Cornell Big Red



The Cornell Big Red is the informal name of the sports teams, and other competitive teams, at Cornell University. The university sponsors 36 varsity sports, as well as numerous intramural and club teams. Cornell participates in NCAA Division I as part of the Ivy League. The men's and women's hockey teams compete in the ECAC Hockey League. Additionally, teams compete in the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association, the Collegiate Sprint Football League, the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC), the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges (EAWRC), the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association, and the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA).

Facilities
The football, lacrosse, & sprint football teams play in Schoellkopf Field, which has a capacity of 25,597. The ice hockey teams play in Lynah Rink, which has a capacity of 4,267. The Cornell men's soccer team plays on Charles F. Berman field on the southeast side of campus. There are also facilities about 2 miles east of campus that has multiple uses, but it is mainly used by the Cornell men's soccer team for practice. Other campus facilities include a Robert Trent Jones (a Cornell alumnus) designed golf course, baseball's Hoy Field, the Niemand•Robison Softball Field, the Oxley Equestrian Center, and numerous fields and gymnasiums. Some of the athletic playing fields along Tower Road are known as the "Alumni Fields" because the Cornell Alumni Association funded the grading and development of these fields in exchange for a promise that they would remain in perpetuity. A subsequent land swap resulted in giving the Agriculture College building sites at the east end of the fields in exchange for the site of what became Schoellkopf Field and Hoy Field. The Alumni Fields became the site of an underground Synchrotron Laboratory. Since the 1970s, several of the fields were used as sites for new biology buildings and were replaced by new fields along Jessup Road. Today, facilities are spread around campus with tennis courts and basketball courts located near a number of dormitories. In addition, the athletics department operates Helen Newman Hall (formerly the women's athletics building) and Noyes Center as remote fitness facilities.

History
Cornell's teams did not have an official name until after 1905, when a recent graduate, Romeyn Berry '04, wrote lyrics for a new football song. The lyrics included the words "the big, red team," and the nickname stuck.

Cornell does not have an official mascot; however, the bear has long been a symbol of Cornell Athletics. In 1915, a live bear named Touchdown first appeared at football games to represent Cornell. The current version, which appears at many of Cornell's sporting events, is a brown bear costume (the live bear was replaced in 1939) that is worn by an undergraduate student; it is referred to as the "Big Red Bear" or by its nickname, "Touchdown." And recently, "red man," a person dressed in a tight red suit, has been seen running up and down the field of men's soccer games.

Cornell's colors, carnelian red and white, date back to the university's Inauguration Day on October 7, 1868.

Many of Cornell's athletic directors have made substantial contributions to collegiate athletics in general, including Romeyn Berry, James Lynah, and Robert Kane.

Fight Songs
A number of fight songs are associated with Cornell sports teams, such as "The Big Red Team", "Fight for Cornell", and "New Cornell Fight Song", but the one with the longest use and tradition is "Give My Regards to Davy", a song written by three Cornellians in 1904. The song is sung to the tune of George M. Cohan's "Give My Regards to Broadway".

Rivalries
Cornell maintains informal athletic rivalries with other collegiate institutions. The men's ice hockey team has a historic rivalry with Boston University, but, since BU left what became the ECAC Hockey conference to join Hockey East, this rivalry has been overshadowed by the more contemporary one with Harvard University, which was highlighted in the 1970 novel Love Story and its film adaptation. The men's ice hockey team also has rivalries with Clarkson and Colgate. Following tradition, when Harvard plays the men's ice hockey team at Cornell's Lynah Rink, some Big Red fans throw fish on the ice. Cornell has traditionally had a men's lacrosse rivalry with Johns Hopkins University and, since 1980, Syracuse University. And the rising soccer team has formed an impressive rivalry with Syracuse University after its recent close games.

Cornell and the University of Pennsylvania are long-time rivals in football. With more than 114 games played since their first meeting in 1893, this is the seventh most-played rivalry in college football. Cornell's football series against both the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College are tied for second longest uninterrupted college football match-ups in history, both dating back to 1919. The two teams play for the Trustee Cup. They are only surpassed by the Lehigh-Lafayette series, which is uninterrupted since 1897.

In polo, the men's and women's teams maintain rivalries with the University of Virginia and the University of Connecticut.

For men's lacrosse, Cornell and Princeton University have historically been the perennial favorites in the Ivy League and the Princeton game is usually the most anticipated Ivy-game. Fellow upstate schools Syracuse University and Hobart are also considered Cornell's lacrosse rivals.

Additionally, in Women's Equestrian Skidmore College is a constant rival.

Varsity sports
The sprint football team has won the CSFL title six times. The men's ice hockey team has been NCAA champion twice, ECAC champion 12 times and Ivy League champion 20 times, and recorded the only undefeated season in NCAA Division I Hockey history in 1970. The men's lacrosse team has been NCAA champion three times and Ivy League champion 27 times. The men's Lightweight rowing team varsity 8+ has won the IRA regatta four times since 1992 (1992, 2006, 2007, 2008). The women's polo team has won the National Women's Polo Championship 11 times and the women's hockey team has been Ivy League champion 8 times.

Championship Teams

 * Baseball
 * Ivy 1972, 1977, 1979, 1982, 2012
 * EIBL 1939, 1940, 1952, 1972, 1977


 * Men's Basketball
 * Ivy 1988, 2008, 2009, 2010


 * Women's Basketball
 * Ivy 2008


 * Men's Cross Country
 * Heptagonal Champions 1939, 1940, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1961, 1963, 1993
 * Ivy Champions 1957, 1961, 1963, 1992, 1993


 * Women's Cross Country
 * Heptagonal Champions 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998, 2011, 2012


 * Football
 * National 1915, 1921, 1922, 1939
 * Ivy 1971, 1988, 1990


 * Sprint Football
 * CSFL 1975(Co-Champs), 1978, 1982, 1984(Tri-Champs), 1986(Tri-Champs), 2006


 * Field Hockey
 * Ivy 1991


 * Men's Ice Hockey
 * NCAA 1967, 1970
 * ECAC 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1980, 1986, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2005, 2010
 * Ivy 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2012
 * Ned Harkness Cup 2003, 2005, 2008
 * Women's Ice Hockey
 * NCAA Frozen Four 2010, 2011, 2012
 * ECAC 2010, 2011, 2013
 * Ivy 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1990, 1996, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013


 * Men's Lacrosse
 * NCAA 1971, 1976, 1977
 * Ivy 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1987, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013
 * Women's Lacrosse
 * Ivy 2006


 * Men's Polo
 * National 1937, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1992, 2005


 * Women's Polo
 * National 1979, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2011


 * Men's Heavyweight Crew Cornell's Crews have won more RAAC (12 of 21)(1871-1894) and IRA National Championships (26) than any other University, most recently:
 * IRA National 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1977, 1981, 1982
 * Eastern Sprints 1956, 1957, 1960, 1963


 * Men's Lightweight Crew
 * IRA National 1992, 2006, 2007 2008
 * Eastern Sprints 1949, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1992, 2006, 2008


 * Women's Crew
 * IRA National 1989


 * Men's Soccer


 * Ivy 1975, 1977, 1995, 2012


 * Women's Soccer
 * Ivy 1987, 1991


 * Softball
 * Ivy 1999, 2001, 2004, 2009


 * Men's Swimming
 * EISL Dual-Meet 1984 [Co-Champions], 2007


 * Men's Tennis
 * Ivy 2011


 * Men's Track
 * Indoor Heptagonal Champions 1953, 1955, 1958, 1977, 1978, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013
 * Outdoor Heptagonal Champions 1939, 1951, 1955, 1958, 1978, 1985, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010


 * Women's Track
 * Indoor Heptagonal Champions 1991, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
 * Outdoor Heptagonal Champions 1991, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013


 * Volleyball
 * Ivy 1991, 1992, 1993, 2004, 2005, 2006


 * Men's Wrestling
 * See footnote See also: Collegiate wrestling, Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA), and NCAA Wrestling Team Championship


 * EIWA champions 1910, 1912-1917, 1922, 1923, 1926, 1930, 1958, 1992, 1993, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
 * Ivy League champions 1957-1960, 1962-1966, 1973, 1974, 1987-1993, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003-2013
 * NCAA Runner-up 2010, 2011

Other teams

 * Equestrian
 * Women's Fencing
 * Men's Golf
 * Gymnastics
 * Men's Squash
 * Women's Squash
 * Men's Swimming and Diving
 * Women's Swimming and Diving

Club teams

 * Women’s Club Ultimate Team
 * Men’s Club Ultimate Team

Individual Champions
Cornell Big Red wrestling
 * NCAA Wrestling
 * 1929 Glenn Stafford, 175 lb.
 * 1953 Frank Bettucci, 147 lb.
 * 1953 Don Dickason, 167 lb.
 * 1959 Dave Auble, 123 lb.
 * 1960 Dave Auble, 123 lb.
 * 1994 David Hirsch, 126 lb.
 * 2003 Travis Lee, 125 lb.
 * 2005 Travis Lee, 133 lb.
 * 2008 Jordan Leen, 157 lb.
 * 2009 Troy Nickerson, 125 lb.
 * 2010 Kyle Dake, 141 lb.
 * 2011 Kyle Dake, 149 lb.
 * 2012 Kyle Dake, 157 lb.
 * 2012 Steve Bosak, 184 lb.
 * 2012 Cam Simaz, 197 lb.
 * 2013 Kyle Dake, 165 lb.


 * NCAA Track and Field Champions
 * Charles Moore
 * 1949 440 Yard Run
 * 1951 220 Yard Hurdles
 * Rayon Taylor
 * 2007 Triple Jump, Outdoor
 * Muhammad Halim
 * 2008 Triple Jump, Outdoor