The Kansas State Wildcats are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are generally used as complementary colors.

Zora Goodwin Clevenger was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, and pioneering athletic director. He served as the head football coach at Nebraska Wesleyan University (1908–1910), the University of Tennessee (1911–1915), and Kansas State University (1916–1919), compiling a record of 47–32–7. Clevenger was also the head basketball coach at Indiana University (1904–1906), Nebraska Wesleyan (1907–1911), Tennessee (1911–1916), and Kansas State (1916–1919), and was baseball coach at Indiana (1905–1906), Nebraska Wesleyan (1908–1911), Tennessee (1911–1916), and Kansas State (1919–1921). Clevenger served as the athletic director at Kansas State (1916–1920), the University of Missouri (1921–1923), and Indiana (1923–1946). He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1968.