Girls Of The Big Eight

Adecade ago, Playboy sent Contributing Photographer David Chan to the nation's Great Plains in search of middle America's comeliest coeds-the girls of the Big Eight Conference. A clutch of colleges nestled between the Rockies and the Mississippi (with schools in Colorado, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska and two each in Kansas and Oklahoma), the Big Eight marks the bull's-eye of the continental U.S.---geographically and culturally. The ladies of the conference, we reported in 1982, were a ripe representation of the country's college crowd, including "flower children, sorority people, freaky people, punk people, everybody." And as Chan's portfolio proved, they were beautiful to boot. But now it's a decade later. Would a return visit to the country's cornfields reap as bountiful a harvest as the first trip? We sent Chan back to Big Eight country and he captured some scenery you won't find in the Farmer's Almanac. "It was staggering," says Managing Photo Editor Jeff Cohen. "More than 200 women snowed up in Colorado alone-with similar turnouts in Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. And each one looked prettier than the last." We narrowed the plentiful crop to a breathtaking 41 ladies. (Pick your favorite and help her win $5000 to further her education. See details on page 143.) So enjoy---and, hey, welcome back.