Missouri residents may have the option of getting personalized license plates displaying their Kansas University loyalties. This Journal-World photo illustration shows what the KU plates might look like if the logo was placed on the current Missouri license plate.

A Jayhawk on a Missouri license plate? No need to check to see if those pigs have sprouted wings. It could be a reality as soon as June 2013.

The Kansas University Alumni Association has been working to get a KU license plate in Missouri, which recently began issuing Pittsburg State license plates. After all, KU does boast more than 30,000 alumni who live in Missouri, said Danny Lewis, director of alumni programs for the association.

KU license plates are already available in Maryland and Texas, Lewis said. The alumni association typically gets a cut of the extra revenue generated from the plates, but it’s more about the brand recognition than the dollars and cents, Lewis said.

“Anytime you can get the Jayhawk out there, it’s just a bonus,” he said.

As part of the process to get a license plate approved in Missouri, a state legislator needs to agree to sponsor the plate.

“As you can imagine, you don’t have too many Missouri representatives too willing to sign a University of Kansas license plate application,” Lewis said.

Enter Missouri Rep. Charlie Denison, a Republican from Springfield. After a KU alumnus approached him with the idea for the plate, Denison had no qualms about signing on.

“I have sponsored several different plates that wouldn’t necessarily have to do with the University of Missouri,” said Denison, who is the chairman of the legislature’s Joint Committee on Transportation.

Denison said he was unaffiliated in the historic rivalry between the Jayhawks and the Tigers. He earned a scholarship out of high school to attend Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas.

“If I could get a license plate from there, I probably would, but I probably would have to pay for the whole thing myself,” Denison said.

If Denison’s committee approves the plate in the 2013 legislative session, the alumni association will have to provide 200 completed applications in order for sales of the plate to begin.