California Golden Bears

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The California Golden Bears is the nickname used for 27 varsity athletic programs of the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as California or Cal, the university competes in the NCAA's Division I primarily as a member of the Pacific Ten Conference, and for a limited number of sports as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Over the course of the school's history, California has won national titles in 16 different sports and 66 team titles overall. Cal athletes have also competed in the Olympics for a host of different countries. Notable facilities used by the Bears include California Memorial Stadium and Haas Pavilion. Cal finished the 2005-2006 athletic season with 865.5 points, earning seventh place in the Director's Cup standings, the Golden Bears' highest finish ever. Cal did not receive any points for their national championships in rugby and men's crew because those sports are not governed by the NCAA.[1]

Contents

[edit] Current sports program

Rally Committee running Cal flags across the Memorial Stadium field at the 2002 Big Game
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Rally Committee running Cal flags across the Memorial Stadium field at the 2002 Big Game

[edit] Football

Main article: California Golden Bears football
For the current football team, see 2006 California Golden Bears football team

[edit] Basketball

Pete Newell and the 1959 basketball team with the NCAA Championship trophy
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Pete Newell and the 1959 basketball team with the NCAA Championship trophy

Cal basketball's home court is Haas Pavilion, which was built on top of the old Harmon Gymnasium using money donated in part by the owners of Levi-Straus. Haas Pavilion is considered one of the most intimidating environments in the Pac-10, owing in large part to the boisterous student section near courtside called "The Bench." [2] The current head coach of men's basketball is Ben Braun.

[edit] Men's basketball history

The Golden Bears first played basketball intercollegiately in 1907 and began full conference play in 1915. The 1920s was the dominant decade for Cal basketball, as the Bears won 6 conference titles under coaches E.H. Wright and Nibs Price.

Nibs Price would coach Cal with great success for 30 years from 1924 to 1954, earning a 449-294 total record, many single season winning records, and an additional 3 conference titles in the 1930s and 1940s.

Cal reached the pinnacle of the sport during the tenure of Pete Newell, who was head coach from 1955 to 1960. The Golden Bears earned the conference title four out of his five years and in 1959, won the NCAA title. In his last year, Cal came close to another NCAA title, but lost to Ohio State in the final.

The fortunes of Cal men's basketball would never be the same after Pete Newell; as of 2006 Cal has not won a conference title since 1960. The 1970s and 1980s were for the most part down years for the program, despite having players such as Kevin Johnson. The highlight of this era was a 75-67 victory over UCLA in 1986 that ended a 25-year, 52 game losing streak to the Bruins.

Cal achieved much better success in the 1990s, qualifying for the NCAA tournament five times with future NBA players Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray in the early '90s and Sean Lampley and Shareef Abdur-Rahim in the late '90s. Cal also won the 1999 National Invitation Tournament, with a thrilling 61-60 victory over Clemson in the title game.

In 2006, the Golden Bears reached their first Pacific Life Pac-10 Men's Basketball Tournament championship game. Power forward Leon Powe grabbed a tournament-record 20 rebounds against USC in the first round and then scored a tournament-record 41 points in a double-overtime victory versus Oregon in the semi-finals. Despite California's 71-52 loss to UCLA in the final game, Powe was named Most Valuable Player for the tournament.

The current Cal head coach is Ben Braun, who has guided the Golden Bears since 1996. Under Braun, Cal qualified for the NCAA tournament three straight times in the 2000s and six times overall.

[edit] Women's basketball history

The first season of women's basketball at Cal was played from 1973-1974. The longest tenured coach in Cal history was Gooch Foster, who captained the team from 1979 to 1996. Cal was quite successful during this period; it won the conference twice in a row, and had 11 winning seasons. Since the early 1990s, however, success has been hard to come by, as the Bears have had only three winning seasons, including the recently completed 2005-2006 season.


Cal basketball
NCAA Championships (1) 1959
NIT Championships (1) 1999
Conference Titles (13)
*indicates shared title		 1916* • 1921* • 1924 • 1925 • 1926 • 1927 • 1929
1932 • 1944* • 1946 • 1957 • 1958* • 1959 • 1960
NCAA Tournament
Appearances
*Final Four appearance		 1946* • 1957 • 1958 • 1959* • 1960* • 1990 • 1993
1994 • 1996 • 1997 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2006
Women's Conference Titles (2) 1981 • 1982


[edit] Baseball

The Cal baseball team plays at Evans Diamond, located between Haas Pavilion, the Recreational Sports Facility, and Edward's Track Stadium. Cal has appeared in the post-season a total of nine times, including five times in the College World Series; Cal won the title in 1947 and 1957. Perhaps the most famous Cal player was second baseman Jeff Kent, who led the Golden Bears to the 1988 World Series, and would go on to be named the 2000 National League Most Valuable Player as a member of the San Francisco Giants. Shortstop Geoff Blum of Cal's 1992 College World Series team hit the game-winning home run in the 14th inning of a 2005 World Series game for the Chicago White Sox.

Template:Cal baseball

[edit] Rugby Union

Cal Rugby's home is at 5000-seat Witter Rugby Field, located near California Memorial Stadium in Strawberry Canyon. The Golden Bears are the reigning collegiate national champion, which (as Cal's 22 total championships can attest to) is a situation that has become very familiar in Berkeley.

[edit] History

Rugby union began play at Cal in 1882 and continued until 1886, when it was ditched in favor of American Football. Rugby would make a return in 1906 after football was deemed too dangerous to play. From 1906 to 1914, Cal rugby garnered a respectable 78-21-10 record. 1914, however, saw the return of football and Cal would not field a rugby team for almost 20 years. In 1931, rugby returned under alumnus Ed Graff. It was during this time that Cal began to compete for the World Cup, which is awarded to the winner of the annual series between Cal and the University of British Columbia.

1938 began the era of Miles "Doc" Hudson, who guided the Bears for 37 years and an incredible record of 339-84-23. His successor would be Ned Anderson, an alumnus and former rugger for the Bears.

National collegiate championships for rugby union began in 1980 and Cal has been utterly dominant, winning 22 titles out of a possible 27.[3] Under Andersen, Cal reeled off four consecutive titles from 1980 to 1983. Current head coach and Cal alumnus Jack Clark took over the team in 1984 and has achieved even greater success, leading the Bears to 18 national titles including a string of 12 consecutive championships from 1991 to 2002.


Cal rugby
National Championships (22) 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1985 • 1986 • 1988 • 1991
1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999
2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006


[edit] Crew

Founded in the same year as the university in 1868, crew was the very first sport played at UC Berkeley. Since then it has become one of the most consistently successful Cal varsity programs. Women's crew began in 1974 and it has also become a perennial contender.

Unlike most other sports at Cal where Stanford is considered their chief rival, the Crew team's traditional rival is the University of Washington Huskies which year in and year out field some of the best crews in the country.

[edit] Men's Crew History

The first significant coach in Cal men's crew was Carroll "Ky" Ebright, who guided the Bears for 36 years from 1924 to 1959. During his tenure, Cal crew became known for success not only on the collegiate level, but also on the international level. In 1928, Cal fielded one of the most dominant crew teams in history, as the Bears went undefeated in the United States to win the national championship, earned the right to compete as the United States entry in the Amsterdam Olympics, and subsequently won the gold medal. Cal would represent the United States two more times at the 1932 and 1948 Summer Games, coming away with the gold on both occasions. Ebright ultimately led the Bears to nine conference championships and six Intercollegiate Rowing Association championships, with the 1939 squad being arguably the best by setting the still-standing (as of 2006) four mile course record at the IRA.

Cal maintained its success during the 1960s under coach Jim Lemmon, who in seven years, led the Bears to three more conference and national championships. Cal's success faded a little in the 1970s and 1980s, but the Bears did win another national title and three more conference titles.

Steve Gladstone's second stint as coach (his first was from 1973-1980) began in 1997 and he has resurrected the men's crew program. The Bears have won seven conference titles five straight conference championships from 1998-2002 along with 2005 and 2006. They have also won and five Intercollegiate Rowing Association titles, four in a row in 1999-2002, and again in 2006.

[edit] Women's Crew History

Women's crew began at Cal with a bang, as the Bears won four straight conference titles under Daig O'Connell followed with a national championship in 1980 under Pat Sweeney. However, Cal could not keep up its early success and saw average success for almost the next 20 years. Cal's second renaissance began in the late 1990s, when current coach Dave O'Neill took over the program. Cal has been invited to the NCAA Rowing Championship six straight times and won back to back national championships in 2005 and 2006. In 2005 Cal also took the Varsity 8 race, the premier event at the championship.


Cal crew
Olympic Games Gold Medals (3) 1928 • 1932 • 1948
Men's National Championships (14) 1928 • 1932 • 1934 • 1935 • 1939 • 1949 • 1960
1961 • 1964 • 1976 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2006
Women's National Championships (3) 1980 • 2005 • 2006


[edit] Olympics

Since 1906, Cal students and alumni have participated in the Olympics in a variety of different sports and have represented a diverse group of nations, despite the fact that the university is located in the United States. In the first half of the 20th century, Cal's Olympics presence was felt mainly in the sports of rugby and crew. The gold medal winning American rugby teams of the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics were made up of many Cal players who were displaced following the school's decision to support American football, rather than rugby[4]. In men's crew, Cal's team won gold for the United States three times - at the 1928, 1932, and 1948 Summer Olympics. To date, this is more than any other college or university in the world. [5]

From the second half of the 20th century and through to the 21st Century, Cal has been a huge presence in the water sports of swimming, diving, and water Polo. Cal swimmers have represented an eclectic group of nations, including Thailand, Croatia, and Sweden. Two of the most well-known Cal Olympic swimmers in the past 20 years are Matt Biondi and Natalie Coughlin. Matt Biondi began his Olympic career with a gold as a member of the 400 free relay team at the 1984 Summer Olympics, but became an outright star four years later when he garnered an amazing seven medals (five gold, one silver, and one bronze) at the 1988 Summer Olympics. He would follow up that effort with four medals (2 gold, one silver, and one bronze) at the 1992 games for a career total of 11 medals, 8 of them gold. Over a decade later, Natalie Coughlin would become another Olympic swimming icon with Cal heritage after an impressive performance at the 2004 Athens Games. Individually and in relays, she won five medals (2 gold, 2 silver, one bronze) as a United States representative.

[edit] References

University of California, Berkeley
Athletics & traditions

Golden Bears • Big Game • California Memorial Stadium • Haas Pavilion • Oski • Stanford Axe • The Play
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