Big Ten Conference

The Big Ten Conference is a college athletic conference located in the northern United States, stretching from Iowa in the west to Pennsylvania in the east. The conference competes in the NCAA's Division I-A. Member schools of the Big Ten conference are also members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a leading educational consortium. Despite the conference's name, since 1990, there have been eleven schools in the conference.

History

The Big Ten was founded in 1895 as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives. The founding member schools included six current members, plus the University of Chicago; and Lake Forest College, who only lasted one year in the conference. The first reference of the conference as The Big Nine was in 1899 after Iowa and Indiana had joined. The first reference as the Big Ten was in 1917 after Michigan rejoined the conference (Ohio State had been added in 1912).

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1895 - University of Chicago - Lake Forest College

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The conference was again known as the Big Nine after the University of Chicago decided to deemphasize varsity athletics just before World War II. Chicago discontinued football in 1939 and left the Conference in 1946. (Chicago to this day continues its relationship with the conference as a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the "academic Big Ten".) In 1950, Michigan State joined and the conference was again known as the Big Ten.

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The conference’s official name throughout the time was still the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives and was also known as the Western Conference. It did not formally adopt the name Big Ten until 1987 when it was incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation. When Penn State was added in the early 1990s, it was decided that the name of the conference would stay as the Big Ten, but a logo was adopted that made it clear that the conference has 11 teams. The number eleven is disguised in the white areas of the traditionally blue Big Ten logo.

Related Topics:
1987 - Logo

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Following the addition of previously independent Penn State, efforts were made to encourage Notre Dame, the other traditional independent football powerhouse, to join the league. Although the Notre Dame faculty senate endorsed the idea, in 1999 the board of trustees decided against joining the conference.http://www.mndaily.com/daily/1999/02/08/sports/irish/

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