GAC Unveils Coin to Mark First Season

When football officials in the Great American Conference call the captains together for the coin toss before games this season, they will hold a piece of history in their hands.

The league office commissioned Northwest Territorial Mint of Dayton, Nev., to create a commemorative coin that celebrates the first season of GAC athletics competition in 2011-12.

According to a news release from the Great American Conference, the commemorative coin features the stacked secondary logo of the GAC on the heads side and the logos of the now-defunct Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference and Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference on the tails side.

Six of the nine GAC charter members — the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Arkansas Tech University, Harding University, Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University and Southern Arkansas University — were members of the AIC.

The other three GAC charter members — East Central University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University and Southwestern Oklahoma State University — were OIC members. Northwestern Oklahoma State University, one of the GAC’s two provisional members, was also a part of the OIC.

“This coin is a great way to symbolize the inaugural season of the Great American Conference,” said GAC Commissioner Will Prewitt. “But, it’s also a significant way we can show respect for the tradition and heritage that our membership brings to the league. The AIC and OIC each represent an extremely notable chapter of small college sports in our region, and we never want to forget that.”

In addition to serving as the coin for all pre-game coin tosses at football games hosted by GAC institutions, each Great American Conference member institution will also receive one of the coins for its archives.

Click here to learn more about the Great American Conference.

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