The Harvard Crimson are the athletic teams of Harvard University. The school's teams compete in
NCAAThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I. As of 2006, there were 41 Division I
intercollegiateCollege athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...
varsityIn the United States and Canada, varsity sports teams are the principal athletic teams representing a college, university, high school or other secondary school. Such teams compete against the principal athletic teams at other colleges/universities, or in the case of secondary schools, against...
sports teams for women and men at Harvard, more than at any other NCAA Division I college in the country. Like the other
Ivy LeagueThe Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
universities, Harvard does not offer athletic scholarships.
The school has won national championships in men's football (12), golf (6), men's ice hockey (1), women's lacrosse (1), men's soccer (4), and men's individual wrestling (3).
Baseball
- See: :Category: Harvard Crimson baseball, O'Donnell Field, and College baseball
College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. Compared to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a less significant contribution to cultivating professional players, as the minor leagues primarily...
Men's basketball
Harvard Crimson men's basketball program represents
intercollegiate men's basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
at
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. The team currently competes in the
Ivy LeagueThe Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
in Division I of the
National Collegiate Athletic AssociationThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
(NCAA) and play home games at the
Lavietes PavilionThe Ray Lavietes Basketball Pavilion at the Briggs Athletic Center is a 2,195-seat multi-purpose arena in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
in Boston, Massachusetts. The team's last appearance in the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament was in
1946-External links:* on Shrp Sports * , source for much of the information on this page....
. The Crimson are currently coached by
Tommy AmakerHarold Tommy Amaker is the current head coach of the Harvard University men's basketball team. He has also served as head basketball coach for the University of Michigan men's basketball team and at Seton Hall University. He played point guard and later served as an assistant coach at Duke...
.
Women's basketball
- See: :Category: Harvard Crimson women's basketball, Lavietes Pavilion
The Ray Lavietes Basketball Pavilion at the Briggs Athletic Center is a 2,195-seat multi-purpose arena in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
, and College basketballCollege basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....
Crew
- See footnote. See also: College rowing (United States)
Rowing is one of the oldest intercollegiate sports in the United States. However, rowers comprise only 2.2% of total college athletes. This may be in part because of the status of rowing as an amateur sport and because not all universities have access to suitable bodies of water. In the 2002-03...
and Intercollegiate sports team champions#Rowing
- ECAC Rowing Trophy: 2002, 2004
Men's crew
- See also: Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges
The Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges is a college athletic conference of eighteen men's college rowing crews. It is an affiliate of the Eastern College Athletic Conference .-Members:...
(EARC) and Goldthwait CupThe Goldthwait Cup is awarded to the winner of the annual triangular regatta among the varsity lightweight eight-oared crews of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale...
- National Collegiate Rowing Championship
The now defunct National Collegiate Rowing Championship was a quasi-official national championship for men's collegiate rowing, held in Cincinnati, Ohio, between 1983 and 1996. It pitted the winners of the Eastern Sprints, the Pac-10s, the Intercollegiate Rowing Association, and the Harvard-Yale...
: 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992
Fencing
The
fencingCollegiate fencing has existed for a long time. Some of the earliest programs in the US came from the Ivy League schools, but now there are over 100 fencing programs in the US. Both clubs and varsity teams participate in the sport, however only the varsity teams may participate in the NCAA...
won the 2006
NCAA team championshipNCAA fencing championship results, combined men and women , men's and women's .-Combined:Note: Team scoring in 1990 was based on weapon team events standings. From 1991 to 1994, point values increased due to fencers not qualifying as part of a team being able to contribute points from individual...
in men's and women's combined fencing.
Football
- See: Harvard Crimson football
The Harvard Crimson football program represents Harvard University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision . Harvard's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1873...
and Harvard StadiumHarvard Stadium is a horseshoe-shaped football stadium in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Built in 1903, the stadium seats 30,323. The stadium seated up to 57,166 in the past, as permanent steel stands were installed in the north end of the stadium in 1929...
The
footballCollege football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
team has competed since 1873. They have won ten
national championshipsA college football national championship in the highest level of collegiate play in the United States, currently the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , is a designation awarded annually by various third-party organizations to their selection of the best...
when the school competed in what is now known as the FBS. They are perhaps best known for their rivalry with
YaleYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, known as "The Game". Sixteen former players have been inducted into the
College Football Hall of FameThe College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...
. The school won the
1920 Rose BowlThe 1920 Rose Bowl, known at the time as the Tournament East-West Football Game was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1920. It was the 6th Rose Bowl Game. The Harvard Crimson defeated the Oregon Ducks by a score of 7-6. Crimson halfback Edward Casey was named the Rose Bowl Player of...
.
Harvard's athletic rivalry with
YaleYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
is intense in every sport in which they meet, coming to a climax each fall in their annual football meeting, which dates back to 1875. While Harvard's football team is no longer one of the country's best as it often was a century ago during football's early days (it won the
Rose BowlThe Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
in 1920), both it and Yale have influenced the way the game is played. In 1903,
Harvard StadiumHarvard Stadium is a horseshoe-shaped football stadium in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Built in 1903, the stadium seats 30,323. The stadium seated up to 57,166 in the past, as permanent steel stands were installed in the north end of the stadium in 1929...
introduced a new era into football with the first-ever permanent reinforced concrete stadium of its kind in the country. The stadium's structure actually played a role in the evolution of the college game. Seeking to reduce the alarming number of deaths and serious injuries in the sport, the Father of Football,
Walter CampWalter Chauncey Camp was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". With John Heisman, Amos Alonzo Stagg, Pop Warner, Fielding H. Yost, and George Halas, Camp was one of the most accomplished persons in the early history of American football...
(former captain of the Yale football team), suggested widening the field to open up the game. But the state-of-the-art Harvard Stadium was too narrow to accommodate a wider playing surface. So, other steps had to be taken. Camp would instead support revolutionary new rules for the 1906 season. These included legalizing the
forward passIn several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction that the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line...
, perhaps the most significant rule change in the sport's history.
Men's golf
Harvard has won six
men's golf championshipsThe NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships, played in late May or early June, is the top annual competition in U.S. men's collegiate golf. It is a stroke play team competition, starting in 2009 the competition changed to a stroke play/match play competition with the top 8 teams after 54 holes of...
: 1898 (spring), 1899, 1901, 1902 (fall), 1903, and 1904.
Men's ice hockey
The men's ice hockey team is one of the oldest intercollegiate ice hockey teams in the United States, having played their first game on January 19, 1898 in a 0-6 loss to
BrownThe Brown Bears men's ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college ice hockey program that represents Brown University. The Bears are a member of ECAC Hockey. They play at the Meehan Auditorium in Providence, Rhode Island.-External links:*...
. Former head coach William H. Claflin and former captain George Owen are credited with the first use of
line changeA line in ice hockey is a term used to describe a group of forwards that play in a group, or shift, during a game.A complete forward line consists of a left wing, a center, and a right wing, while a pair of defensemen who play together are called a "defensive pairing." Typically, a team dresses...
in a game against Yale on March 3, 1923 when the Crimson substituted entire forward lines instead of individuals. The men's ice hockey team won the NCAA Division I Championship on April 1, 1989, defeating the
Minnesota Golden GophersThe Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team at the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. They are members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association and compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I ice hockey...
4-3 in overtime. The Cleary Cup, awarded to the ECAC regular-season champion, is named for former Harvard
All-AmericaAn All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...
n hockey player, coach, and athletic director Bill Cleary, a member of the U.S. hockey team that won the
1960 Winter OlympicsAt the 1960 Winter Olympics held in Squaw Valley, California, United States, one ice hockey event was held: men's Ice Hockey. This tournament was also counted as IIHF World Championship and IIHF European Championship. Games were held at Blyth Arena.Canada, the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and...
gold medalA gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
. The team competes in ECAC Hockey along with six other Ivy League schools and is coached by Harvard alumnus,
OlympianIce hockey at the 1992 Winter Olympics was held at the Méribel Ice Palace in Méribel, a ski resort about 45 km from host city Albertville. The competition, held from 8 to 23 February, was won by the Unified Team.-Final rankings:# # # # # # #...
, and former NHL forward,
Ted DonatoEdward Paul Donato is a retired American ice hockey player who played in the NHL. Since he retired from professional hockey as a player in 2004, he has served as the head coach for the Harvard University hockey team.-Career:...
.
- 1-time NCAA men's champions
The annual NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship tournament determines the top men's ice hockey team in NCAA Division I and Division III. The semi-finals and finals of the Division I Championship are branded as the Frozen Four, a passing nod to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship - known...
: 1989
- 8-time ECAC men's champions: 1963, 1971, 1983, 1987, 1994, 2002, 2004, 2006
- 10-time ECAC men's regular-season champions: 1963, 1973, 1975, 1986–89, 1992–94
Women's ice hockey
- See the "Harvard Crimson ice hockey" navigation box at the bottom of the page.
- 1-time women's national champions (1999, crowned by AWCHA, pre-dated NCAA Women's "Frozen Four"
The annual NCAA Women's Ice Hockey Championship tournaments determine the top women's ice hockey teams in NCAA Division I and Division III. Women's ice hockey does not have a Division II classification. Under NCAA rules, Division II schools are allowed to compete as Division I members in sports...
)
- 5-time ECAC women's champions (1999, 2004–06, 2008)
- 5-time ECAC women's regular-season champions (1999, 2003–05, 2008)
Women's lacrosse
Harvard became the first Ivy League institution to win a NCAA championship title in a women's sport, when its women's lacrosse team won the
NCAA championshipThe annual NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship tournament determines the top women's lacrosse team in the NCAA Division I, Division II, and Division III....
in 1990. The team was runner-up in 1989 and 1992.
Rowing
Older than
The Game by 23 years, the
Harvard-Yale RegattaThe Harvard-Yale Boat Race or Harvard–Yale Regatta is an annual rowing race between Yale University and Harvard University. First contested in 1852, annually since 1859 except during major wars fought by the United States, The Race is America's oldest collegiate athletic competition, predating The...
was the original source of the
athletic rivalryPairs of schools, colleges and universities, especially when they are close to each other either geographically or in their areas of specialization, often establish a college rivalry with each other over the years. This rivalry can extend to both academics and athletics, the latter being typically...
between the two schools. It is held annually in June on the Thames river in eastern Connecticut. The Harvard crew is typically considered to be one of the top teams in the country in
rowingRowing is one of the oldest intercollegiate sports in the United States. However, rowers comprise only 2.2% of total college athletes. This may be in part because of the status of rowing as an amateur sport and because not all universities have access to suitable bodies of water. In the 2002-03...
.
Sailing
The Harvard team won the
Intercollegiate Sailing Association National ChampionshipsThe Intercollegiate Sailing Association holds National Championships in six different events. Since intercollegiate sailing is a fall and spring sport, three of these championships are held in the fall and three are held in the spring...
in 2003.
Soccer
- See: :Category: Harvard Crimson men's soccer players, Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium
Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Harvard University in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. It opened in September 2010 and replaced Ohiri Field as the primary home of the Harvard Crimson men's and women's soccer teams...
, Ohiri FieldOhiri Field is a multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Harvard University in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. From its opening in 1983 until 2010, it was home to the Harvard Crimson men's and women's soccer teams; with the opening of the new Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium in...
, and College soccerCollege soccer is a term used to describe association football played by teams who are operated by colleges and universities as opposed to a professional league operated for exclusively financial purposes...
Men's soccer
Before the NCAA began its tournament in 1959, the annual national champion was declared by the
Intercollegiate Association Football LeagueThe NCAA held its first men's National Collegiate Soccer Championship in 1959, with eight teams selected for the tournament. Before 1959, unofficial champions were declared by the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association . These were the result of polls and the subjective opinion of the ISFA...
(IAFL) — from 1911 to 1926 — and then the
Intercollegiate Soccer Football AssociationThe NCAA held its first men's National Collegiate Soccer Championship in 1959, with eight teams selected for the tournament. Before 1959, unofficial champions were declared by the Intercollegiate Soccer Football Association . These were the result of polls and the subjective opinion of the ISFA...
(ISFA), from 1927 to 1958. From 1911 to 1958, Harvard won four national championships.
Men's volleyball
- See also: Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association
The Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association is a college athletic conference whose member schools compete in men's volleyball. Its member institutions are located in the Northeast United States....
Inaugural season for the men's team was 1981. The Crimson compete in the
Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball AssociationThe Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association is a college athletic conference whose member schools compete in men's volleyball. Its member institutions are located in the Northeast United States....
(EIVA) and are under the direction of head coach, Brian Baise.
Women's volleyball
Inaugural season for the women's team was 1981. The Crimson compete in the
Ivy LeagueThe Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
and are under the direction of head coach, Jennifer Weiss.
Water Polo
Coach Ted Minnis heads both the Men's and Women's Water Polo teams, which compete in the Collegiate Water Polo Association. The teams both play in Blodgett Pool.
Facilities
Harvard has several athletic facilities, such as the
Lavietes PavilionThe Ray Lavietes Basketball Pavilion at the Briggs Athletic Center is a 2,195-seat multi-purpose arena in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
, a multi-purpose arena and home to the basketball teams. The Malkin Athletic Center, known as the "MAC," serves both as the university's primary recreation facility and as home to the varsity men's and women's volleyball, men's and women's fencing, and wrestling teams. The five-story building includes two cardio rooms, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a smaller pool for aquaerobics and other activities, a mezzanine, where all types of classes are held at all hours of the day, and an indoor cycling studio, three weight rooms, and a three-court gym floor to play basketball. The MAC also offers personal trainers and specialty classes. The MAC is also home to volleyball, fencing, and wrestling. The offices of several of the school's varsity coaches are also in the MAC.
Weld BoathouseWeld Boathouse is a Harvard-owned building on the bank of the Charles River in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is named after George Walker Weld, who bequeathed the funds for its construction.-History:...
and Newell Boathouse house the women's and men's rowing teams, respectively. The men's crew also uses the Red Top complex in Ledyard, CT, as their training camp for the annual
Harvard-Yale RegattaThe Harvard-Yale Boat Race or Harvard–Yale Regatta is an annual rowing race between Yale University and Harvard University. First contested in 1852, annually since 1859 except during major wars fought by the United States, The Race is America's oldest collegiate athletic competition, predating The...
. The
Bright Hockey CenterThe Alexander C. Bright Hockey Center is a 2,850-seat ice-hockey arena in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is home to the Harvard University Crimson men's and women's ice hockey teams. It is named for Alec Bright '19, a former hockey player. Known as Lynah East for Cornell's dominance in...
hosts the ice hockey teams, and the Murr Center serves both as a home for the squash and tennis teams as well as a strength and conditioning center for all athletic sports.
Other facilities include: O'Donnell Field (baseball),
Harvard StadiumHarvard Stadium is a horseshoe-shaped football stadium in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Built in 1903, the stadium seats 30,323. The stadium seated up to 57,166 in the past, as permanent steel stands were installed in the north end of the stadium in 1929...
(football), Cumnock Turf and
Harvard StadiumHarvard Stadium is a horseshoe-shaped football stadium in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Built in 1903, the stadium seats 30,323. The stadium seated up to 57,166 in the past, as permanent steel stands were installed in the north end of the stadium in 1929...
(lacrosse),
Soldiers Field Soccer StadiumSoldiers Field Soccer Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Harvard University in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. It opened in September 2010 and replaced Ohiri Field as the primary home of the Harvard Crimson men's and women's soccer teams...
and
Ohiri FieldOhiri Field is a multi-purpose stadium located on the campus of Harvard University in the Allston neighborhood of Boston. From its opening in 1983 until 2010, it was home to the Harvard Crimson men's and women's soccer teams; with the opening of the new Soldiers Field Soccer Stadium in...
(soccer), and Blodgett Pool (swimming and diving, water polo).
Television footage
Harvard Undergraduate Television has footage from historical games and athletic events including the 2005 pep-rally before the Harvard-Yale Game. Harvard's official athletics website has more comprehensive information about Harvard's athletic facilities.
External links