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Breaking News... The Western Intercollegiate Brothers Are Putting the Band Back Together!

Timothy P. Brown

Jun 30, 2022

You might think we are on the verge of the first tie-up between Big Ten and Pac-12 schools -other than in the Rose Bowl- but some of those schools aligned back in 1894 with the founding of the Western Intercollegiate Amateur Athletic Association.

Founded to foster athletic competition among like-minded institutions that were often unlike one another, the schools ranged from Oberlin, DePauw, Eureka, Lake Forest, Beloit, and Centre to future Big Ten heavyweights such as Chicago, Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, and Northwestern. Kansas represented the Plains, while California stood tall on the West Coast, winning the WIAAA's first title.

The WIAAA lasted only a few years, but it sure was fun while it lasted!

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