The Chicago Maroons

Chicago Maroons

The Maroons are the intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Chicago. They are named after the color maroon, one of the school's colors. They compete in the NCAA's Division III. They are primarily members of the University Athletic Association and were co-founders of the Big Ten...

are the college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 team representing the University of Chicago. The Maroons play in NCAA Division III as a member of the University Athletic Association

University Athletic Association

The University Athletic Association is an American athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. Member teams are located in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York...

. From 1892 to 1939, the Maroons were a major college football power. The University of Chicago was a founding member of the Big Ten conference

Big Ten Conference

The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...

 and the Maroons were coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg

Amos Alonzo Stagg

Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...

, one of the game's pioneers, for 41 seasons. In 1935, halfback Jay Berwanger

Jay Berwanger

John Jacob "Jay" Berwanger was an American football halfback born in Dubuque, Iowa. He was the first winner of the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy in 1935 ; the trophy is awarded annually to the nation's most outstanding college football player...

 became the first recipient of the Downtown Athletic Club

Downtown Athletic Club

The Downtown Athletic Club was a private social club and athletic club in a 35-story building located at 19 West Street, in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA.-History:...

 Trophy, later known as the Heisman Trophy

Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

. However, The University of Chicago abolished its football program in 1939 and withdrew from the Big Ten in 1946. Football returned to the University of Chicago in 1963 in the form of a club team, which was upgraded to varsity

Varsity team

In the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...

 status in 1969. The Maroons began competing in Division III in 1973.

Division history

Year	Division
1937–1939	NCAA University Division (Major College); Big Ten Conference Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
1940–1962	No team
1963–1968	Club team
1969–1972	No Classification
1973–present	NCAA Division III

Conferences

Year	Conference
1892–1895	Independent
1896–1939	Big Ten Conference Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
1940–1962	No team
1963–1968	Club team
1969–1972	Independent
1973–1975	Division III Independent
1976–1987	Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference
1988–1989	Division III Independent
1990–present	University Athletic Association University Athletic Association The University Athletic Association is an American athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. Member teams are located in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio, and New York...

National championships

• 1905 (National Championship Foundation Poll)
• 1913 (Parke H. Davis
  Parke H. Davis
  Parke Hill Davis was an American football player, coach and historian who retroactively named the national championship teams in American college football from the 1869 through the 1932 seasons. He also named co-national champions at the conclusion of the 1933 season...
  
  ) (2)

Big Ten Conference championships

• 1899
• 1905 (2)
• 1907 (3)
• 1908 (4)
• 1913 (5)
• 1922 (6)
• 1924 (7)

All-Time Record Against Current Big Ten Members

School	Wins	Losses	Ties	%
Illinois University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...	19	22	3	.466
Indiana Indiana University Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...	20	4	1	.789
Iowa University of Iowa The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...	9	3	2	.714
Michigan University of Michigan The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...	7	19	0	.269
Michigan State* Michigan State University Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...	1	0	0	1.000
Minnesota University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...	5	12	1	.306
Nebraska*	1	1	0	.500
Northwestern Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....	26	8	3	.743
Ohio State Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...	2	10	2	.214
Penn State* Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...	0	0	0	N/A
Purdue Purdue University Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...	27	14	1	.655
Wisconsin University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...	16	19	5	.463

Note: Michigan State, Penn State, and Nebraska were not members of the Big Ten when Chicago was a member.

College Football Hall of Fame

Name	Position	Years	Inducted	Notes
Jay Berwanger Jay Berwanger John Jacob "Jay" Berwanger was an American football halfback born in Dubuque, Iowa. He was the first winner of the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy in 1935 ; the trophy is awarded annually to the nation's most outstanding college football player...	Halfback	1933-1935	1954	First recipient of the Heisman Trophy Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...
Hugo Bezdek Hugo Bezdek Hugo Francis Bezdek was a Czech-American sports figure who played American football and was a coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He was the head football coach at the University of Oregon , the University of Arkansas , Penn State University , and Delaware Valley College...	Fullback	1905	1954	Inducted for his career as a coach at Oregon, Arkansas, and Penn State
Fritz Crisler Fritz Crisler Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler was an American football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football," an innovation in which separate units of players were used for offense and defense. Crisler developed two-platoon football while serving as head coach at the University of...	End	1919-1921	1954	Inducted for his career as a coach at Minnesota, Princeton, and Michigan
Paul Des Jardien Paul Des Jardien Paul Raymond "Shorty" Des Jardien was an American football, baseball and basketball player. He played for the University of Chicago where he was selected as the first-team All-American center in both 1913 and 1914 and also pitched a no-hitter for the baseball team...	Center	1912-1914	1955	All-American in 1913 and 1914
Walter Eckersall Walter Eckersall Walter "Eckie" Eckersall was an American football player, official, and sportswriter for the Chicago Tribune. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951.-Early life:...	Quarterback	1903-1906	1951	Leader of the 1905 national championship team
Clarence Herschberger Clarence Herschberger Clarence B. "Herschie" Herschberger was an American football fullback, punter and placekicker. He played for the University of Chicago from 1896–1898 and became the first western player to be selected as a first-team All-American in 1898...	Fullback	1895-1898	1970	First western player selected as a first-team All-American
Tiny Maxwell Tiny Maxwell Robert W. "Tiny" Maxwell was a professional football player and referee. He was also a sports editor with the Philadelphia Public Ledger.-Early life:...	Guard	1902, 1904-1905	1974	All-American for 1905 national championship team
Clark Shaughnessy Clark Shaughnessy Clark Daniel Shaughnessy was an American football coach and innovator. He is sometimes called the "father of the T formation", although that system had previously been used as early as the 1880s. Shaughnessy did, however, modernize the obsolescent T formation to make it once again relevant in the...	Coach	1933–1939	1968	College football coach for 50 years
Amos Alonzo Stagg Amos Alonzo Stagg Amos Alonzo Stagg was an American athlete and pioneering college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football...	Coach	1892–1932	1951	"The Grand Old Man of the Midway"
Walter Steffen Walter Steffen Walter Steffen was an American football player and coach in the United States. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of Chicago from 1906 to 1908 and was a two-time All-American selection...	Quarterback	1906-1908	1969	Scored 156 points for teams that went 13-2-1; First-team All-American, 1908
Andy "Polyphemus" Wyant Andy Wyant Andy R. E. Wyant was a college football player, best known for playing eight vasity seasons of college football, for an unprecedented total of 73 consecutive games, from 1887–1894. It should also be noted, that during this era of football, that teams dressed in poorly made equipment and...	Guard, Center	1892-1894	1962	Played 8 varsity seasons of college football for Bucknell and Chicago

Others

• Walter S. Kennedy
  Walter S. Kennedy
  Walter Scott Kennedy was an American football player and coach and newspaper publisher. He was an All-American quarterback for the University of Chicago and captain of the 1898 and 1899 Chicago Maroons football teams. He later moved to Albion, Michigan where he was the publisher of the Albion...
  
  , quarterback for Stagg's 1898-1899 teams
• Walter E. Marks
  Walter E. Marks
  Walter E. "Wally" Marks, PhD was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, coach, college athletics administrator, sports official, and university instructor. Marks played football, basketball, and baseball at the University of Chicago...
  
  , fullback and halfback, 1924-1926; leader of Chicago's last Big Ten championship team
• Nelson Norgren
  Nelson Norgren
  Nelson H. Norgren was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. As a coach, he led the University of Utah to a national AAU basketball championship in 1916...
  
  , played football under Stagg, coached Chicago basketball team, 1921–1942, 1944–1957
• Laurens Shull
  Laurens Shull
  Laurens Corning "Spike" Shull was an All-American football player who was killed in action during World War I. He played football, baseball and basketball for the University of Chicago from 1913-1916...
  
  , All-American, killed in action during World War I
  World War I
  World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
  
  
• Frederick A. Speik
  Frederick A. Speik
  Frederick Adolph Speik was an American football player and coach. He played for the University of Chicago from 1901 to 1904 and was selected as a first-team All-American in 1904. He was the head football coach at Purdue University from 1908 to 1909, compiling a record of 6–8.-Early...
  
  , end, All-American, 1904
• Herman Stegeman
  Herman Stegeman
  -Sources: -External links:* at College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com*...
  
  , played for 1913 national championship; later coached football, baseball, basketball and track at Georgia
• Mysterious Walker
  Mysterious Walker
  Frederick Mitchell Walker , nicknamed "Mysterious", was an American athlete and coach. He was a three-sport athlete for the University of Chicago from 1904 to 1906 and played Major League Baseball as a right-handed pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Brooklyn Superbas, Pittsburgh...
  
  ,played for Stagg, 1904-1906; coached college teams, 1907-1940