Portland State Vikings is the nickname of the NCAA-affiliated, intercollegiate athletic teams representing Portland State University of Portland, Oregon. PSU, being situated in the downtown district known as the "Park Blocks", has also sometimes been referred to as the Park Block Bombers.
The Vikings compete at the NCAA Division I level in basketball, soccer, volleyball, golf, tennis, softball, indoor and outdoor track and field, and cross country. The university has been a member of the Big Sky Conference since 1996. Along with the other Big Sky football programs, Viking football takes-part in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as NCAA Division I-AA.
Prior to joining Division I, the school won NCAA National Division II Championships in women's volleyball and wrestling. The school has also placed second twice nationally in football and once in women's basketball at the Division II level. Portland State's colors are forest green and white, and its mascot is the Viking manifested as "Victor E. Viking".
Among the more notable former PSU athletes are Freeman Williams and Neil Lomax. Freeman Williams was the NCAA Division I national men's basketball individual scoring leader in 1977 and 1978. Neil Lomax was a record-setting quarterback who went on to star for the then St. Louis Cardinals in the NFL. Football's "Run & Shoot" offense was first implemented at the college level at PSU by then coach Darryl "Mouse" Davis. Davis' quarterback protégées were Lomax and June Jones. Jones, the former head coach at the University of Hawaii and now at SMU, is also a proponent of the Run & Shoot.
Home games for football are held at Jeld-Wen Field, and home games for basketball are held on-campus at the Peter W. Stott Center.
Torre Chisholm was named new Athletic Director March 26, 2007. Chisholm replaced interim AD Teri Mariani, who filled that role since February 2006 when Tom Burman left for the University of Wyoming. Washington State University AD Jim Sterk preceded Burman as PSU AD.
Famous quotes containing the words portland and/or state:
“It is said that a carpenter building a summer hotel here ... declared that one very clear day he picked out a ship coming into Portland Harbor and could distinctly see that its cargo was West Indian rum. A county historian avers that it was probably an optical delusion, the result of looking so often through a glass in common use in those days.”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Our citizenship in the United States is our national character. Our citizenship in any particular state is only our local distinction. By the latter we are known at home, by the former to the world. Our great title is AMERICANS—our inferior one varies with the place.”
—Thomas Paine (1737–1809)