NYU Violets
| New York University Violets | |
|---|---|
 |
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| University | New York University |
| Conference | UAA |
| NCAA | Division III |
| Athletic director | Christopher Bledsoe |
| Location | New York, New York |
| Varsity teams | 23 |
| Basketball arena | Coles Sports and Recreation Center |
| Soccer stadium | Home games usually played at Gaelic Park |
| Mascot | Bobcat |
| Nickname | Violets |
| Colors | Purple and White |
| Website | www |
NYU Violets is the nickname of the sports teams and other competitive teams at New York University. The school colors are purple and white. Although officially known as the Violets, the school mascot is a bobcat. The Violets compete as a member of NCAA Division III in the University Athletic Association conference. The university sponsors 23 varsity sports, as well as club teams and intramural sports.
For more than a century, NYU athletes have worn violet and white colors in competition, which is the root of the nickname Violets. In the 1980s, after briefly using a student dressed as a violet for a mascot, the school instead adopted the bobcat as its mascot, from the abbreviation then being used by NYU's Bobst Library computerized catalog.
NYU long offered a full athletic program, and was in fact a pioneer in the area of intercollegiate sports. When NYU began playing college football in 1873 it was one of the first football teams established in the United States (following Princeton, Rutgers, Columbia and Yale). Additionally, the current governing body for collegiate sports, the NCAA, was formed as the direct result of a meeting convened in New York City by NYU Chancellor Henry MacCracken in December 1905 to improve the safety of football.
However, in a process somewhat similar to what occurred with NYU's current conference rival Chicago Maroons, athletics were gradually deemphasized at NYU over the passing decades. The school terminated its intercollegiate football program in 1953. In 1971 the basketball program was abruptly dropped. In 1981, at the urging of then president John Brademas, NYU removed its remaining sports from NCAA Division I to Division III (except for fencing, which continues to compete as a Division I team). Still, NYU maintains a significant history of athletic success.
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