The Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium (CBB) is an athletic conference and academic consortium between three private liberal arts colleges in the U.S. State of Maine. The group consists of Colby College in Waterville, Bates College in Lewiston, and Bowdoin College in Brunswick. In allusion to the Big Three of the Ivy League, Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin are collectively known the "Maine Big Three", [1] [2] a play on words with the words "Maine" and "main". The school names are ordered by their geographical organization in Maine (north to south).
The colleges contest the C-B-B Trophy in three-way football games in the Fall of their respective academic years. As of the 2023–24 season, Bowdoin leads the conference in wins, with 20; Colby has 17 and Bates has won 13. Colby holds the record for the longest streak of consecutive wins (1988–1992). Bates holds the record for biggest shutout with a 51–0 game over Colby in 1985. There have been eight three-way-ties: 1965, 1979, 1993, 1995, 2009, 2011, 2013, and 2022. The three colleges also contest the Chase Regatta, an annual up-and-down river tourney. The inaugural winner was Bowdoin, but the series has since been dominated by Bates and Colby; Colby has won the regatta five times and the President's Cup nine times. Bates currently holds the most titles (14 out of 20 wins), the winning streak (2006–present), and the most President's Cups (9 cups). [3]
The CBB Consortium often draws comparisons to the football games of the Big Three of the Ivy League, with Bowdoin often drawing the connection to Harvard, Bates to Princeton, and Colby to Yale. [4] Just as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are initialized as HYP, so too are Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin as "CBB". [5] [6]
From its inception, Bates College served as an alternative to a more traditional and historically conservative Bowdoin College. [7] [8] There is a long tradition of rivalry and competitiveness between the two colleges, revolving around socioeconomic class, academic quality, and collegiate athletics. [9] [10] [11] The two colleges have competed against each other athletically since the 1870s, and subsequently share one of the ten oldest NCAA Division III football rivalries, in the United States. [12] [9]
The Bates-Bowdoin Game is the most attended football game every academic year at both colleges. As of 2015, both college's presidents are named Clayton (Spencer and Rose), leading students to include them in chants against each other. Bowdoin developed a "football fight song" entitled, "Forward the White" in 1913. [13] All football games between the two occurred on Bowdoin's Whittier Field, but with the development of Bates' Garcelon Field, both fields have been used to hold football games.
Colby remained isolated from neighboring Bates, and the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium because of its location in Waterville, and socio-economic and political differences. [12] However, in the 1940s, Colby began competing with the two colleges and in the first game, had a three-way tie. In 1988, Bates president Reynolds began the Chase Regatta, which features the President's Cup, which is contested by Bates, Colby, and Bowdoin annually. [3]
The CBB Games is a college football competition between the three colleges. Each team plays the others once, with the C-B-B Trophy awarded to the college that beats the other two. The CBB Games was created for the 1965 college football season. Previously, Bates and Bowdoin have competed since 1870s against the University of Maine in the Maine State Series or Maine State Championship. When the University of Maine moved to a higher division in 1965, Colby joined and the rivalry took its current name. [9] [14]
The Chase Regatta is an annual rowing race between the men's and women's heavyweight varsity and club rowing crews of the colleges. [3] The colleges have competed in the regatta since August 3, 1988 but have competed annually since August 3, 1997, when Bates President Thomas Hedley Reynolds instated the President's Cup to be contested by all three of the CBB schools. The President's Cup is given to the team that has won the most overall heats and races, while the overall winner is determined by who won the most varsity and heavyweight competitions in the regatta. [3]
Season | Result | Colby–Bates Score | Bates–Bowdoin Score | Bowdoin–Colby Score |
---|---|---|---|---|
1965 | 3-way tie | Colby, 39–20 | Bates, 10–0 | Bowdoin, 28–21 |
1966 | Bates | Bates, 28–7 | Bates, 35–13 | Bowdoin, 15–6 |
1967 | Bates | Bates, 38–14 | Bates, 38–24 | Bowdoin, 7–0 |
1968 | Bowdoin | Bates, 28–12 | Bowdoin, 41–14 | Bowdoin, 17–0 |
1969 | Bowdoin | Colby, 14–13 | Bowdoin, 13–10 | Bowdoin, 38–14 |
1970 | Bowdoin | Bates, 14–7 | Bowdoin, 21–3 | Bowdoin, 31–17 |
1971 | Bowdoin | Colby, 17–8 | Bowdoin, 42–15 | Bowdoin, 30–27 |
1972 | Colby | Colby, 35–21 | Bowdoin, 37–10 | Colby, 28–22 |
1973 | Bowdoin | Colby, 14–0 | Bowdoin, 20–12 | Bowdoin, 28–20 |
1974 | Bates | Bates, 16–14 | Bates, 18–7 | Bowdoin, 27–6 |
1975 | Bowdoin | Colby, 21–12 | Bowdoin, 19–6 | Bowdoin, 41–13 |
1976 | Bowdoin | Bates, 38–16 | Bowdoin, 20–14 | Bowdoin, 37–19 |
1977 | Bowdoin | Bates, 25–14 | Bowdoin, 21–17 | Bowdoin, 15–14 |
1978 | Bates | Bates, 27–20 | Bates, 24–14 | Bowdoin, 27–10 |
1979 | 3-way tie | Bates, 20–7 | Bowdoin, 14–0 | Colby, 21–20 |
1980 | Bowdoin | Bates, 14–13 | Bowdoin, 13–0 | Bowdoin, 8–0 |
1981 | Bates | Bates, 10–6 | Bates, 23–13 | Colby, 17–13 |
1982 | Bowdoin | Colby, 28–21 | Bowdoin, 33–14 | Bowdoin, 18–0 |
1983 | Colby | Colby, 20–13 | Bates, 33–15 | Colby, 15–14 |
1984 | Bowdoin | Bates, 31–21 | Bowdoin, 28–23 | Bowdoin, 20–14 |
1985 | Bowdoin | Bates, 51–0 | Bowdoin, 24–21 | Bowdoin, 24–0 |
1986 | Bates | Bates, 21–6 | Bates, 36–0 | Bowdoin, 21–14 |
1987 | Bowdoin | Bates, 46–28 | Bowdoin, 20–19 | Bowdoin, 14–10 |
1988 | Colby | Colby, 19–3 | Bowdoin, 10–6 | Colby, 24–0 |
1989 | Colby | Colby, 30–0 | Bates, 10–0 | Colby, 38–20 |
1990 | Colby | Colby, 9–3 | Bates, 19–14 | Colby, 23–20 |
1991 | Colby | Colby, 41–7 | Bowdoin, 34–13 | Colby, 28–13 |
1992 | Colby | Colby, 50–0 | Bowdoin, 35–14 | Colby, 26–18 |
1993 | 2-way tie: Colby and Bowdoin | Colby, 53–14 | Bowdoin, 34–6 | Tie, 21–21 |
1994 | Colby | Colby, 28–6 | Bates, 33–14 | Colby, 34–13 |
1995 | 3-way tie | Colby, 26–6 | Bates, 33–29 | Bowdoin, 24–3 |
1996 | Colby | Colby, 28–21 | Bowdoin, 35–16 | Colby, 39–15 |
1997 | Bowdoin | Bates, 22–21 | Bowdoin, 28–19 | Bowdoin, 27–19 |
1998 | Bowdoin | Bates, 13–7 | Bowdoin, 49–14 | Bowdoin, 10–7 |
1999 | Bates | Bates, 20–17 (OT) | Bates, 38–7 | Colby, 20–0 |
2000 | Colby | Colby, 14–0 | Bates, 44–13 | Colby, 34–7 |
2001 | Colby | Colby, 42–0 | Bates, 38–35 (OT) | Colby, 41–13 |
2002 | Bates | Bates, 19–14 | Bates, 48–28 | Colby, 32–27 |
2003 | Colby | Colby, 27–14 | Bates, 20–17 | Colby, 7–6 |
2004 | Colby | Colby, 17–16 | Bowdoin, 21–0 | Colby, 23–0 |
2005 | Colby | Colby, 24–17 | Bowdoin, 21–14 | Colby, 28–3 |
2006 | Bowdoin | Colby, 10–7 (4OT) | Bowdoin, 23–14 | Bowdoin, 13–10 |
2007 | Bowdoin | Colby, 20–13 | Bowdoin, 31–7 | Bowdoin, 20–17 |
2008 | Bowdoin | Bates, 31–21 | Bowdoin, 55–14 | Bowdoin, 20–6 |
2009 | 3-way tie | Colby, 34–27 | Bates, 28–24 | Bowdoin, 32–27 |
2010 | Bowdoin | Colby, 10–6 | Bowdoin, 21–20 | Bowdoin, 26–21 |
2011 | 3-way tie | Colby, 37–13 | Bates, 24–2 | Bowdoin, 20–10 |
2012 | Bates | Bates, 31–6 | Bates, 14–6 | Colby, 17–0 |
2013 | 3-way tie | Colby, 21–3 | Bates, 17–10 | Bowdoin, 32–22 |
2014 | Bates | Bates, 34–28 (OT) | Bates, 10–7 | Colby, 14–7 |
2015 | Bates | Bates, 10–9 | Bates, 31–0 | Bowdoin, 35–13 |
2016 | Bates | Bates, 21–19 | Bates, 24–7 | Colby, 32–16 |
2017 | Bates | Bates, 27–24 | Bates, 24–17 | Colby, 31–20 |
2018 | Colby | Colby, 21–6 | Bowdoin, 31–14 | Colby, 30–14 |
2019 | Colby | Colby, 23–20 | Bates, 30–5 | Colby, 47–34 |
2021 | Colby | Colby, 10–2 | Bates, 25–24 | Colby, 21–10 |
2022 | 3-way tie | Colby, 38–17 | Bates, 21–14 | Bowdoin, 21–14 |
2023 | Bowdoin | Colby, 30–24 | Bowdoin, 35–20 | Bowdoin, 35–14 |
2024 | Colby | Colby, 28–26 | Bowdoin, 35–24 | Colby, 34–10 |
Season | Winner | Colby – Bates score | Bates – Bowdoin score | Bowdoin – Colby score |
Note: Source of wins and losses: games between 1966 and 1978, [15] games between 1979 and 1998, [16] and for all other games not specified in aforementioned years: [17] [18] [19] [20] The highest scoring game was the 1987 Colby-Bates with a total of 74 points. The lowest scoring game was the 1967 Bowdoin-Colby game with a total of 7 points. The biggest shutout was Bates' 51–0 game against Colby in 1985. The longest consecutive streak of games won is Colby with 5 championships in a row (1988–1992). There have been 7 three-way-ties, 1 two-way tie, and 4 uses of overtime, (the 2006 Colby-Bates game required overtime to be issued four times for a winner to be determined).
Statistic | Colby | Bates | Bowdoin |
---|---|---|---|
Games played | 114 | ||
Series Wins | 17 | 13 | 20 |
Highest series streak | 5 | 4 | 4 |
Current series streak | L1 | L1 | W1 |
Total points scored in the series | 2294 | 2105 | 2285 |
Most points scored in a winning game | 53 | 51 | 55 |
Most points scored in a losing game | 28 | 27 | 35 |
Fewest points scored in a winning game | 10 | 10 | 7 |
Most points scored in a shutout win | 50 | 51 | 24 |
Overtime wins | 1 | 3 | 0 |
Largest margin of victory | 50 | 51 | 41 |
Smallest margin of victory | 1 | 1 | 1 |
In 1999, all three colleges were prominently featured in The Sopranos. In the episode entitled, "College", Tony Soprano takes his daughter, Meadow on a trip to Maine to tour the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium. [21] [22] They first visit Bates in Lewiston; while walking past the college's chapel she states, "[Bates has] a 48-to-52 male-female ratio, which is great, strong liberal arts program and this cool Olin Arts Center for music." [23] They then drive up to Colby and Bowdoin using Drew University in New Jersey as the two college's exteriors. [24] On the drive from Bates to Colby, Tony Soprano reveals to his daughter that he is in the mafia, a major turning point in the series. [25]
Colby College is a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine. Founded in 1813 as the Maine Literary and Theological Institution, it was renamed Waterville College in 1821. The donations of Christian philanthropist Gardner Colby saw the institution renamed again to Colby University before settling on its current title, reflecting its liberal arts college curriculum, in 1899. Approximately 2,000 students from more than 60 countries are enrolled annually. The college offers 54 major fields of study and 30 minors.
Bowdoin College is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 35 majors and 40 minors, as well as several joint engineering programs with Columbia, Caltech, Dartmouth College, and the University of Maine.
The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) is an intercollegiate athletic conference that competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III comprising sports teams from eleven highly selective liberal arts institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The eleven institutions are Amherst College, Bates College, Bowdoin College, Colby College, Connecticut College, Hamilton College, Middlebury College, Tufts University, Trinity College, Wesleyan University, and Williams College.
Bates College is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine, United States. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals 813 acres (329 ha). It maintains 600 acres (240 ha) of nature preserve known as the "Bates-Morse Mountain" near Campbell Island and a coastal center on Atkins Bay.
Oren Burbank Cheney was an American politician, minister, and statesman who was a key figure in the abolitionist movement in the United States during the later 19th century. Along with textile tycoon Benjamin Bates, he founded Bates College as the first coeducational college in New England which is widely considered his magnum opus. Cheney is one of the most extensively covered subjects of Neoabolitionism, for his public denouncement of slavery, involuntary servitude, and advocation for fair and equal representation, egalitarianism, and personal sovereignty.
The Little Ivies are an unofficial group of small, academically competitive private liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States. The term Little Ivy derives from these schools' small student bodies, standards of academic excellence, associated historic social prestige, and highly selective admissions comparable to the Ivy League. According to Bloomberg, the Little Ivies are also known for their large financial endowments, both absolutely and relative to their size.
Cobb Divinity School was a Baptist theological institute. Founded in 1840, it was a Free Will Baptist graduate school affiliated with several Free Baptist institutions throughout its history. Cobb was part of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, United States from 1870 until 1908 when it merged with the college's Religion Department.
George Colby Chase was an American intellectual and professor of English who served as the second President of Bates College succeeding its founder, Oren Burbank Cheney, from March 1894 to November 1919.
Lane Hall is a later 20th-century neoclassical building serving as the principal workplace and headquarters of the central administration of Bates College, located at 2 Andrews Road in Lewiston, Maine. It has been the principle administrative headquarters of every Bates president since Thomas Hedley Reynolds in 1964. Lane Hall was named after George Lane Jr., who served as treasurer of the college and secretary of the corporation.
Arthur LeRoy Greason, Jr. was the twelfth president of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, serving from 1981 to 1990.
The Bowdoin Polar Bears are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Bowdoin College, located in Brunswick, Maine. The Polar Bears compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). Bowdoin College currently fields teams in fourteen men's sports and sixteen women's sports. The polar bear team name was selected to honor Robert Peary of the class of 1877 who lead the first expedition that reached the North Pole.
The Colby Mules are the varsity and club athletic teams of Colby College, a liberal arts college located in Waterville, Maine. Colby's varsity teams compete in the New England Small College Athletic Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III. The college offers 32 varsity teams, plus club sports, intramural sports called I-play.
The Bates Bobcats are the athletic teams of Bates College largely based in Lewiston, Maine and the surrounding areas. The college's official mascot has been the bobcat since 1924, and maintains garnet as its official color. The school sponsors 32 varsity sports, most of which compete in the Division III New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC). The school's men's and women's ski teams and men's and women's squash teams compete in Division I. Bates has rivalries with Princeton in Squash and Dartmouth in Skiing and selected hockey bouts. The college also competes with its Maine rivals Bowdoin and Colby in the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium (CBB). This is one of the oldest football rivalries in the United States. This consortium is a series of historically highly competitive football games ending in the championship game between the three schools. Bates has won this championship at total of twelve times including 2014, 2015, and in 2016 beat Bowdoin 24–7 after their 21–19 abroad victory over Colby. Bates is currently the holder of the winning streak, and has the record for biggest victory in the athletic conference with a 51–0 shutout of Colby College. The three colleges also contest the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Chase Regatta. The college is the all-time leader of the Chase Regatta with a total of 14 composite wins, followed by Colby's 5 wins, concluded with Bowdoin's 2 wins.
The 1914 Colby Mules football team represented Colby College during the 1914 college football season. The team has been described as the greatest in Colby history as well as one of the strongest college teams ever in the state of Maine. Colby defeated its three in-state rivals—Bowdoin, Maine, and Bates—by a combined score 123 to 0 to win the series title and gained national recognition for its game against the star–studded Navy Midshipmen. The team was led by first year head coach Myron E. Fuller and captained by senior Paul "Ginger" Fraser.
The history of Bates College began shortly before Bates College's founding on March 16, 1855, in Lewiston, Maine. The college was founded by Oren Burbank Cheney and Benjamin Bates. Originating as a Free Will Baptist institution, it has since secularized and established a liberal arts curriculum. After the mysterious 1853 burning of Parsonsfield Seminary, Cheney wanted to create another seminary in a more central part of Maine: Lewiston, a then-booming industrial economy. He met with religious and political leaders in Topsham, to discuss the formation of such a school, recruiting much of the college's first trustees, most notably Ebenezer Knowlton. After a well-received speech by Cheney, the group successfully petitioned the Maine State Legislature to establish the Maine State Seminary. At its founding it was the first coeducational college in New England. Soon after it was established, donors stepped forward to finance the seminary, developing the school in an affluent residential district of Lewiston. The college struggled to finance its operations after the financial crisis of 1857, requiring extra capital to remain afloat. Cheney's political activities attracted Benjamin Bates, who was interested in fostering his business interests in Maine. Bates donated installments of tens of thousands of dollars to the college to bring it out of the crisis.
The Colby–Bates–Bowdoin Chase Regatta is an annual rowing regatta between the men's and women's heavyweight varsity and club rowing crews of Colby, Bates, and Bowdoin College. The colleges have competed in the regatta since August 3, 1988, but have competed annually since August 3, 1997, when Bates President Thomas Hedley Reynolds instated the President's Cup to be contested by all three of the CBB schools. The President's Cup is given to the team that has won the most overall heats and races, while the overall winner is determined by who won the most varsity and heavyweight competitions in the regatta.
The traditions of Bates College include the activities, songs, and academic regalia of Bates College, a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. They are well known on campus and nationally as an embedded component of the student life at the college and its history.
The Brooks Quimby Debate Council (BQDC) is a debate society in Lewiston, Maine, primarily comprising students from Bates College. The society, known for participating in British and American Parliamentary debate styles, competes in the American Parliamentary Debate Association and the World Universities Debating Championship. Notably, it engaged in a debate with Oxford University in 1923, marking Oxford's first debate in the United States.
The 1946 Maine Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football season was the season of college football played by the four member schools of the Maine Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) as part of the 1946 college football season. The 1946 season was the first since 1942 in which the four conference teams competed for the MIAC championship.
...Of the three top schools in Maine, the CBB drew the most notation to what was informally characterized as a smaller Ivy League, one that provided an Ivy League education with a smaller student body
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: CS1 maint: location (link)... the group [CBB] seemed to draw power from their comparisons to the Ivy League operating in such a group entitled, 'the Little Ivies."... Bowdoin often drawing the connection to Harvard, Bates to Princeton, and Colby to Yale..
For further information on history of the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium:
For further reading:
For further information on the NESCAC, and individual collegiate scores: