Monon Bell
Wabash leads the all-time series, 63-58-9, and also has a slight advantage since the Bell was introduced as the victor's trophy in 1932, 44-42-6.
The hit 1904 play The College Widow, and its subsequent film adaptations, were loosely based on the rivalry.
[1] The Monon Bell was introduced as a traveling trophy in 1932 at the suggestion of a DePauw alumnus, Orien Fifer (Class of 1925), in a letter to the editor of The Indianapolis News.
In the 1960 matchup, DePauw held the Bell and scored a last-minute touchdown to cut Wabash's lead to 13–12.
In 1910, the teams didn't play due to the death of Wabash's star halfback, Ralph Lee Wilson, who died from a concussion in a game earlier in the season.
Named for the Monon Bell, the trophy awarded to the winner, it is the sixth most-played Division III rivalry and equals the 12th-most played in college football.
The game has received national media coverage including articles in Sports Illustrated in 1973 and 1993, a feature on Charles Kuralt's 1979 "CBS Sunday Morning" show, articles in USA Today in 1987 and the Wall Street Journal in 1999 and a feature on Fox Sports Net's show The Slant in 1999.
Annually, alumni parties are held in more than 50 cities across America where loyal fans from both schools gather to watch the game.
In 2008, Ken Owen '82, executive director of media relations at DePauw, completed the task of compiling a "Monon Memory" for each and every game in the rivalry series.
The clips utilize video/film from the DePauw and Wabash archives, as well as vintage photographs, and are available online and on Monon Bell DVDs.
The "Memories" project was the subject of coverage in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Indiana Business, and other media outlets.
The most famous theft is known as "Operation Frijoles," which was ranked by Sports Illustrated as one of the five greatest all-time rivalry pranks.
To "seal the deal" Shanks asked to take photos of various points of interest on campus to show the "prospective" Mexican students more about DePauw University.
Taken to the second floor of a Quonset hut near the football field, Shanks took careful notes that were reviewed by Wabash students upon his return.
However, because the crime occurred in Montgomery County, where nearly all the judges are Wabash alumni, the students from DePauw got 1000 hours of community service.
In October 2017, three Wabash students wearing masks of Barack Obama and Donald Trump attempted to steal the bell from its display case at DePauw's Lilly Center in what is now known as the Failed Bipartisanship Heist.
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 Giants 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 Giants 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."
