Little Three is a term started by and used in reference to athletic competition between three private
liberal arts college
A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on Undergraduate education, undergraduate study in the Liberal arts education, liberal arts of humanities and science. Such colleges aim to impart ...
s in the
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
region of the United States:
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...
in
Amherst, Massachusetts
Amherst () is a city in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Connecticut River valley. Amherst has a council–manager form of government, and is considered a city under Massachusetts state law. Amherst is one of several Massach ...
,
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...
in
Middletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. Located along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles (25.749504 km) south of Hartford, Connecticut, Hartford. Middletown is the largest city in the L ...
, and
Williams College
Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...
in
Williamstown, Massachusetts.
The exact origin of the term ''Little Three'' is lost to history,
but was used by the three colleges in an allusion to the
Big Three, coined in the 1880s to describe the three big universities—
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
,
Princeton, and
Yale
Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...
—which dominated football in the
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...
.
The earliest known reference appeared in John Hallahan's ''Football in New England Colleges'' in 1923: "Williams College again won the championship of the Little Three, which includes Wesleyan and Amherst . . ."
Little Three championships are contested in 24 sports throughout the academic year.
Before forming the current Little Three, Amherst, Dartmouth, and Williams were part of the New England Intercollegiate Triangular League, founded in 1882. This league lasted until 1899 when Dartmouth withdrew, paving the way for Wesleyan to join Amherst and Williams in forming the Triangular League.
They first joined as the ''Triangular League'' athletic conference in 1899, which lasted only three years before breaking up over an argument concerning the eligibility of college baseball players who received pay during summer league play. In 1910, they formed what is believed to be "America’s oldest, continuous intercollegiate athletic conference without a membership change," which earned another moniker, The Triumvirate.
See also
*
The Biggest Little Game in America
*
Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium
The Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium (CBB) is an athletic conference and Consortium, academic consortium between three private Liberal arts college, liberal arts colleges in the U.S. State of Maine. The group consists of Colby College in Waterville ...
*
New England Small College Athletic Conference
The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division III, Division III comprising sports teams from eleven highly s ...
References
1899 establishments in the United States
.
New England Small College Athletic Conference
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