when did the university of chicago leave the big ten
Chicago Maroons football The Chicago Maroons football represents the University of Chicago in college football. The Maroons, which play in NCAA Division III, are football-only member of the Midwest Conference starting with the 2017 season.[2] From 1892 to 1939, the Maroons were a major college football power. The University of Chicago was a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the Maroons were coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg, one of the game's pioneers, for 41 seasons. In 1935, halfback Jay Berwanger became the first recipient of the Downtown Athletic Club Trophy, later known as the Heisman Trophy. Nonetheless, in the late 1930s, university president Robert Maynard Hutchins decided that big-time college football and the university's commitment to academics was not a good fit.[3] The University of Chicago abolished its football program in 1939 and withdrew from the Big Ten in 1946. Football returned to the University of Chicago in 1963 in the form of a club team, which was upgraded to varsity status in 1969. The Maroons began competing in Division III in 1973.