BIG TEN CONFERENCE

formerly Western Intercollegiate Conference one of the oldest college gridiron-football conferences in the United States, formed in 1896 by the universities of Chicago, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue, and Wisconsin. Iowa and Indiana were added in 1899 and Ohio State in 1912. Chicago terminated its program in 1939 and officially withdrew from the conference in 1946, and the conference did not again include 10 teams until Michigan State was added in 1949. Pennsylvania State University joined the conference in 1990. The Big Ten traditionally has been one of the strongest football conferences in the nation and since 1947 has sent a representative team, usually its conference champion, to the Rose Bowl, oldest of the postseason invitational events. Competition between the member schools now extends over a variety of sports for both men and women.