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124th "Monon Bell" football game on Saturday Nov 11th

Melensdad

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I went to a small private all male Liberal Arts college called Wabash College.

For the past 123 years we have played football agains a small private Liberal Arts college named DePauw.

Each year the two schools face off and the winner takes home a bell, from the Monon Railway, hence the name the Monon Bell.

The match up is one of the oldest rivalries in football. The schools located 28 miles apart first played a football game in 1890 (a DePauw win), and the locomotive bell from the Monon Railroad has been the trophy since 1932. Wabash leads the series 59-54. There have been nine ties. Currently DePauw holds the bell.

https://wabash2017mononbellgame.brownpapertickets.com
The 124th Monon Bell Classic - Wabash Fans
On one Saturday each November, DePauw University and Wabash College meet on the gridiron in one of college footballs oldest and most colorful rivalries. The two west central Indiana schools have faced each other 123 times with Wabash holding a 60-54-9 lead. The teams not only play for pride but also for possession of the 300-pound Monon (pronounced MOE-non) Bell; the trophy that goes to the winning team. Since the Monon Bell entered the rivalry in 1932, Wabash leads the series, 41-38-6.

According to the DePauw record books, the bells debut went something like this:

"In a chapel pep session the day before the 1932 DePauw-Wabash game, the Monon Bell was presented by Russell Alexander, the DePauw publicity director, as the official DePauw-Wabash trophy for football. It was to be presented every year to the winner of the traditional battle. In case of a tie, it remained with the previous years winner. The 300-pound bell was a gift of the Monon Railroad, taken from one of the railroads locomotives.

The idea of a trophy originated in a letter sent to Mr. Bill Fox, (then) sports editor of The Indianapolis News, from DePauw alumnus Orien Fifer of the class of 1925. The 1932 game was played on a field covered with ice and snow, the snowfall during the preceding few days being so heavy that it was necessary to clear the field with roadscrapers. The gamed ended in a scoreless tie."​

The Monon Bell game is more than just a game. The week preceding the annual contest has included shared activities between the two schools, such as concerts, debates, an intramural all-star football game, an alumni football game the morning of the varsity contest and other events. Since the schools are only 28 miles apart, the adversaries in the game are often brothers, cousins, high school classmates or good friends, adding to the rivalrys intensity.

The game is regularly telecast live to combined alumni meetings of the two schools in cities across the country and on networks including on ABC-TV in 1977, ESPN2 in 1994 and AXS vTV (formerly HDNet) in 2003 and 2006 through 2016. The 2004 and 2005 games were telecast nationally on DirecTV.

Of course I will be UNABLE to watch the game as I will be coaching my high school fencing team at a tournament while the game is being played. But if anyone here wants to text the scores to my cellphone I'd greatly appreciate it.

48-Bell.jpg


Oh, next week the game will be broadcast on the networks: FOX COLLEGE SPORTS CENTRAL as well as FOX SPORTS MIDWEST and FOX SPORTS INDIANA, so when you are scrolling through the channels and see an obscure football match up between 2 tiny schools, stop, take a look, and let me know the score! >>> https://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/33341/
 
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