La Salle
University
's 23 varsity sports teams, known as the
Explorers, compete in the NCAA's Division I and are a
member of the Atlantic Ten
Conference. The American football team previously played
in the
Metro Atlantic
Athletic Conference Football League and competed in the
Division I-Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA). The men's and
women's basketball teams are also part of the
Philadelphia Big 5.
The Explorers nickname
derives from a famous mistake made by a local Philadelphia
sportswriter.
The writer
thought the university was named after the French
explorer Sieur de La
Salle, when in fact it is named after St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle.
However, the nickname caught on, and has remained ever since.La
Salle's teams have won two national championships: The
1954 NCAA Men's
Division I Basketball Tournament and the 1980
AIAW Field Hockey
Championship. The school also won the
1952 National Invitation
Tournament before the tournament became considered "second
rate".
La
Salle's major historic rival has been the Hawks of the Saint Joseph's University
, especially in men's basketball. Not only
are both schools situated in Philadelphia, but they are also both
Catholic,
private institutions.
Despite La Salle's small
undergraduate
enrollment, the university has had quite a bit of success with its
men's basketball
program.
The team has won eight City Championships
(four were shared) and only Duke
(7) has had
more National Players of the Year than La Salle (3 - Lionel Simmons, Michael Brooks, and Tom Gola) . Tom Gola was listed on "ESPN's
Countdown to the Greatest" College basketball players as #17. In
addition to the National Championship and NIT Championship, La
Salle was also a national finalist in the
1955 NCAA Men's
Division I Basketball Tournament and was named the 53rd
"Greatest College Basketball Program of All-Time" by
Street & Smith's in January
2005.
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