Girls Of The Big Ten

Football, basketball and an inability to count are what the Big Ten is all about. After all, as most NCAA fans know, this collegiate juggernaut is actually made up of 11 institutions, each one scrappier than the next on the gridiron and on the hardwood. But that's just sports. When it comes to the conference's prettier, off-the-field stars, the Big Ten deserves a big 10. Winding its way through eight Midwestern states, Big Ten country guards the Great Lakes with its sprawling, woodsy campuses. When we last visited the heartland conference, in October 1991, it had just welcomed its 11th sister, Penn State. At the time we wondered if the Nittany Lions' arrival would drive up the division's property value--not to mention its beauty factor. Indeed it did. But six years later, we thought we'd take another look. We sent Contributing Photographers David Chan and David Mecey to recapture the Big Ten's unforgettable scenery. How did they fare? According to Senior Photography Editor Jim Larson, our two Davids were coed magnets: "More than 675 girls tried out, including about 100 each at Indiana and Michigan. And you wouldn't believe how many students made references to Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy, saying, 'I want to be just like them.'" Lucky for us, many were. Turn the page.