North Central College Athletics

The Little Brass Bell was introduced to the North Central College vs. Wheaton College football series in 1946. The story of the Little Brass Bell is a historic one.

First appearing in New York in the early 1800s, 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. In 1857, Wheaton began a successful 10-year campaign to claim leadership of the county. However, Naperville refused to turn the county court records over to its new rival.

According to the DuPage County Guide, Wheaton retaliated with a raid of the courthouse at 4 a.m. one July morning. Naperville resident Herom H. Cody was awakened in his house across the street to witness men carrying armfuls of documents. The men in question were able to flee before the local church bell could sound an alarm. The Little Brass Bell was among the items taken.

Years later, the bell fell into the hands of a local farmer living between the two cities. Both of his sons wanted to attend college. It was decided that the son who won a coin toss would attend North Central, while the other would head off to Wheaton. Not long after, the farmer died. The son attending North Central inherited the Little Brass Bell in the division of the estate.

Ultimately, the prize became a symbol of campus loyalty, leaving politics behind. As can be imagined on college campuses, “The Bell” became the target of night raids and collegiate hi jinks, moving back and forth between Naperville and Wheaton until the North Central brother decided to hide the prize. It remained hidden until its rediscovery in the attic of a Naperville home in the early 1940s.

In 1946, “The Bell” was anointed the trophy of the annual football battle between North Central and Wheaton Colleges, where it remains a symbol of history and rivalry between the two institutions.