Kansas and a master’s degree in sports administration from Fort Hays State University. He is married to the former Sara Nally of Colby. The Saddlers have two sons, Brody and Hudson, and reside in Colby.