Chicago Maroons

Chicago Maroons
Chicago Maroons
University	University of Chicago
Conference	University Athletic Association ; Midwest Conference (baseball and football); CCIW (women's lacrosse)
NCAA	Division III
Location	Chicago, Illinois
Football stadium	Stagg Field
Basketball arena	Ratner Athletics Center
Other venues	Henry Crown Fieldhouse
Mascot	Phil the Phoenix
Nickname	Maroons
Fight song	Wave the Flag
Colors	Maroon and white;
Website	athletics.uchicago.edu

The Chicago Maroons are the intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Chicago. They are named after the color maroon. Team colors are maroon and gray,^[2] and Phil the Phoenix is their mascot. They now compete in the NCAA Division III, mostly as members of the University Athletic Association. The University of Chicago helped found the Big Ten Conference in 1895; although it dropped football in 1939 (as inconsistent with its academic vision), its other teams remained members until 1946. Football returned as a club sport in 1963, as a varsity sport in 1969, and began competing independently in Division III in 1973. The school was part of the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference from 1976 to 1987, and its football team joined the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference's successor, the Midwest Conference (MWC), in 2017. In the 2018–19 school year, Chicago added baseball to its MWC membership, and elevated its club team in women's lacrosse to full varsity status, with that sport competing in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW).

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Stagg Field is the home stadium for the re-instated football team.

Men's athletics

Baseball
Basketball – see: Chicago Maroons men's basketball
Cross Country
Football – see: Chicago Maroons football
Soccer
Swimming & Diving
Tennis
Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field – considered two separate sports by the NCAA
Wrestling

Women's athletics

Basketball – see: Chicago Maroons women's basketball
Cross Country
Soccer
Lacrosse
Softball
Swimming & Diving
Tennis
Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field – considered two separate sports by the NCAA
Volleyball

Big Ten Conference

The Maroons helped establish the Big Ten Conference (then known as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives, and commonly called the Western Conference) at a follow-up meeting on February 8, 1896.^[3] The league initially consisted of Chicago, Purdue, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern.

Jay Berwanger was awarded the first Heisman trophy in 1935.^[4]

Hall of Fame coach Amos Alonzo Stagg coached the football team from 1892–1932, the basketball team from 1920–1921, and the baseball team from 1893–1905 and 1907–1913.^[5] He encouraged players to adopt vegetarianism, believing it supported both athleticism and a "gentle and gentlemanly" sportsmanship.^[6]

The football team was dropped following the 1939 season.^[7] In explaining the reason to drop football, Robert Maynard Hutchins, the university’s president, had written acidly in The Saturday Evening Post “In many colleges, it is possible for a boy to win 12 letters without learning how to write one.” ^[8]

On March 7, 1946 the University of Chicago withdrew from the Big Ten Conference.^[9] On May 31, 1946 the resignation was formally accepted by the Big Ten Conference.^[10]

Championships

National and NCAA championships

Basketball (poll): 1906–07, 1907–08, and 1908–09 (Helms Athletic Foundation)
Football (poll): 1905 (Helms Athletic Foundation), 1913 (Parke H. Davis)
Men's Gymnastics: 1938 (team title), 9 individual champions
Men's Soccer: 2022^[11]
Men's Tennis: 2022^[12]
Men's Track & Field (Outdoor): 7 individual champions
Kris Alden: 1989 Men's Swimming Individual Champion
Rhaina Echols: 1999 Women's Cross Country Individual Champion, 2000 Women's Indoor (3,000-meter run and 5,000-meter run) and 2000 Women's Outdoor Individual Track Champion (5,000-meter run)
Tom Haxton: 2004 Men's Outdoor Track & Field Individual Champion (10,000-meter run)
Adeoye Mabogunje: 2004 Men's Outdoor Track & Field Individual Champion (Triple Jump)
Peter Wang: 1991 & 1992 Wrestling Individual Champion
Liz Lawton: 2010 Women's Outdoor Track & Field Individual Champion (5,000-meter run and 10,000-meter run)
Michael Bennett: 2014 Men's Indoor Track & Field Individual Champion (Pole Vault)
Michelle Dobbs: 2016 Women's Indoor Track & Field Individual Champion (800-meter run)
Khia Kurtenbach: 2017 Women's Cross Country Individual Champion

University Athletic Association championships

Men's Basketball: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008
Women's Basketball: 1989, 2008, 2011, 2012
Men's Cross Country: 2002, 2004
Women's Cross Country: 1992, 1993, 2012, 2013, 2022
Football: 1998, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2014
Men's Soccer: 2001, 2009, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022
Women's Soccer: 1994, 1996, 1999, 2010
Softball: 1996
Men's Track & Field (Indoor): 2002, 2008
Women's Track & Field (Indoor): 2008, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2018
Women's Track & Field (Outdoor): 2015
Wrestling: 1989, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011
Women's Tennis: 2010, 2012, 2022
Men's Tennis 2018, 2022

Midwest Conference championships

All championships listed here were won when the league was known as the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference, and only sponsored men's sports. The Midwest Conference was established in its current form in 1994 with the merger of the MCAC and Midwest Athletic Conference for Women.

Men's Soccer: 1978
Men's Tennis: 1984
Women's Tennis: 1983
Men's Track & Field (Indoor): 1980
Women's Track & Field (Outdoor): 1983, 1984

Big Ten Conference championships

Baseball: 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1913
Men's Basketball: 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1920, 1924
Men's Fencing: 1927-28, 1933–34, 1935–36, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41
Football: 1899, 1905, 1907, 1908, 1913, 1922, 1924
Men's Golf: 1922, 1924, 1926
Men's Gymnastics: 1909, 1914, 1917, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934
Men's Swimming: 1916, 1919, 1921
Men's Tennis: 1910, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939
Men's Track & Field (Indoor): 1911, 1915, 1917
Men's Track & Field (Outdoor): 1905, 1908, 1917

Fight song

Wave the Flag (For Old Chicago) is the fight song for the Maroons.^[13] Gordon Erickson wrote the lyrics in 1929. The tune was adapted from Miami University's "Marching Song" written in 1908 by Raymond H. Burke, a University of Chicago graduate who joined Miami's faculty in 1906.

The song is traditionally sung by the players at midfield after all home victories.^[14]

References

[1]
The University of Chicago Identity Guidelines (PDF). Retrieved September 18, 2018.
[2]
"Color Palette | University Communications". Archived from the original on 2014-10-26. Retrieved 2016-12-05.
[3]
Canham, Don (1996). From The Inside: A Half Century of Michigan Athletics. Olympia Sports Press. p. 281. ISBN 0-9654263-0-0.
[4]
"Heisman trophy winners". Retrieved 2 December 2015.
[5]
"Alonzo Stagg Profile". Retrieved 2 December 2015.
[6]
Shprintzen (2013). The Vegetarian Crusade. pp. 200–201. ISBN 978-1-4696-0891-4.
[7]
"Chicago gives up football as major sport". Gettysburg Times. December 22, 1939. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
[8]
Bearak, Barry (17 September 2011). "At the University of Chicago, Football and Higher Education Mix". New York Times. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
[9]
"Chicago Withdraws From Big Ten Because of Weak Athletic Teams". New York Times. March 8, 1946. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
[10]
"No changes voted by Big Ten group". New York Times. Champaign, Illinois. June 1, 1946. Retrieved 22 April 2012.
[11]
Henderson, Cydney. "University of Chicago's Julianne Sitch first female coach to lead NCAA men's soccer team to title". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2022-12-04.
[12]
NCAA.com. "UChicago wins the 2022 NCAA DIII men's tennis championship | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2022-05-25.
[13]
Archived December 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
[14]
"Chicago Traditions" Archived May 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine at University of Chicago official website (accessed 2012-12-29).

External links

Official website

[1] [1]
The University of Chicago Identity Guidelines (PDF). Retrieved September 18, 2018.

[2] [2]
"Color Palette | University Communications". Archived from the original on 2014-10-26. Retrieved 2016-12-05.

[Western_Conference-3] [3]
Canham, Don (1996). From The Inside: A Half Century of Michigan Athletics. Olympia Sports Press. p. 281. ISBN 0-9654263-0-0.

[4] [4]
"Heisman trophy winners". Retrieved 2 December 2015.

[5] [5]
"Alonzo Stagg Profile". Retrieved 2 December 2015.

[6] [6]
Shprintzen (2013). The Vegetarian Crusade. pp. 200–201. ISBN 978-1-4696-0891-4.

[7] [7]
"Chicago gives up football as major sport". Gettysburg Times. December 22, 1939. Retrieved 25 November 2013.

[8] [8]
Bearak, Barry (17 September 2011). "At the University of Chicago, Football and Higher Education Mix". New York Times. Retrieved 2 December 2015.

[9] [9]
"Chicago Withdraws From Big Ten Because of Weak Athletic Teams". New York Times. March 8, 1946. Retrieved 22 April 2012.

[10] [10]
"No changes voted by Big Ten group". New York Times. Champaign, Illinois. June 1, 1946. Retrieved 22 April 2012.

[11] [11]
Henderson, Cydney. "University of Chicago's Julianne Sitch first female coach to lead NCAA men's soccer team to title". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2022-12-04.

[12] [12]
NCAA.com. "UChicago wins the 2022 NCAA DIII men's tennis championship | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved 2022-05-25.

[13] [13]
Archived December 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine

[14] [14]
"Chicago Traditions" Archived May 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine at University of Chicago official website (accessed 2012-12-29).

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