Day 38: The Original Monsters of The Midway.

     In 1895, famed coach Amos Alonzo Stagg helped to found the conference that would become known as the Big Ten.  One of those founding members was the football team from the University of Chicago, known as the Maroons.  The Chicago Maroons were one of the early powers of the Big Ten, and they actually won two National Titles and seven Big Ten Championships in their first 30 years of play.  In 1935, Jay Berwanger(Chicago's halfback for that season) became the first player to ever win what would eventually be known as the Heisman Trophy.  The Maroons played their games at Stagg Field(named in honor of their coach).  In 1939, the University dropped football and withdrew from the Big Ten by 1946.

     However, the team left several legacies.  First off, remember Stagg Field?  Well, it was still standing in 1942, when the first ever controlled nuclear reaction was set off using a reactor that had been placed beneath the stands.  Also, what's with that name, Monsters of the Midway?  Isn't that more of a Bears thing?  Well, it is, but have you ever wondered what "the Midway" has to do with the Bears?  Here's the thing:  it doesn't.  The Chicago Maroons were originally known as the Monsters of the Midway in deference to the Midway Plaisance, a thoroughfare that cuts through the middle of campus very close to where Stagg Field was first located.  Around the same time that the University shut down their football program, the Bears were entering a period of greatness, so they reappropriated the nickname for their own usage.  Later on in 1985, the Bears picked the moniker back up and have used it on and off ever since.  In addition, they also borrowed the "C" on their helmets directly from the Maroons.