The Richmond Spiders represent the University of Richmond, a member of the NCAA's Division I and a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference for all sports except football and women's golf, which participate as members of the Colonial Athletic Association. The men's lacrosse team, currently at club level, will begin varsity play in the 2014 season (2013–14 school year) as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
From 1876 through 1893, Richmond's sports teams were known as the "Colts", reportedly for their play as an "energetic group of young colts." But in 1894, a baseball team comprising Richmond students and city residents took on the "Spiders" name after Ragland Chesterman of the Richmond Times-Dispatch used the term to refer to pitcher Puss Ellyson's lanky arms and stretching kick. To this day, Richmond is the only university in the United States with the spider as its official nickname.
Read more about Richmond Spiders: Facilities
Famous quotes containing the words richmond and/or spiders:
“Highbury bore me. Richmond and Kew
Undid me. By Richmond I raised my knees
Supine on the floor of a narrow canoe.”
“My feet are at Moorgate, and my heart
Under my feet.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)
“I saw the spiders marching through the air,
Swimming from tree to tree that mildewed day
In latter August when the hay
Came creaking to the barn.”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)