By Nick Jenkinson-SCINN Sports Director
It is billed as the “World Greatest College Weekend” and every April Students, Alumni and Fans gather at Bill Armstrong Stadium on the Indiana University Campus to watch 33 teams go around the 440 Yard quarter mile cinder track for 200 laps or 50 Miles to see who the Kings of Indiana University Men’s Intermural Track Cycling are.
This is 75th anniversary of the Little 500 and the Men’s race will begin this afternoon at 2 PM and will broadcast on the IU Student Foundation You Tube Page. The Black Key Bulls are two-time defending champions as they became the ninth team in the History of the Men’s Race to win back-to-back Little 500 Titles.
The Black Key Bulls won in 2014 and 2017 with the back-to-back in 2024-2025. The Bulls will start 5th in this year’s race as they would become the fifth team to win three in a row joining Phi Kappa Psi who was the first three-time winner from 1958-1960, Delta Chi who after back-to-back titles twice in 1973-74 and 1976-77 won three in a row from 1979 to 1981. The Cutters who are the pole sitters for this year’s race won five in a row from 2007-11 and went back-to-back in 2018-19.
The Cutters are the most well-known team in this race based on the 1979 Academy Award Winning Movie “Breaking Away” which depicts a group of Bloomington Townies who entered the race as the “Cutters” from the local Indiana Limestone Stone Cutters and defeated the favored fraternity teams.
Since 1984 they started as fraternity then became an Independent Team the Cutters have been in the Little 500 and have won 15 Titles which is the most in event history. The Cutters first title came in 1984 then followed it up with titles in 1986 and 1988. The team continued its winning ways taking home titles in 1992 and 1997. As we turned to 2000 the Cutters won again and followed it up with title in 2004. From 2007 to 2011 the Cutters became the only team to win five straight titles. They followed it up with back-to-back titles in 2018 and 2019 and took home their 15th title in 2023 and since they began competing, they have never finished below 12th in the race and traditionally are made up Bloomington locals on the team.
It’s only fitting that for the 75th edition the team that made this race famous is on the pole for this race, and they have a Bloomington Native leading the way. Judah Thompson has been a dominant force leading up to the race win the Spring Individual Time Trial and the Miss-N-Out Events and helping the team win the Team Pursuit Title. No question that Cutters are going to be the favorite going into the race but there are 32 other teams chasing them down to lift the trophy at the end of 200 laps.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon who will start second has not won the race since 1963, but Alex Hamilton won the fall individual time trial and will be on the guys that can go head-to-head with Thompson as the team win the Fall Cyclocross Event. Phi Gamma Delta who are six-time champions, but they have not lifted the trophy since 1995 starts third. Phi Gamma Delta won in 1956, 1965, 1967, 1975 and 1987. Three Time Champion Sigma Phi Epsilon who won in 1970, 1999 and 2015 starts in fourth as the Black Key Bulls round out the top five.
Sigma Nu who are three-time champions in 1954,1957 and 1990 start 9th. 1989 Champions Cinzano start 10th. Two Time Champions Delta Tau Delta start 20th as they won in 2012 and 2016. Four-Time Champions Phi Delta Theta start 21st as they won in 1982, 1986, 2001 and 2022. Three-Time Champions Acacia who won in 1961,1983 and 1991 start 30th are the former champions in the field
There are several former champions not in the field they include the very first winners of the Little 500 in 1951 the South Hall Buccaneers. Two-time Champions North Hall Friars in 1952 and 1953. 1955 Champions South Cottage Grove. Seven-Time Champions Phi Kappa Psi who won three in a row from 1958-60 along with 1962, 1966, 1968 and 1978. 1964 Champions Beta Theta Pi. Four Time Champions Alpha Tau Omega who won in 1969, 1971. 1972 and 2006.
Eight-Time Champions Kappa Sigma Delta Chi who won in 1973-74, 1976-77 1979-81 and 1983. 1985 Champions Alpha Epsilon Pi. 1993 Champions Delta Chi. 1994 Champions Sigma Chi. Two Tiime Champions Dodds House who won in 1998 and 2005. 2002 Champions the Corleones. 2003 Champion Gafombi 2013 Champions Beta Theta Pi and 2021 Champions JETBLACH are the former champions who are not a part of this field
The Race is put on by the Indiana University Student Foundation which was founded in 1936 and in 1951 Howard S. Wilcox Jr. who was the Executive Director of the Indiana University Foundation started the Little 500 which was modeled after the Indianapolis 500 in which his dad Howard S. Wilcox Sr. won 1919. Money raised by the event scholarships for Indiana University Students which in 2019 was over two million dollars and seven years later is around three million dollars. The Trophy giving to the winning team is a replica of the Borg Warner Trophy given out to the winner of the Indianapolis 500.
There is the Students Helping Students initiative which has raised $61,747 raised for the Food Insecurity Fund which includes 1,198 Student Donors along with 55 Little 500 Teams met the Patch Threshold and 21 Student Organization Partners. There is a Riders Council where members are selected based on basis of their commitment to the improvement of the Little 500. The Steering Committee is a group of student leaders who guide the Philanthropic efforts and Little 500 events of the IU Student Foundation.
There will be four new members inducted in the Little 500 Hall of Fame as the Class of 2026 includes three women and one man who made their mark competing in this event while a student at Indiana University. The Four Member Class is Kayce Doogs of Delta Gamma who was the 2011 Rookie of the Year, 2 Time Champion in 2012-13 and 2 Time All Star Rider who started in Track and Field and switched to cycling when her career ended by Knee Injuries. Kristie (Hewitt) Mauss 2009 Graduate and competed for Wing it Cycling, she was 2-time Women’s Individual Time Trial Winner 2008-09 and 2 Time All Star and had Two top 10 Finishes as a team
Caroline (Brown) Feldman who competed for Phi Beta Phi from 2008-11 won the Rookie of Year won along with two podium finishes and a 3-time All-Star Rider. Clayton Feldman who competed for the Cutters starting in 2008 and was 3 Time Champion from 2008-10, 2 Time All Star Rider and finished fifth in Fall Individual Time Trials in 2007. Established in 1970 47 have been Inducted have been inducted into the Little 500 Hall of Fame and adding four more will bring the total to 51 inductees.
There is all the pageantry before the race that makes this event special. The Introduction of the 33 Teams, The Grand Marshals for the Women’s Race were Indiana University Football Players Charlie Becker, Carter Smith and Kaiden Turner as Alpha Chi Omega who won the Women’s Race Yesterday Afternoon will be getting their pre-race parade lap. this afternoon. 2013 Indianapolis 500 Champion Tony Kannan is the Grand Marshall for the Men’s Race in which they will give the command to mount their bicycles and of course the signing of “Back Home Again in Indiana” and on the pace laps the signing of the Indiana University Fight Song “Indiana Our Indiana and then the race begins and it is battle to get to the finish line first in front of big crowd of 25,000 to lift the trophy and be called a Little 500 Champion for the rest of time.