Indiana State Sycamores

Indiana State Sycamores
University Indiana State University
Conference Missouri Valley
Missouri Valley Football Conference
NCAA Division I
(FCS for football)
Athletic director Sherard Clinkscales[1]
Location Terre Haute, Indiana
Varsity teams 12
Football stadium Memorial Stadium (football, soccer)
Basketball arena Hulman Center
Mascot Sycamore Sam
Nickname Sycamores
Fight song March On! (You Fighting Sycamores)
Colors Royal Blue and White[2]
         
Website www.gosycamores.com

The Indiana State Sycamores are the NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic teams of Indiana State University. Since the 1977–78 academic year, Indiana State has been a member of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). The Indiana State football team has competed in the second-tier Division I FCS since the 1982 season, and has been a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC) since it was spun off from the Gateway Collegiate Athletic Conference (Gateway) when the latter league merged into the MVC in 1992. Past conference memberships include the Indiana College Athletic League (1895–1922), the Indiana Intercollegiate Conference (1922–1950), the Indiana Collegiate Conference (1950–1968) and the Midwestern Conference (1970–1972). The women's teams were Gateway members from the league's 1982 founding until its absorption by the MVC. In 1986, a year after the Gateway took on football as its only men's sport, the Sycamores football team joined that conference.

History

'Sycamores' nickname and evolution of mascot

Early on in the school's history, the athletes were referred to as the "Fighting Teachers" (the school's original name was "Indiana State Teachers College"), until the students chose the name "Sycamores", due to the abundance of sycamore trees in Indiana and especially in the Wabash River Valley; though it is believed that the students voted on 'Sycamores' on a lark, never thinking it would win. During the 1950s and 1960s, the sycamore tree itself was used as Indiana State's mascot. However, as a tree does not lend itself well to an athletic mascot, especially considering Indiana State's in-state rivalries with the Ball State Cardinals and Butler Bulldogs, the university created an Indian mascot named "Chief Quabachi", and his "Princess", in 1969.[3] This change paid homage to the fact that ISU was the "State" university of a state named after Indians (prior to statehood Indiana was primarily inhabited by Indians). The university dropped the "Chief Quabachi" mascot in 1989 in response to a variety of objections over use of the Indian caricature[4] and did not have another mascot until 1995, when a blue-and-white "furry woodland creature" named "Sycamore Sam" became Indiana State's mascot.[5]

Teams

A member of the Missouri Valley Conference, Indiana State University sponsors six men's and eight women's teams in NCAA sanctioned sports[6] with women's swimming and diving to be added: in 2016–17.[7] Indiana State's softball team has appeared in two Women's College World Series in 1974 and 1976.[8]

Men's Intercollegiate Sports Team Article Head Coach Women's Intercollegiate Sports Team Article Head Coach
Baseball Sycamores baseball Mitch Hannahs Basketball Sycamores women's basketball Joey Wells
Basketball Sycamores men's basketball Greg Lansing Cross Country Kyle Walsh
Cross Country John McNichols Golf Greg Towne
Football [v 1] Sycamores football Mike Sanford Soccer Julie Hanley
Track & Field (Indoor & Outdoor) John McNichols Softball Shane Bouman
Swimming & Diving (begins 2016-17) Matt Leach
Track & Field (Indoor & Outdoor) Angie Martin
Volleyball Traci Dahl-Skinner
Notes
  1. ↑ The football team competes as a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.

Championships

National team championships

As of January 1, 2016, Indiana State has won one NCAA team championship.[9]

Kurt Thomas led the men's gymnastics team to the 1977 NCAA National Championship. In 1973 and 1979, the team finished in third place in the NCAA Championships. In 1971, Coach Grete Treiber led the ISU women's gymnastics team to a national runner-up finish at the AIAW National Championships. In 1964, Coach Roger Counsil led the ISU men's freshman gymnastics team to a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships.

The team was the NCAA Division I national runner-up in 1979 and the NCAA College Division national runner-up in 1968.

The men's basketball team won the 1950 NAIA National Championship and finished as national runner-up in 1946 and 1948. The 1950 team placed eight players on the 1951 Pan-American Games gold medal-winning team. Head Coach John Longfellow also served as co-head coach of the Pan-American Games team.

NCAA National individual championships (29)

Indiana State has won 29 NCAA Individual Championships.

(Indoor: 55M - 1993, 1994; 200M - 1993 & 1994)
(Outdoor: 100M - 1993; 200M - 1993, 100M - 1994)
(All-Around 1977, 1979, Parallel Bars 1977, 1979, Horizontal Bar 1979)
(Indoor and Outdoor Pole Vault 2009, Indoor^ and Outdoor† Pole Vault 2010)
^ Indoor: 14' 9" - NCAA Record
† Outdoor: 14’ 7.25" - NCAA Record
(Indoor Weight Throw 2011, 2013)
(Rings 1970, 1972)
(Sidehorse 1964)
(Horizontal Bars 1964)
(Rings 1973)
(Pommel Horse 1973)
(Horizontal Bar 1974)
(Pole Vault 1968)
(Heavyweight 1982)
(110M High Hurdles 1990)
(60M Hurdles 2001)

NAIA Individual Championships (5)

(1M Diving 1963, 1964; 3M Diving 1964)
(3M Diving 1965)
(200M Freestyle 1965)

Other Individual Championships (5)

(Balance Beam) Division of Girls & Women's Sports (DGWS) National Collegiate Championship - 1971[12]
(1 mile, 880 yards) DGWS National Collegiate Championship - 1969[13]
(Pole Vault) Canadian Indoor National Championship - 1968, 1969[14]

Olympians (7)

Indiana State has produced 7 Olympians; 6 for the United States & 1 (Greggmar Swift) for Barbados. Additionally, several ISU Coaches have US Olympic ties; Roger Counsil was the 1980 US Olympic Gymnastics coach, Erin Gilreath, ass't track & field coach competed in the 2004 Summer Olympics

All-Americans (161)

Indiana State has produced 160+ All-Americans:

Conference champions (98)

Indiana College Athletic League (1900–1922)

3 titles in baseball.

Indiana Intercollegiate Conference (1923–1947)

11 titles in baseball and men's basketball.

Indiana Collegiate Conference (1950–1968)

30 titles in baseball, men's basketball, men's cross-country, men's golf, football, men's swimming, men's track & field and wrestling.

Gateway Conference (1982–1992)

4 titles in women's basketball, women's track & field and women's cross-country.

Missouri Valley Conference (1977–present)

57 titles in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track & field and men's and women's cross-country. Of particular note, the Runnin' Sycamores (the men's and women's cross-country and track & field teams) have won 32 titles in the past 26 seasons.

* Note – All of the above championship information is from the media guides available at www.gosycamores.com or from the Indiana State archives (each yearbook from 1896-1993 is available).[17]

Championship host

Indiana State University has hosted twelve (2002, 2004–2011, 2013–14, 2016) NCAA Division I cross country championships at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.[18] ISU will also host the 2017 NCAA Great Lakes Regionals in cross country.[18]

Indiana State University hosted the 10th NCAA Wrestling Championships in 1937, at a time when the school had yet to establish a wrestling program. The university also hosted the 1975 NCAA Gymnastics National Championships.

Rivalry

Indiana State University's rivalries include the Illinois State Redbirds, cross-state Ball State Cardinals (formerly a regional campus of Indiana State) with whom the Sycamores football team competed for the Victory Bell, the Evansville Purple Aces and the nearby Eastern Illinois Panthers.

Athletic bands

Indiana State's marching band is called the Marching Sycamores. The marching band performs at home football games and is the feature band at the Brickyard 400.

There are two alternating bands that play at men's and women's basketball games, known as the Blue and White Basketball Bands.

Athletes & coaches

References

  1. ↑ http://www.gosycamores.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15200&ATCLID=1087609
  2. ↑ Marketing & Promotions (2015-07-31). "Licensing & Logos — Official Web Site of Indiana State Athletics". Gosycamores.com. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  3. ↑ Brown, J. Thomas (2006), Essay on History and Heritage - Traditions
  4. ↑ Feagin, Le'Sashea (2007), A Short History of the Fighting Sycamore Name
  5. ↑ "Indiana State University". ISU Student Media.
  6. ↑ "GoSycamores.com Official Web Site of Indiana State Athletics". GoSycamores.com.
  7. ↑ Streamline Technologies - Nashville, TN. "Missouri Valley Conference - Sycamore Athletics Adds Women's Swimming and Diving". Missouri Valley Conference.
  8. ↑ Plummer, William; Floyd, Larry C. (2013). A Series Of Their Own: History Of The Women's College World Series. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States: Turnkey Communications Inc. ISBN 978-0-9893007-0-4.
  9. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  10. ↑ http://www.gosycamores.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15200&ATCLID=1551410
  11. ↑ http://www.gosycamores.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15200&ATCLID=1550700
  12. ↑ http://www.gosycamores.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15200&ATCLID=1552541
  13. ↑ http://www.gosycamores.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15200&ATCLID=1550235
  14. ↑ http://www.gosycamores.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=15200&ATCLID=204967991
  15. ↑ Archived August 13, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  16. ↑ "Champions Database". nwhof.org.
  17. ↑ Indiana State University yearbook collection Archived July 14, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  18. 1 2 "Indiana State University Awarded 2014 & 2016 NCAA Cross Country Championships, 2017 Great Lakes Regional". GoSycamores.com Official Web Site of Indiana State Athletics.
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