University of Oregon - Athletics

Athletics

The University of Oregon is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference and the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision of the NCAA. The athletic programs have garnered 20 NCAA team championships, as well as 60 NCAA individual champions in various track and field events. The two primary rivals of the Oregon Ducks football team are the Washington Huskies and the Oregon State Beavers. The football rivalry with Oregon State University, known as the "Civil War", is one of the nation's oldest. Every year, the two teams face off in the last game of the regular season. The two teams have faced each other nearly every year since 1894 with the exception of five years. Games were not held in 1900, 1901, 1911, 1943, and 1944.

The university competes in 14 sports: football, men’s and women’s basketball, cross country, track and field, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s golf, women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse, women’s volleyball, and acrobatics & tumbling. This does not include club sports which competes at the Division I level in Rugby, Soccer, Rowing, and Waterpolo. As well as women's Division I club athletics in Rowing, Rugby, and Waterpolo.

With 19 NCAA championships between them, cross country and track and field are the two programs at the university that have enjoyed the most success. The programs have produced many world-class athletes including Steve Prefontaine and Alberto Salazar. Nike had been formed by the former track and field head coach Bill Bowerman and former University of Oregon track runner Phil Knight. The successes of the programs have given the name of Track Town, USA to Eugene.

Created in 1893, the football team played its first game in 1894 and won its first Rose Bowl in 1917 against the University of Pennsylvania. The 1938–39 men's basketball team, nicknamed the “Tall Firs,” won the first-ever NCAA basketball tournament by defeating Ohio State in the March 28, 1939 championship game.

Originally recognized as an official sport at the university in 1908, baseball was disbanded in 1981 due to concerns with Title IX. In 2007, the athletic director Patrick Kilkenny announced plans to reinstate baseball and to drop wrestling while adding women’s acrobatics & tumbling.