February 8, 1896: What Became the Big Ten Conference Is Founded

February 8, 1896: The Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives is founded in Chicago. It eventually became known as the Big Ten Conference, or the Big 10. It is the oldest college sports league in America.

To deal with mounting criticism of college football, James Henry Smart, then the President of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana invited the presidents of some other Midwestern schools to a meeting in Chicago. The original 7 members were Purdue; the University of Chicago; the University of Illinois, in Champaign, Illinois; the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor; the University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis; Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois; and the University of Wisconsin, in Madison.

"The Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives" was an unwieldy name. So they called themselves "The Western Conference." This would appear to make little sense, but the western part of the U.S., in spite of the transcontinental railroad having been in place since 1869, still didn't really feel like part of the country to the east. And so, what is now called "the Midwest" was still "the West" for a lot of people.

Indicative of this is the fact that a school just north of Chicago is called "Northwestern University"; and also the fact that, in 1899, the University of Michigan published a fight song, "Hail to the Victors," that calls themselves "Michigan, the Champions of the West." Schools that would later oppose them in the Rose Bowl would sometimes get a laugh at that.

In 1899, Indiana University, in Bloomington, and the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, joined. This led to the league being nicknamed the Big Nine. In 1900, the University of Nebraska, in Lincoln, petitioned to join, but were turned down. They were turned down again in 1911.

In 1907, Michigan were voted out of the league. In 1912, the Ohio State University, in Columbus, were voted in. In 1916, Michigan were voted back in, and the league began to be called the Big Ten for the first time. In 1939, the University of Chicago de-emphasized their sports program, and dropped out, making the league a Big Nine again. In 1949, Michigan State University, in East Lansing, were admitted, and it was a Big Ten Conference again, although that name wasn't made official until 1987.

Logo, 1949-1990

From 1947 until 2001, the Rose Bowl in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California usually invited the Big 10 football champion to play against the champion of the league that would eventually be known as the Pac-8, the Pac-10 and the Pac-12.

Of those 55 appearances: Michigan made 16, Ohio State 12, Wisconsin 6, Iowa 5, Illinois 4, Michigan State 4, Minnesota 2, Northwestern 2, Purdue 2, Indiana 1... and Penn State 1. More on that in a moment. It should be noted that, until 1975, the Big 10 had a rule: No school could represent them in the Rose Bowl 2 years in a row. So, if a team won back-to-back titles, in the 2nd season, the 2nd-place team would go to the Rose Bowl instead.

In 1990, Pennsylvania State University, or "Penn State" for short, based in State College and an independent until then, were admitted as the league's 11th member, to begin play in the 1993-94 schoolyear. A vote was taken to keep the Big Ten name, but a new logo was designed, with the number 11 worked in. Leaving the Big 12, Nebraska were finally admitted, effective 2011, and the current "B1G" logo was unveiled.

Logo, 1990-2011

But at least a school in Nebraska was Midwestern, and it was odd, but not outrageous, to give a school in Central Pennsylvania the "Midwestern" label. But in 2013, effective the next year, the Big 10 admitted Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, from the Big East; and the University of Maryland, in the Washington suburb of College Park, from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

All geographical sense was blown out of the water in 2022, when the 2 major schools in Los Angeles -- UCLA, the University of California at Los Angeles, and USC, the University of Southern California -- were admitted, effective with the 2024-25 schoolyear. The Pac-12 was disintegrating. The following year, the University of Oregon, in Eugene, and the University of Washington, in Seattle, joined the Big 10, also effective in 2024. That made the Big 10 an 18-team league.

The University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana, had long had rivalries with Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Northwestern, and had occasionally had big games with Ohio State. But, being an independent, they didn't want to split bowl game and other-sports tournament revenue. Finally, other expenses prevailed: They joined the Big 10, but only for hockey purposes, in 2016, and the ACC for other sports.

A person knowing only geography, and not the history of college football, would think that Michigan and Michigan State would be a big rivalry. And it is. Certainly, Michigan State fans think of Michigan as their biggest rivals. But Michigan fans see MSU as merely "the little brother." To them, the true arch-enemy is Ohio State. The schools were so dominant in football for so long, and are again, that the league was often referred to as "The Big Two, Little Eight." UM-MSU is, however, a big rivalry in basketball and hockey.

In football, Michigan and Michigan State play each other for the Paul Bunyan Trophy. Michigan and Minnesota play for the Little Brown Jug. Minnesota and Wisconsin play for the Paul Bunyan Axe. And Minnesota and Iowa play for a bronze statue of a pig, named Floyd of Rosedale, after a live pig that was a trophy designed to actually calm down the rivalry during a nasty stage in 1935.

Minnesota vs. Wisconsin is easily the biggest college hockey rivalry in the country, the way many people (ignoring Alabama vs. Auburn and Texas vs. Texas A&M) think of Michigan vs. Ohio State. The biggest basketball rivalry is the intrastate one between Indiana and Purdue. In football, Indiana and Purdue play for the Old Oaken Bucket. Illinois vs. Northwestern is also a big rivalry.

Ohio State vs. Penn State would seem to be a big rivalry, but PSU's recency in the league keeps a damper on it. Penn State's main rivals are the University of Pittsburgh, now in the ACC. Same with Iowa vs. Nebraska: Both schools have a bigger rivalry with Iowa State, Iowa because it's intrastate, Nebraska because they were in the Big 8 and then the Big 12 with Iowa State. Neither Rutgers nor Maryland have a rivalry with any of the other Big 10 schools, although it wouldn't be surprising to see them develop one with each other.

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February 8, 1896 was a Saturday. Baseball and football were out of season. Hockey was all-amateur. And basketball barely existed. The only scores on this day were in English soccer, and some of the teams involved no longer exist. And most of the teams that do don't even use the same names anymore.