Ohio Wesleyan University - Athletics

Athletics

Ohio Wesleyan participates in the NCAA's Division III as a member of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Known as the Battling Bishops, Ohio Wesleyan competes in 21 sports. The official school colors are red and black. Formal athletics at the college date to 1875, when the first football teams were organized to play against other institutions. In the late 1880s, Ohio Wesleyan had perhaps the strongest amateur baseball team in the state of Ohio behind the pitching of Phil "Lefty" Saylor. The school joined the Ohio Athletic Conference along with Oberlin College, Kenyon College, Ohio State, and Case Western in 1902. In 1983, Ohio Wesleyan joined with nine other colleges in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania to create the North Coast Athletic Conference. The NCAC seeks to bring together a group of liberal arts institutions that value the primacy of the academic mission over the athletic one.

The men's lacrosse, golf and soccer teams are the most historically successful of the varsity teams, and soccer is the university's most intently followed sport. For seven of the last twelve years, Ohio Wesleyan has won the NCAC conference All-Sports Trophy for excellence in both women's and men's sports. In the Sears Director's Cup standings, OWU is among the top 25 overall collegiate athletics programs in the country. Because of the North Coast Athletic Association athletic agreement, the university is not permitted to offer academic scholarships for athletic recruiting.

Ohio Wesleyan has won five NCAA Division III Championships, including men's basketball (1988), men's soccer (1998 and 2011), and women's soccer (2001 and 2002). In addition, Ohio Wesleyan's varsity athletic teams have been NCAC champions over 100 times, leading the teams of Denison University and Kenyon College.

The nickname The Battling Bishops dates to 1925. This is also the name of the university's mascot, The Battling Bishop. Due to its ironic name, the mascot has been listed as one of the weirdest college mascots. Due to its red robe, The Battling Bishop looks actually like a Cardinal. Before 1925, Ohio Wesleyan's teams were referred to as "The Red and Black" and "The Methodists". Many schools, including several other Methodist ones, also claimed crimson and black as their colors, so the university decided to change the name.

Ohio Wesleyan maintains athletic rivalries with other NCAC institutions. The men's lacrosse team has a historic rivalry with Denison University, the football team with Wittenberg University, the soccer team with Kenyon College, and the field hockey team with Oberlin College. Both Denison and Ohio Wesleyan issued alerts to their fans specifically for the OWU-Denison lacrosse game about unsportsmanlike behavior and profanity.

In addition to the school's varsity athletics, club sports teams, including chess, hockey, cricket, rugby, ski, and scuba, have been organized as student organizations under the auspices of the Office of Student Activities. Ohio Wesleyan's intramural program includes 16 sports. Sports such as skiing, squash and water polo have been offered, as well as a sports trivia competition.

"Oh we're from dear old Wesleyan" is Ohio Wesleyan University's primary fight song. The song's lyrics were written in 1914 by Chass Cupett '1916.