Willamette Bearcats
| Willamette Bearcats | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| University | Willamette University |
| Conference | Northwest Conference |
| NCAA | Division III |
| Athletic director | Valerie Cleary |
| Location | Salem, Oregon |
| Varsity teams | 20 |
| Football stadium | McCulloch Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Cone Field House |
| Mascot | Blitz |
| Nickname | Bearcats |
| Fight song | Fight Bearcats Fight |
| Colors | Cardinal and Gold |
| Website | www |
The Willamette Bearcats are the athletic teams of Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, United States. Competing at the non-scholarship National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III level, the school fields twenty teams. Most teams compete in the Northwest Conference with their primary rivals being Linfield College. The main athletic venues of the school are McCulloch Stadium, Cone Field House, and Roy S. "Spec" Keene Stadium. Willamette moved to the NCAA's Division III in 1998 after previously being a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) institution. The 1993, men's basketball team won the school's only team national championship, while the 1997 football team lost in the national championship game.
Willamette University was founded in 1842 in what is now Salem, Oregon. A small liberal arts school, it has an enrollment of 1,810 undergraduates and 659 graduate students for a total student population of 2,469. Intercollegiate teams for the university are football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, women's volleyball, men's and women's crew, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's cross country, and men's and women's track & field. Since October 2000, Mark Majeski has overseen the twenty teams as Willamette's athletic director. Bill Trenbeath had served in the role from 1988 to 2000.
The Willamette football team started in 1894, winning their first game against Pacific University 18 to 4, and finishing the season 1–4–1, losing four games and tying another against the Salem YMCA. In 1895, they went 2–2, including two losses to the University of Oregon and one win against what is now Oregon State University. During the early years of the program teams played a hodgepodge of other teams including games against the school's alumni, the University of Oregon School of Law, the Chemawa Indian School, the Multnomah Athletic Club, Hill Military Academy, Reed College, Mt. Angel College, and the Vancouver Barracks among others. In 1926, Willamette was a founding member of the Northwest Conference along with Pacific, rival Linfield College, Whitman College, the College of Puget Sound, and the College of Idaho, and is still a member of the conference.
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