University of Chicago brings storied football past to Bethel

[station19]

For those of you that didn't know, U of Chicago was a charter member of the Big Ten.

"Robert Maynard Hutchins saw no other way. Appalled by rampant commercialism and corruption in college football, the University of Chicago president abolished the sport at his school in 1939, declaring it an “infernal nuisance’’ unsuited to an elite academic institution. ¶ Just like that, a charter member of the Big Ten had ceased to exist. The first-ever Heisman Trophy — awarded in 1935 to Jay Berwanger — and the game balls commemorating seven Big Ten titles and two national championships became ancient artifacts in sealed glass cases. The only people who visited 55,000-seat Stagg Field were the Manhattan Project scientists engineering the first nuclear chain reaction under its deteriorating west stands."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/279520402.html?page=all&prepage=1&c=y#continue

 

[KD6-3.7]

I've always wondered if that move by Hutchins was good for the University of Chigaco. On the one hand Chicago is one of the top universities in the world, on the other it lacks name recognition. I think that your average man on the street outside of Chicago would mistake the university of Chicago for just another public school and not know the difference between UOC and UIC. Stanford is a similar school in stature that has much higher name recognition. Is that from football? Hard to say. One thing I am sure about is that there needs to be an even bolder move than Chicago's to shake up the college football world. Because it sounds like things have only gotten worse since 1939.