On Saturday at 2 PM, the Wheaton football team (6-0/3-0),
ranked third this week by D3football.com, will travel to
13th-ranked North Central (5-1/3-0) in a battle for first place in the CCIW standings.
The North Central College athletic department will be selling tickets for Saturday's football game this week in the North Central athletic offices at Merner Field House in Naperville. Tickets, which are $6 apiece, may be purchased between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Tuesday through Friday. North Central students, faculty and staff with a valid College ID, as well as CCIW Parents Pass holders, will be able to pick up complimentary passes to the game at these times as well. Children 12 and under will be admitted free of charge. The ticket booth at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium will open at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday. Fans are encouraged to get their tickets in advance of Saturday's game.
Saturday's game is the 90th meeting in the all-time series between Wheaton and North Central, with the Thunder holding a 49-37-3 edge in those meetings. Wheaton has come out on top in nine of the last 11 contests with the Cardinals. The winner of Saturday's game will receive the "Little Brass Bell" trophy that has been awarded to the winner of the Wheaton-North Central game since 1946. Wheaton has won 44 of the 59 contests between the two teams since the Little Brass Bell was introduced.
According to Legend, "The Bell" first appeared in New York in the early 1800's. In 1839, a New England family headed westward carrying "The Bell" and settled in DuPage County. "The Bell" became part of the political bickering between Naperville and Wheaton over the location of the DuPage County Courthouse.
In 1857, Wheaton began a campaign to assume the leadership of the county and 10 years later officially gained control. However, the city of Naperville refused to turn over the county records to Wheaton.
At 4 AM one July morning, according to the DuPage County Guide, Wheaton struck back with a raid on the Naperville courthouse which netted the records in question. From his home opposite the courthouse, Naperville resident Herom H. Cody awoke to see men carrying off armfuls of documents. Before the Congregational Church bell could sound the alarm, the culprits had fled. The Brass Bell was among the items removed.
At the end of the century, "The Bell" came into the possession of a farmer living between the two cities whose sons both wanted to attend college. It was agreed that the son who won a coin toss could attend North Central, while the other would go to Wheaton.
Shortly afterwards, the father died and in the division of the estate, the brother attending North Central inherited the "Little Brass Bell." So "The Bell" left the political arena to enter the world of campus loyalties.
