Columbia Lions

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Columbia Lions
Institution	Columbia University
Colors	Blue and White
Founded	1754
Location	Morningside Heights, New York City, New York
Conference	Ivy League
Mascot	Roaree the Lion
Fight Song	Roar, Lion, Roar

The Columbia University Lions are the collective athletic teams and their members from Columbia University, an Ivy League institution in New York City, United States.

[edit] Ivy League athletics

The eight-institution athletic league to which Columbia University belongs, the Ivy League, also includes Brown University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University. The Ivy League conference sponsors championships in 33 men's and women's sports and averages 35 varsity teams at each of its eight universities. The League provides intercollegiate athletic opportunities for more men and women than any other conference in the United States. All eight Ivy schools are listed in the top 20 NCAA Division I schools in number of sports offered for both men and women.

[edit] The Lions

Columbia University was founded in 1754 and currently fields 29 co-ed, men’s, and women’s teams. Women's teams are cooperatively organized with the university's Barnard College. All Columbia teams compete at the Division I level in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The school's football team competes at the I-AA level.

[edit] History

A 19th-century football match between Columbia and Harvard

Intercollegiate sports at Columbia date to the foundation of the baseball team in 1867. Men's association football (i.e. soccer) followed in 1870, and men's crew in 1873. Men's Crew was one of Columbia's best early sports, and Columbia was the first non-British school to win the Henley Royal Regatta. The third ever men's intercollegiate soccer match was played between Columbia and Rutgers University, with Rutgers winning 6 to 3. Columbia joined the American football movement soon after Harvard and Yale played their first game in 1875-- in 1876, Columbia, Harvard, and Princeton University formed the Intercollegiate Football Association.^[1] In addition, the Lions' wrestling team is the nation's oldest.

The Columbia football team won the Rose Bowl in 1934, upsetting Stanford University 7-0. Columbia also hosted the first televised sporting event: on May 17, 1939, the fledgling NBC network filmed the baseball double-header of the Light Blue versus the Princeton University Tigers at Columbia's Baker Field at the northernmost point in Manhattan.^[2]

[edit] Men’s teams

Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Gymnastics, Hockey, Lacrosse, Heavyweight Rowing, Lightweight Rowing, Rugby, Skiing, Soccer, Swimming and Diving, Tennis, Track and Field, Football and Wrestling.

[edit] Women’s teams (Columbia-Barnard)

Archery, Women's Basketball, Cross Country, Fencing, Field Hockey, Women's Golf, Lacrosse, Women's Rowing, Women's Soccer, Softball, Women's Swimming and Diving, Women's Tennis, Track and Field, and Volleyball,

[edit] Achievements

Columbia University hosts one of the oldest and most storied traditions of athletics in the United States.^[3]

[edit] Men's basketball

Best scoring defense in nation, 2002 (allowed only 57.0 points per game)^[4]
79.4% field-goal percentage against Dartmouth, March 2, 1984 (27/34, 11th best all-time)^[5]
Alton Byrd, Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, 1979 (best small player in nation)^[6]
Reached the Sweet Sixteen in the 1968 NCAA tournament, led by future New York Knicks player Jim McMillian, and finished with two wins and one loss in the tournament; final seventh-place AP ranking and sixth-place UPI ranking^[7]
Chet Forte, 1957 consensus All-American and UPI player of the year for NCAA Division I; averaged 28.9 points (fifth in the nation)^[8]
The 1957 team had 2,016 rebounds, fourth highest in NCAA Division I history, even though played only 24 games^[9]
One of 16 teams in the 1951 NCAA tournament; lost 79-71 to eventual semi-finalist Illinois for final record of 21-1 (best record in the nation that year with win-loss percentage of .956)^[10]
1950-51 team was 21-0 in the regular season and was ranked third in final AP ranking and fifth in the final UPI poll^[11]
One of 8 teams in the 1948 NCAA tournamen; lost to eventual national champion Kentucky
George Gregory, 1931 consensus All-American^[12]
National collegiate champions in 1904, 1905, and 1910 (Helms Foundation rankings)^[13]
Has played University of Pennsylvania 103 consecutive years, 1904-2006^[14]
Longest consecutive-year rivalry in nation, 105 years versus Yale University, 1902-2006 (tied with 1902-2006 Yale-Princeton rivalry)^[15]

[edit] Women's cross-country

Caroline Bierbaum won the 2005 women's cross country Honda Sports Award (most outstanding NCAA women's cross country athlete of the year) and was NCAA Division I runner-up with a time of 19:46.0^[16]^[17]
Top-25 national finishes from 2000 through 2005^[18]
Five straight Heptagonal Ivy League Championships: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005

[edit] Fencing

Coed NCAA champions: 1992 and 1993^[19]
Coed NCAA runners-up: 1990 and 1991^[20]
7 coed individual national championships^[21]
6 coed weapon team national championships^[22]
16 top-6 coed national finishes in 17 years, 1990-2006^[23]
Men's NCAA champions: 1951, 1952, 1954 (tied), 1955, 1963, 1965, 1968, 1971 (tied), 1987, 1988, and 1989^[24]
Men's NCAA runners-up: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1970, and 1986^[25]
21 men's individual national champions^[26]
Women's NCAA runner-up: 1989^[27]
2 women's individual national champions^[28]

[edit] Football

6 consensus All-Americans^[29]
In 2000 Johnathan Reese rushed for 236 yards against Dartmouth and finished the season with 1,330 yards rushing (3,321 in career)^[30]
Defensive end Marcellus Wiley led team in 1996 to an 8-2 record, was awarded third-team All America, and was drafted by the NFL's Buffalo Bills^[31]
Ray Tellier, NCAA Division I-AA Coach of the Year, 1996^[32]
Defeated Princeton 24 to 14 in 1995, which halted the Tigers' NCAA Division I-AA record of 24 consecutive wins^[33]
Don Lewis, top NCAA Division I-AA pass receiver, 1982 (1,000 yards)^[34]
Ivy League co-champion, 1961^[35]
Lou Kusserow led the nation in 1948 with 193 all-purpose yards per game^[36]
In 1947, ended Army's 32-game unbeaten streak, 21-20, in one of the biggest upsets of the century^[37]^[38]
Top-20 final Associated Press rankings in 1945 and 1947^[39]
Led the nation in average punt return in 1943 and 1946^[40]
In 1942 Paul Governali won the Maxwell Award (nation's outstanding college football player) and was second in voting for the Heisman Trophy^[41]
Sid Luckman, third in Heisman Trophy voting, 1938; member, College Football Hall of Fame^[42]
Rose Bowl winners in 1934; defeated heavily favored Stanford 7 to 0 in one of only two major bowl games^[43]^[44]
Undefeated and untied in 1915^[45]
In 1870 played Rutgers in the second intercollegiate football game^[46]

[edit] Men's golf

A.L. Walker, Jr., NCAA champion, 1919^[47]

[edit] Men's rowing

In 2003 the men's lightweight crew team finished second in the nation by just two seconds^[48]
Columbia won the Poughkeepsie Regatta in 1929 for the intercollegiate rowing championship—one of the classic moments in American rowing^[49]
In 1878 the Columbia College Boat Club won the Visitor's Challenge Cup at the famed Henley Royal Regatta in the first-ever defeat for an English crew rowing in English waters (1st Race, defeated University College, Oxford; final, defeated Hertford College, Oxford)^[50]^[51]

[edit] Men’s soccer

18 first-team All-Americans^[52]
Best shut-out percentage in NCAA Division I, 1999^[53]
Top-20 final national rankings from 1978 through 1985 and in 1990 and 1991^[54]
Amr Aly earned the 1984 Hermann Trophy national player of the year award and also was ISAA Player of the Year^[55]
NCAA Division I runner-up in 1983; lost 1-0 in double-overtime to seven-time champion Indiana; Dieter Ficken named NSCAA Coach of the Year^[56]
National collegiate champions in 1908-09 and 1909-10 (Intercollegiate Soccer Football League)^[57]

[edit] Men's swimming and diving

8 individual NCAA Division I championships

[edit] Women's swimming and diving

4 individual NCAA Division I championships
Cristina Teuscher, 1999-2000 Honda-Broderick Cup winner (NCAA Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year)^[58]

[edit] Men's tennis

NCAA Division I tournament appearances, 1984, 1987, 1998, 2000^[59]
Robert LeRoy, two-time NCAA singles champion, 1904 and 1906^[60]
Oliver Campbell and A.E. Wright, NCAA doubles champions, 1889^[61]
Oliver Campbell and V.G. Hall, NCAA doubles champions, 1888^[62]

[edit] Men's track and field

3 outdoor track and field individual NCAA Division I championships
Once sported the world's fastest man, Benjamin Washington Johnson, the Columbia Comet. The sprinting champion's most incredible achievement was at the 1938 Millrose Games, in front of more than 17,000 fans at Madison Square Garden. His winning time in the 60 yard dash was 5.9 seconds, breaking the world record of 6.2 seconds for the third time in the same day. His final time of 5.9 seconds was rounded up to 6.0 seconds, because the referees claimed it must have been a timing error, arguing that no human being could ever break 6 seconds in the 60 yard dash.

[edit] Notable athletes

The Lions have produced such notable athletes as:

Lou Gehrig - Baseball
Eddie Collins - Baseball
Gene Larkin - Baseball
Chet Forte - Basketball
Jim McMillian - Basketball
Caroline Bierbaum - Cross Country
Sid Luckman - Football
Paul Governali - Football
Marcellus Wiley - Football
Amr Aly - Soccer
Christina Teuscher - Swimming and Diving
Ben Johnson - Track and Field
Erison Hurtault - Track and Field
Adam Waksman - Track and Field
Lindsey Stephenson - Track and Field

[edit] External links

[edit] References

The Ivy League
Brown • Columbia • Cornell • Dartmouth • Harvard • Penn • Princeton • Yale

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