Youngstown State Penguins

Youngstown State Penguins

Youngstown State University is in NCAA Division I. Nicknamed the Penguins, they play in the Horizon League and Missouri Valley Football Conference, and compete in the following sports:

• Baseball (men)
• Basketball (men/women)
• Cross Country (men/women)
• Football (men)
• Golf (men/women)
• Soccer (women)
• Softball (women)
• Swimming and Diving (women)
• Tennis (men/women)
• Track and Field (men/women) - Indoor and Outdoor
• Volleyball (women)

In addition to the aforementioned sports, YSU also has a men's ice hockey club, which is a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, playing in the College Hockey Mid-America conference. The hockey club isn't considered an NCAA-eligible program due to Title IX-based reasons.

YSU is the only Division I program in the country to have the nickname Penguins for its athletic teams. YSU's mascots are Pete and Penny, two penguins dressed in scarfs and stocking caps. There are two accounts of how the "Penguins" nickname came to be. Both stories come from the same cold evening on Jan. 30, 1933, when the men's basketball team was playing at West Liberty State.

The first account is that a spectator said the team looked like Penguins as they stomped the floor and swung their arms. Without the team having an official nickname, fans took a liking to the word. A second account states that, on the way to West Liberty State with up to two feet of snow on the roads, passengers in Bennett Kunicki's car were discussing possible nicknames. "Penguins" was brought up and was well received by everyone in the car. The nickname was mentioned to members of the team at the gym that evening, and they thought it was perfect.

The nickname was unanimously accepted by the student body that year without a formal poll. The nickname was formally introduced in The Jambar, the campus newspaper, on Dec. 15, 1933.