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LMU Athletics - Building Champions
99 Years of Building Champions
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The 2005-06 academic year will mark the 99th year of competition in intercollegiate athletics for the Loyola Marymount University Athletics Department. Just one year shy of a century, the LMU Lions have had some memorable moments in the world of collegiate athletics, showing they have been "Building Champions" for nearly a century.
A lot has changed since 1906 when LMU, then known as St. Vincent's College, began fielding a basketball team. The initial season of LMU athletics offered a glimpse of things to come as the Lions posted a 5-0 record in that first season. Since that time, LMU has grown considerably and offers a diverse range of 18 varsity sports, 16 of which compete at the Division I level within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Twelve sports, including baseball, men's and women's basketball, women's crew, men's and women's cross country, men's golf, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis and women's volleyball, compete in the prestigious West Coast Conference. In addition, women's swimming participates in the Pacific Collegiate Swimming Conference and men and women's water polo compete in the Western Water Polo Association. Women's softball competes in the Pacific Coast Softball Conference to round out the 16 programs competing at the NCAA D-I level. Men's crew is affiliated with the Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association and the LMU cheer program was added as a varsity sport in 2005. The success of Lion Athletics has never been stronger, claiming some its crowning moments since 2000. For the second year in a row LMU combined to send five teams to their respective NCAA postseason tournaments, and since the start of the 21st century, the Lions have sent 20 teams to the NCAA tournament while winning 14 conference championships in the process. With the success, 34 individual student-athletes have earned All-America honors since 2000. Of late the women's water polo program has burst onto the scene, winning five straight Western Water Polo Association Championships and making five consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament. Their second place finish in the 2004 NCAAs and final No. 2 ranking in the polls was the best finish ever by an LMU program. Add men's water polo and their three championships in the last four years, the water polo program as a whole has become of the top in the nation with eight championships since 2001.
Putting together a string of titles is not new for the Lions. Prior to women's water polo and their string, baseball and volleyball had been the standard bearer for consecutive titles. Baseball did it from 1998-2000 while women's volleyball did it from 1994-1996. One of the most memorable runs in NCAA history was that of the Paul Westhead lead men's basketball programs from 1985-1990. The Lions won two WCC tournament titles, and two regular season titles. As the Lions set the all-time NCAA Division-I record with 122.4 points per game in 1990, it was the people that made the Lions special. Playing for fallen teammate Hank Gathers, who died of a heart condition while playing for the Lions in the WCC tournament in 1990, the Lions did the impossible with a run at the NCAA Tournament, reaching the Elite Eight and capturing the hearts of the nation.
What Bo Kimble, Hank Gathers, Jeff Fryer and the rest of the up-tempo Lions did for the men's basketball team continued a long-standing tradition of a basketball legacy at LMU. Two Loyola basketball alumni, Pete Newell and Phil Woolpert, have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. Newell coached the 1960 U.S. Olympic basketball team to a gold medal and led California to the 1959 NCAA Championship. Woolpert coached the University of San Francisco to the 1955 and 1956 NCAA Championships and a 60-game win streak, the second longest in college basketball history. Speaking of championships, Bob Boyd, former Loyola football and track great, captured the 1950 NCAA men's track championship in the 100-yard dash. He later played seven seasons as a tight end for the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, and led them to the 1951 World title. The 1980s saw LMU's athletic success propel to the national and international level. Just four years after pitching the LMU baseball team to the 1986 College World Series, Tim Layana was a vital member of the 1990 World Series Champion Cincinnati Reds. Five members from the 1986 LMU team eventually played in the major leagues. Like Boyd in the NFL and Layana in MLB, many former LMU student-athletes have gone onto the next level in their respective sports. Entering the 2005-06 season, 16 former baseball players currently play professional baseball, including the most recent to hit the majors in C.J. Wilson with the Texas Rangers and Billy Traber with the Cleveland Indians. Additionally, four men's soccer players have played in the MLS the last four years, including Arturo Torres playing for Chivas USA. Over the years six former women's volleyball players have played professionally, including 2000 Olympian Sarah Noriega. The 1996 first-team All-American was just one Lion to make an appearance in the Olympics. This past 2004 Summer Olympics former and three-time men's volleyball All-American Reid Priddy burst on the international scene and led the U.S. Men's Volleyball team. Current women's water polo players Rachell Riddell and Christine Robinson both played for the Canadian National Team in the Olympics. Over 99 years ago the Lions began Building Champions. The work continues in 2005-06.
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