Student Life Archives

History

Washington University has a long and rich history that has established itself as a pioneer in the field of Division III athletics. In 1890, Washington University first started its men’s athletic program, which functioned independently of any conference affiliation.

It wasn’t until 1946 that the University enacted a policy which, at that time, was completely unheard of in the world of collegiate athletics. Prior to World War II, male student-athletes received specialized financial assistance for their participation in intercollegiate athletics. It was during this time that Chancellor Arthur Holly Compton adopted a policy whereby no athletes would receive financial assistance in the form of scholarships or grants based solely on athletic ability.

Chancellor Compton stated, “The same admissions and grading standards would apply to all students, whether athletically talented or not. No subsidies, financial inducements or support, or scholarships would be awarded on the basis of athletic ability alone. Students with athletic ability compete for scholarships on the same basis as other students.”

Despite the considerable publicity that this new policy encountered in the face of alumni opposition, much skepticism as reported by the press, and a less than enthusiastic student body, the University set the precedent that no athlete may receive scholarships based on athletic ability; this would eventually become the basis of all school membership in Division III athletics of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

Since the mid-1970’s the Bears have competed as a member of the NCAA Division III. Washington University became a founding member of the University Athletic Association (UAA) in June 1986 when it joined eight other leading independent research universities (Carnegie Mellon University, Case Western Reserve University, University of Chicago, Emory Univesity, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, University of Rochester and Washington University) to compete in intercollegiate athletics at the varsity level for men and women. Brandeis University was accepted to the Association in Fall 1987 and has been an active member since. Johns Hopkins left the UAA after the 2000-’01 season.

As for women, the earliest documented women’s varsity team played in 1909. The yearbook indicated that due to the lack of competitors on the college level this team competed against various high school teams. The women’s athletic program at Washington University has taken many forms since, but has always had a solid place in the lives of its female students. With the construction of Wilson Pool in 1921, swimming became a part of the athletic regimen.

By 1950, women’s athletics had become such a vital part of campus life that 70 percent of the female students were members. However, for an unknown reason, the women’s intercollegiate athletic program was disbanded following the 1955 season and didn’t return for 20 years. In 1975 intercollegiate athletic programming was revived with the re-introduction of swimming, tennis, and volleyball varsity teams for women. In 1977 track was added on the varsity level and basketball began in club form. In 1979, women’s varsity athletics were granted access to the “Cage,” the Training Room, and the Field House. By 1980, all coaches for women’s sports were employed full time by Washington University. Throughout its history, the women’s athletic program offered the female student the opportunity to participate on different competitive levels ranging from club to intramural to varsity.

The UAA

The eight current UAA schools compete in a single round-robin format for football, men’s and women’s soccer, and a double round-robin format men’s and women’s basketball. For all other sports, the schools schedule league tournaments or championships at one of the eight UAA campuses.

One of the most unusual aspects of the UAA, however, is the geographic location of the nine institutions. To reach the Bears’ farthest opponent, Brandeis University, the team must travel 1,141 miles from St. Louis to reach them, and the closest opponent, University of Chicago, is 289 miles away. With these distances, the UAA is the most expansive athletic league in NCAA Division III.

In explaining why the UAA was created with institutions hailing from such varying locales, Harry Kisker, then dean of student affairs and a chief organizer of the association, said, “Internal factors include such concerns as providing a consistent and challenging level of competition for both men and women in intercollegiate play, visibility of athletics programs among active students, alumni and the general public, issues of morale and institutional identity, and desire for association with institutions of similar, high quality.”

Bear Sports Today

Washington University boasts one of the greatest and most successful athletic programs in all of Division III sports today. Contenders for national championships year after year in various sports, the University has displayed its prowess both as an excellent institution of higher learning and one with a diverse and talented athletic ability.

Easily the team with the greatest success has been the women’s volleyball team. Along with a Division III-record eight national championships and 17 of 18 University Athletic Association championships (including 16 straight titles), the squad boasts an all-time record of 64-11 in NCAA Tournament play. The Bears’ 64 wins rank as the second most in D-III history (Juniata College, 68) and their .853 winning percentage is tops in the NCAA Tournament record book. WU is also 30-2 at home in postseason play.

In all, the Bears have received 13 UAA Player of the Year awards and 12 UAA Staff of the Year awards while producing a 206-3 (.986) record in 18 years of conference play. Washington University has also tallied nine American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division III National Player of the Year awards, 89 AVCA All-America mentions, 64 all-Central and all-South Region honors and 93 all-UAA citations.

However, the women’s softball team is making a run at the volleyball team’s glory. In just six seasons as a varsity program, the Washington University softball team has had a number of successes. Head coach Cindy Zelinsky, who just retired following the 2005 season, posted a 178-68 (.724) overall record, made four NCAA Tournament appearances, and won three University Athletic Association (UAA) championships in her six years with the Bears.

The breakout year for the Lady Bears came in 2003 when the squad finished with a 30-9 record and their first All-American was named in sophomore Liz Swary. The Bears improved in 2004, finishing with an outstanding 35-5 record and winning its second UAA championship in school history. WU made its third-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and placed third in the Midwest Regional. But the true highlight of their campaign came just last season when the team posted a 47-3 final record. Heading into postseason play, the Bears were the no. 1 ranked team in the nation, but lost in the Midwest Regional final, slipping to #7 in the national rankings.

For the men of the football gridiron, the 1990’s marked the winningest decade in team history (66-35) since the inception of the program in 1890-one in which the Bears posted the second-highest winning percentage among four-year football playing schools in Missouri. Over that 10-year stretch, the Bears won 65-percent of their games-including 64-percent over the last five years (32-18)-produced 14 All-Americans, won five University Athletic Association titles, had seven players named UAA Player of the Year (three offense, four defense) and boasted four Academic All-Americans and 12 all-district choices. Last season the Bears finished the season, following a tough schedule, with a 6-4 final record, but posting a 3-0 mark in UAA mark.

Each and every team boasts its own uniqueness and quality of play that you will not find at many other Division III institutions. The women’s soccer, men’s tennis, men’s and women’s cross country and indoor track, women’s basketball, and men’s swimming are of particular promise in the upcoming year. All have come off of winning and successful seasons, and should prove to impress their WU faithful in the next year.

Information gathered and compiled via bearsports.wustl.edu.

Dan Daranciang

Transforming into a whole new sports fan

I’m a Yankees fan-always have been and always will. Until I actually came to Wash. U. two years ago, which boasts an 88% out-of-state population, my knowledge of Yankee hatred was basically limited to Mets fans and from what I heard on SportsCenter. Then I was given a strong dose of reality when I learned that Yankee hate ran deeper than I could ever imagine, in part because of the immense amount of diversity and number of people coming into WU from all corners of the United States.

It hit me like an oncoming train the moment Aaron Boone hit the game-winning home run in game seven of the 2003 ALCS against the Boston Red Sox. Following Boone’s blast, I remember literally jumping out of my seat and screaming at the top of my lungs with exhilaration, looking for someone to slap hands with and share my excitement. There were none. Not one person out of at least a dozen in the room was jumping and shouting with joy like me.

I was then smacked with the harsh reality that I was no longer in Yankee country anymore. I was among Brewers, Orioles, Angels, Dodgers and, of course, Cardinals fans. While finding a friendly hand to slap was never a problem for me growing up, here the best I could get was nothing more than a “lucky swing” comment and a mass exodus to the door.

Where I am going with this story? Though it may seem that I’m trying to rub it into everyone’s face that the Yankees beat the Sox, that’s not what I’m getting at. My point is simple: here you are, a group of over a thousand freshmen moving into this new school where the majority of the students you will meet and befriend will come from states as far away as possible from your own, and all will have their own sport team preferences and biases. It’s to be expected, regardless of whether you’re from New York or Milwaukee or Chicago, but one thing that you will come to find through meeting these people you once thought of as your arch-rivals is your ability to appreciate other people’s sports preferences, as much as you might disagree with them.

Though I may hate to admit it, I admire Red Sox fans for their dedication to their team the past 87 years. And while I still hate the Red Sox with the fire of a thousand suns come playoff time, I have become good friends with many-a-Red Sock fan even though it was something I could never see myself doing before coming to WU.

Keep an open mind. Feel free to argue as much as you want with a fan of your rival team, but in the end, just remember that being a student at Washington University gives you so much more, not only because you are given the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, but because here more than anywhere else you have the chance to meet sports fans from all over the world.

You will find in a short amount of time that you have been transformed into a completely different kind of sports fan. You will no longer be the biased and uncultured sports buffoon you once were, but will now be able to call yourself not only an elitist in the world of academia (hey, you got into WU, didn’t you?), but also an elitist in the sports world because you’ll be able to tolerate those awful Red Sox fans that you once despised more than anything.

The Spirit of St. Louis

Another dose of reality that you will come to embrace rather quickly will be that St. Louis will be the second home for many of you for the next four years. That means that you must automatically become a St. Louis fan, whether it’s for the Cardinals, Rams, or Blues (since hockey’s back now!). In my opinion, unless you’re a Chicago Cubs fan (rivals to the Cards in the NL Central, who then have a legit reason to hate the Cards), you should be a fan of the St. Louis teams, even if they’re only your second-favorite teams.

I’m not saying that you should overlook your loyalties to your home city’s team, which should always come first and foremost. As the residents of a new city that offers an excellent range of sporting venues that few other cities can compete with, though, you should open up a place in your fandom for a city that has three top-tier professional teams, as well as a great lineup of amateur and semi-pro teams.

In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve got one heck of a baseball team and a football squad that can hold its own. Hockey’s going to be back next season, so look for the Blues to make quite a showing.

For those who may not be aware, this is the last season that our beloved Cardinals will call Busch Stadium their home; following the season the team will move into a new ballpark right next to the current Busch Stadium. This may be your last chance to visit the great Busch Stadium, so I suggest trying to make a trip downtown to the stadium (I-64/40E to Stadium exit) before the end of the season. You won’t want to miss it.

Now that you should all be avid St. Louis sports fans, here are a couple pointers about everything you will need to know to be a great St. Louis sports fan, courtesy, in part, of Leslie Gibson McCarthy of The Sporting News. Heed these words of wisdom well:

What to wear and what to say when in a St. Louis stadium:

-Pack primary colors. Red for Busch Stadium, blue for Savvis Center and the Edward Jones Dome, and gold to accent all three.

-Applaud such things as a batter advancing a runner to third base with a ground ball to the right side. St. Louis sports fans think they’re among the most knowledgeable in the country, and you’ll fit right in.

-Wearing Cubs attire is strictly forbidden, and doing so will result in death or mauling by angry fans.

The gospel according to St. Louis sports fans:

These doctrines (right or wrong) are held dear by St. Louisans:

-Whitey Herzog is once, forever, and always a baseball genius.

-Brett Hull never should have been allowed to leave as a free agent.

-There’ll never be another shortstop like Ozzie Smith, and Albert Pujols is more god than man.

-The Blues’ season isn’t a success unless they make the playoffs.

-We need a basketball team more than Lindsay Lohan needs to eat a sandwich.

Things you should never say in St. Louis (and why):

-“These umpires are good, but whatever happened to Don Denkinger? He was my favorite.” St. Louis fans are still testy about Denkinger’s call in Game 6 of the 1985 World Series.

-“I think Judge Edward Houston has handed down some kick-ass verdicts in his day.” Blues fans still think they were robbed in the summer of 1991 when the judge awarded Scott Stevens to the New Jersey Devils as compensation for St. Louis’ signing of Brendan Shanahan.

-“Georgia Frontiere sure is a funky owner, but I miss Bill Bidwill.” Virtually no one in St. Louis misses Bidwill, who took the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals to Arizona after the 1987 season and left the city scrambling for a pro football franchise.

-“I hate soccer.” You might, but don’t say it out loud. While fans passionately follow the Cards, Blues, and Rams, their kids are playing soccer just as they played it when they were young.

-“It doesn’t matter if the Cards lose, just as long as Big Mac hits a home run.” That’s the perception among out-of-towners looking to knock St. Louis fans. The perception is wrong. (Comment outdated, but it still rings true.)

Pronunciation guide:

-Missouri (miz-ZUR-ee). Some folks say Miz-zur-rah- but those people don’t live in St. Louis and most likely voted for President Bush.

For those of you interested in sports, being active, or just finding an outlet to make a bunch of new friends while having a great time, club or intramural sports may be the way to go. From sports as physically demanding as ultimate Frisbee, flag football, and basketball to more leisurely ones such as billiards and bowling, to the more outlandish “sports” like arm wrestling and euchre (yes, euchre, the classic card game), there’s a little bit of everything for everyone.

If you’re the more serious athlete hankering for some competition and want to be actively involved playing in your favorite sport, club sports might be a good fit for you. Or for those of you who just enjoy playing sports with your friends and floormates in a less competitive game or for those who don’t have the time to put into playing on a club team, IM might be the best option.

Whichever you want to do, getting involved in club or IM sports is pretty easy. For those with the craving for club action, be sure to attend the Student Activities Fair on Wed., September 7th to sign up with club teams. Most teams don’t have tryouts, so as long as you are willing to be a dedicated member of the team and attend practices, being a part of the club team of your choice is well within your grasp.

Some of the most popular club teams include the men’s and women’s ultimate Frisbee teams, men’s and women’s soccer teams, and the tennis teams, though there are more options for club sports than just those sports. Club athletes can expect to have practices two to three times a week for a few hours each practice, and have the opportunity to compete in games and tournaments against other schools from around the country.

Getting involved with IM sports will be one of the easiest things you will encounter during your time at WU. All you have to do to get a team together is go to the Athletic Complex, located near Big Bend Boulevard and Snow Way Drive, just past Fraternity Row, and pick up an entry form at the IM office on the second floor. Get some of your friends to sign up, and you’re set. Return the entry form to the IM office before the season starts with emergency health cards for each player, and you and your friends will be on the field playing another team once a week for the chance at winning the highly coveted IM Champion T-shirts.

If you want to get your floor together for a team, talk to your RA. He or she will most likely be more than happy to organize a team. For most sports there are both men’s and women’s teams, as well as co-ed teams that you can participate in. There’s really no better activity to do with your entire floor than getting together Saturday afternoon and playing a fun game of flag football, softball, basketball, or whatever sport strikes your fancy.

For a list of all IM and Club sports, visit the IM Web site, www.restech.wustl.edu/~im/.

Picture this. It’s Friday night and thousands of fans in a packed stadium have donned face and body paint of their school colors. Emotions are running high and the student section is louder than a riot. There’re two seconds left in the game, and you’re down by one point with your best shooter, a projected top 10 NBA draft pick, coming up to the line for two free throws. This is it-do or die, win or lose.

As your star prepares for his shot the crowd goes silent; not a sound could be heard. The ESPN commentators are looking on eager to scream out with excitement. First shot. Swish. The crowd goes wild, but just as quickly as the uproar begins, it ends just as suddenly. Second shot. It’s up, hits the back of the rim. One bounce. Two bounces. Not a heart is beating. It’s in! Within seconds the 10,000 plus fans storm the court and amidst the sea school colors tears of excitement are being shed and screams of joy can be heard.

Now what color is that face paint that you picture? Is it Tarheel Blue? Syracuse Orange? Maybe Duke Blue and White? Or perhaps it’s the Red and White of the Arizona Wildcats? Whatever the color is, chances are it’s not the Red and Green of your Washington University Bears.

Welcome to Division III sports. You won’t see thousands of fans storming the Washington University Field House any time soon. Nor will you see your starting point guard drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers. And there’s no chance in hell that you’ll see more fans at the basketball game than at your weekly Beirut tournament-that’s for sure.

Division III sports: Don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it

Let’s face it-Division III sports teams, even your own school’s team, don’t hold a candle to your favorite NCAA sports team you go crazy for during March Madness. But that’s not to say that rooting for your Washington University Bears and attending games like you did for your high school football team should automatically be counted out because they’re Division III. Though the level of play isn’t up to par with future NBA players, and the biggest rivalry you’ll see in the Bears’ conference, the University Athletic Association (UAA) (a.k.a. “The Smart School Conference”) is probably with Emory University or Brandeis University, there are some unique features of Division III play that you won’t get anywhere else.

First, all D-III athletes must be students before athletes. No varsity athlete can have an athletic scholarship and, at least at Washington University, all athletes must first be accepted to the school through the same process and requirements that all other students go through. So what you see from our athletes proudly wearing the Red and Green is first and foremost a group of people who actually attend class, something you won’t see from the likes of top NBA draft picks. In Division III, if a player’s GPA drops below a minimum requirement, s/he is suspended from athletic activities until they can bring their GPA back, regardless of who the player is.

The ironic thing about that policy, of course, is that for the overwhelming majority of these student-athletes at WU, keeping their GPA up is never a problem. The average GPA of all the varsity athletes was significantly higher than the average GPA of the rest of the student body last year. It seems like these talented people have the Superman-esque powers to balance a year-round athletic career with the demanding rigors of Wash. U. academia.

Being a varsity athlete is no walk in the park. A typical day can involve waking up at 5 or 6 a.m. to lift weights and train for a couple of hours, followed by five hours of organic chemistry lab, grabbing a quick bite to eat before a biology exam, then heading straight to a grueling afternoon practice. After that is a break for dinner, then it’s straight to the library for a couple hours of well-managed and focused studying. Next up: bedtime.

You have to really admire what a varsity athlete goes through during the year-their social life during the season is basically reduced to nothing. Every day is an arduous battle just to get through it all, and yet, if you ask just about any athlete, not one of them would give it up for anything. Though many fans might not seem to give a hoot, every athlete here bleeds Red and Green through and through.

Bear sports: “These guys ain’t too f-ing bad!”

So here’s a group of Division III athletes who do better than most WU students in the classroom while also taking on the full responsibilities of a varsity athlete-clearly the Bears have too much going on to win games, right?

Wrong. Year after year we have teams competing for national championships and winning conference titles, and we have players pitching no-hitters and winning spots on All-American teams. Believe it or not, Washington University athletics is actually very successful across the board. When you have your volleyball team winning the National Championship what seems to be every year, or your softball team being the No. 1 ranked team in the nation before falling to the defending national champion in the Regional Finals, or when just about every other WU team wins the UAA Conference Title every year, it proves that not only are these excellent students, but gifted athletes as well.

Division III athletics may not be the most glamorous thing in the world, but they can definitely be something that will surprise you if you give them a chance. And even if you’re not that much into Bear sports, going to home games and events are a great way to get free food. Red Alert is a student group that works to attract fans to go to home games by giving them all the free Dominos pizza they can eat. Add that to the potential prizes that can be won through raffles, and you just might have a great reason to show up.

Despite its relative smallness, Wash. U. athletics can be very exciting and worthwhile, and you would be doing a disservice to both you and our Bear athletes who put so much into representing the Red and Green by missing out.

Dan Daranciang

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article contains a correction and is different from the version that ran in print. In the print edition, Cary Adickman was incorrectly listed as the administrator of the AOL Instant Messenger screen name WUPoker. Adickman is completely unaffiliated with the WUPoker service. The online edition of this article reflects this correction

It’s no secret that poker is the coolest thing since sliced bread, and everyone is trying to get in on a piece of the action, WU students included. Yes, a frenzy of students are putting their $40,000 tuition to good use by protesting the age-old practice of sleep and staying up until the wee hours of the night with hopes of hitting the big one.

For all you poker addicts out there, it’s never hard to find a good game of poker to join in on. Those pretty seminar rooms in Danforth, Eliot, and Forsyth buildings-you know, the ones that cost ridiculous amounts of money so that we can study and get a Top 10 education-are being put to great use as the favorite meeting places for poker enthusiasts from all over the South 40. Whether it’s a weekend night or hours before a big psychology test, there always seems to be a game going on.

Attractive to many students are the fundraising and charity poker tournaments held by student groups. Whether the Campus Democrats, Alpha Epsilon Pi, or another student group is hosting a semi-annual poker tournament, the turnout is always good, and the winners always walk away with a good amount of money. (Which will go right to the tutors, since they haven’t opened their Macroeconomics textbooks all year.) These tournaments are on the rise and we should see a steady increase in the number of large-scale organized tournaments on campus in the coming year.

Technology is also being used to promote poker playing. The AIM screename WUPoker allows people to post ring games and tournaments so people know where to go and how much to buy in for. For those eager to find a new table to play at or meet new people, you can just about always find at least five or six games going on each week, if not more.

Taking the obsession even further, the Facebook group “WU Poker Enthusiasts” boasts 143 members currently, and stands as an outlet for poker players near and far to join together to post games, discuss strategy, and basically do anything else involving poker.

So there you have it-Washington University is a haven for poker players. But before you jump right in, take heed: WU poker players are no dummies. Students here have won $10,000 tournaments, grossed over $50,000 in the span of one school year, and could probably make a nice living playing poker for the rest of their lives. So for all you beginners out there, look before you leap. Remember, for every big winner you hear about, there’s a big loser.