"The Last Game Every Fall..."

	Photo by Marilyn Culler.
	Tyler the Tiger and Wally Wabash shake hands before the Battle for the Monon Bell.

The DePauw-Wabash rivalry has been around since 1890, but when the Monon Railroad donated it's 300-pound locomotive bell in 1932, the rivalry only got stronger.  As one of the oldest football rivalries in the United States, the games are always emotional, exciting, and action-packed.

• More information and full recaps:
  Official DePauw Football Monon Bell Page

“The Tigers pounce           
           We'll Wabash trounce
Your defeat we can announce!”
-Jason "The Colonel" Dibler

History of The Monon Bell Game

Based upon "Bells, Buckets, and Brass Spittoons" by Brad Herzog,
a feature article of US Airways' flight magazine, Attaché.
Copyright 2001, Pace Communications.

While Greencastle is in the heart of Indiana here at Greencastle, tiny Wabash College can be found 29 miles north on US-231 a town called Crawfordsville.  For years, a train called the Monon, famous for its enormous bell, offered service between the two towns. Although the rivalry between these schools has existed since 1890, it did not become the Monon Bell rivalry until 1932, when the bell was removed from the Monon and a tradition was begun, awarding it to the winner of the football finale.  

Each year, the game is broadcast internationally on satellite television.  The in-stadium crowd of over 8,000 exceeds the size of the combined student bodies, requiring expansion seating to be installed.  The rivalry is so intense that additional security and police patrol the stadium, and the visiting team is escorted down US-231 by a county sheriff.  (The Tiger Pep Band is even assigned it's own security force!)

• ARIEL PHOTO: DePauw's Blackstock Stadium on Monon Bell Game Day, 1999
  (143 KB - JPG Image)

How close is this series?  The first Monon Bell game ended in a 0-0 tie.  So did the fourth game.  The 1998 game placed the series record in a tie at 48-48-9.  Although DePauw tipped the scales back to their favor in 1998 and 1999, Wabash's victories in 2001 and 2002 closed the gap.  Going into the 2003 season, the series was again tied at 50-50-9.  With a Little Giant victory last year, DePauw will fight again to bring the series into balance.

Efforts to steal the bell are equally impressive in their numeric outcome.  Each school has successfully pilfered the prize three times over the past four decades. In 1959, a Wabash student stole it after posing as a foreign dignitary.  In 1966, DePauw students, hoping to keep the bell safe, stole it from their own school and buried it in the end zone for 11 months.  A dozen years later, 11 students were arrested as hundreds of Wabash fans invaded the DePauw campus in an attempt to recover the bell.  To successfully steal the bell is no small feat -- the bell weighs 300 pounds and it is kept in a secure display location.

Multimedia Highlights

Edited by Ken Owen '82 and the DePauw Publications Office.  Copyright 2002, DePauw University.

These "Monon Memories" feature some of the greatest moments of the DePauw/Wabash rivalry.  To see these, and the rest of the 28-part series, in high-quality format, purchase the Monon Bell 2003 DVD.  The disc features every play-by-play of the 109th meeting of the schools, as well as profiles of DePauw University and Wabash College.  Much of the historic footage utilized in the clips has not been seen publicly before. 

The 2001 and 2002 Battles for the Monon Bell are also available on DVD.

The Ballad of the Monon Bell

The Ballad of the Monon Bell was introduced during the week of the 1985 Monon Bell Game.  The words were written by Nancy Ford Charles, DePauw class of 1957.  Jim Ibbotson '69, a member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, performed and recorded his arrangement of the ballad, which is heard here.  The ballad also appears on the 2001 and 2003 Monon Bell DVDs.

• VIDEO: "The Ballad of the Monon Bell" (7,620 KB)  [Download QuickTime Player]
• MP3: "The Ballad of the Monon Bell" (3,038 KB)

	Long before the cannonball traveled through her towns, The state of Indiana owned the jewel of the crown. The train, they called the Monon, the stories they still tell, The Cavemen and the Tigers playing for her bell. It rode like a masthead on engine ninety-nine Crawfordsville to Greencastle, then further down the line. The Cavemen came from Wabash, the Tigers from DePauw, Since eighteen-ninety they have played the last game ev'ry fall. Many years they played for pride, oh the stories they could tell, Then in thirty-two the Monon train gave up her precious bell. They said, "Here take this symbol of smoke and fire and grit, And give it to the winner, a symbol not to quit." Ring the Bell for Wabash, ring for old DePauw, Ring the Bell for victory in the last game ev'ry fall. Ring the Bell for Wabash, ring for old DePauw, Ring the Bell for victory in the last game ev'ry fall. Suddenly the boys of autumn had a fire in their eyes. Blood and spit, but never quit, fighting for the prize. The medal to the victor, the symbol to the school. Wabash and DePauw became a yearly duel. Ring the Bell for Wabash, ring for old DePauw, Ring the Bell for victory in the last game ev'ry fall. Ring the Bell for Wabash, ring for old DePauw, Ring the Bell for victory in the last game ev'ry fall. Now history has recorded the players and their games, And to this day they still play for the Bell in Monon's name. Those who've gone before return each November day, Swapping stories and the legends for those who did not play. Ring the Bell for Wabash, ring for old DePauw, Ring the Bell for victory in the last game ev'ry fall. Ring the Bell for Wabash, ring for old DePauw, Ring the Bell for victory in the last game ev'ry fall.