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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/ProctorDoctor500 on 2024-06-30 23:58:00+00:00.

The Big Ten is one of the most prestigious conferences in College Athletics, up there with the SEC as the largest of the large. With premier programs in nearly every sport, they don’t exactly need an introduction. We are about one month away (as of this post’s date 06/30/2024) from Washington, Oregon, USC and UCLA becoming official members of the Big Ten. Stretching from the fertile crescent of College Football in New Brunswick, New Jersey to the spectacle of Hollywood in Los Angeles, it’s remarkable how a conference based of primarily big Midwest schools like Iowa and Nebraska grew to that size. With the identity of this conference changing with every new addition, sometimes it’s easy to forget how for most of history the Big Ten was just 10, and before that it was just an idea.

Let’s go back in time to 1932. The Big Ten had 10 members: Michigan, Ohio State, Indiana, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and The University of Chicago. The UChicago Maroons were a dominant force in the conference, with many conference titles. With Amos Alonzo Stagg at the helm, they were the Midwest’s preeminent Football power. This changed once Amos Alonzo Stagg moved to accept the job as Head Coach of the University of the Pacific Football team that same year. His disciple, Clark Shaughnessy took over the program. They weren’t the same after they left, likely due to stuff going on under the surface with University president Robert Maynard Hutchins. He had no love for the sport and wanted to move away from it to focus on academics. In the present, U Chicago is one of the most prestigious universities in the country academically, and they still work with their former Big Ten brethren as an affiliate of the Big Ten’s academic consortium (or the Big Ten Academic Alliance). Back to the story, UChicago would cut Football in 1939 over Christmas Break and they would drop out of the Big Ten in 1946. Now at 9, the Big Ten looked at a few colleges before settling on Michigan State. The Spartans addition was not without controversy as Michigan students did not want them in the Big Ten. In the end it didn’t matter, until Penn State was added in the 90s, the Big Ten would remain at 10 for 40 years.

But before that, before Michigan State joined, before the Football, gridiron glory, 3-peating Minnesota Gophers, UChicago’s dominance and leaving. The Big Ten wasn’t a conference, it was an idea. In 1895, the sport of Football was in trouble in it’s form, it was considered a “garish” and “barbaric” game due to all the injuries and deaths that happened from people playing it. Football would only be saved due to Theodore Roosevelt intervening and demanding the game be reformed in 1905. That was still a few years away, what happened in 1895 was a man named James Henry Smart having an idea. He was the President of Purdue University and he wanted to save the game. He invited the presidents of a few universities: U Chicago, Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin and one other and those presidents met with him in Chicago to discuss regulatory policies about the sport, with athlete eligibility being a key topic of discussion. They wanted to meet again in 1896, but the one other President didn’t show and instead Michigan would come instead. The “Western Conference” was formed not long after, with U Chicago, Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota, Northwestern, Wisconsin and Michigan as it’s founding 7 members. Iowa and Indiana joined in 1899 to make it the Big Nine. Michigan was kicked out of the conference in 1907 for breaking the rules, and Ohio State joined in 1912. Michigan rejoined in 1916 and for the first time, the Big Ten had 10. Now who was this “one other” college, the one who attended the first ever meeting of who would become the Big Ten, that would be Lake Forest College: The Big Ten’s “truly” lost member.

Lake Forest College in the present is a private, liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. It’s a small school with an enrollment of 1,700 which is far below any of the Big Ten schools, even former member University of Chicago dwarfs them with 18,452 students. Northwestern, who is 30 minutes up the road, has 23,410 members. Lake Forest right now isn’t a super prestigious university like their former associates but they are well regarded by institutions like the Princeton Review and US News. Lake Forest College does have athletics at the D3 level, their teams are known as the “Lake Forest Foresters”. They play in the Midwest conference against some other private universities, including UChicago who is a Football affiliate of the conference (their regular conference is the UAA which has schools like NYU and Carnegie Mellon in it). Forester Football hasn’t had a losing season since 2015 in the Midwest. Their starting QB from the past 3 seasons, grad student Tre Stewart, has a career stat total of 4851 passing yards, 48 TDs, 19 INTs with a completion percentage of 56%. Their tackle leader from the past season, grad student Aled Bendler, had 51 tackles, 25 solo tackles, 26 tackle assists, 11 TFLs, 5 sacks and 1 forced fumble.

So why didn’t Lake Forest meet with everyone again allowing Michigan to take their spot? Lake Forest College was founded in 1857 as Lind University after this guy named Sylvester Lind who gave some money to found the school. The first teaching of Lind University happened at “Lake Forest Academy” which was a boy’s only institution. In 1865 the check bounced as the University became “Lake Forest University”. It would become co-educational in 1876. The meeting of university presidents that would have led to formation of the “Western Conference” and subsequently the Big Ten happened in 1895, around 40 years after Lake Forest College was formed. One reason I believe Lake Forest didn’t meet again was due to it’s size and mission. Even back in the 1890s, it couldn’t compare to institutions that would go onto make up the Big Ten. Their all-time record against Illinois was 0-4-1. Their 1899 season featured losses to Wisconsin and Northwestern. Another speculatory reason I think LFC didn’t meet again was due to their mission at the time being a smaller school that focuses on the education of “Christian leaders” since they were founded by ministers. In 1903 they became more of a liberal arts college. Simply put, I don’t think the people at the tiny Lake Forest College wanted to be a part of the discussions about athlete eligibly and rules and schedules. In 1897, a man named James Gore King McClure became president. Based on how the meetings were in 1895 and 1896, this guy likely replaced the previous president who met with the other university presidents of future Big Ten schools.

Whatever the reason may have been, Lake Forest College has faded from memory, existing nestled in the suburbs of Chicago by the shore of Lake Michigan playing against Grinnell and Beloit on Saturdays instead of Wisconsin and Northwestern. If Lake Forest College met with the university presidents again, would Michigan have ever joined the Big Ten? Would the fate of Lake Forest College in an early Big Ten have been similar to that of Sewanee, a current D3 school formerly of the SEC? The consequences of an event at the dawn of Collegiate Athletics before the 20th century ripple far and across the timeline, leaving a Butterfly Effect that is impossible to predict. Lake Forest College might have never officially been a member of what would become the Big Ten, but it was there at the start, a voice lost to the sands of time. Lake Forest College: The Big Ten’s “True” Lost Member.

However, in a twist of fate, there was another university president who was invited to the first meeting James Henry Smart called between university presidents but never showed up, unable to attend due to an illness they had suffered a week before. This university president was invited to the same council as Lake Forest College’s president in Chicago, but unlike Lake Forrest College’s president, he had failed to appear. In a stranger twist of fate, this man was Andrew Morrissey, the university president of the University of Notre Dame near South Bend, Indiana. Invited, and invited later to the second meeting, but unable to show up. Notre Dame applied for membership in 1899 when Iowa and Indiana wanted in, but sent no delegates to negotiate for their spot.

Notre Dame and not joining the Big Ten, name a more iconic duo.

TLDR: It’s Lake Forest College