NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Introduced in 1946, the Battle for the Little Brass Bell is one of 53 “trophy games” contested among NCAA Division III football teams and just three trophy rivalries featuring two teams from the state of Illinois. This Saturday, top-ranked North Central and #11/13 Wheaton will collide at 6 p.m. in Naperville to renew the historic rivalry between two programs separated by just seven miles.
 
According to North Central’s official athletics website, “the bell made its way to the area in 1839 when a New England family traveled west and settled in DuPage County. ‘The Bell’ eventually became part of a political battle between Naperville and Wheaton over the location of the DuPage County Courthouse.”
 
Wheaton’s athletics website continues: “Ultimately, the prize became a symbol of campus loyalty and became the target of night raids and collegiate shenanigans, moving back and forth between Naperville … It remained hidden until its rediscovery in the attic of a Naperville home in the early 1940s.”
 
By 1946, the annual football meeting between North Central and Wheaton would decide which institution would claim possession of the bell. North Central won on Oct. 26, 1946, 7-0. Wheaton is 48-22 in games with the Little Brass Bell on the line.
 
In all, Wheaton and North Central have met on the gridiron 102 times since NCC’s 32-0 win on Sept. 29, 1900. Wheaton leads the all-time series, 55-46-3, but North Central’s 20-7 win last September snapped Wheaton’s four-game win streak in the series.