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  WKUSPORTS.com Official WKU Athletics Site Located in picturesque Bowling Green, Western Kentucky boasts one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation, with 200 acres of the main campus sprawling over Southcentral Kentucky. For nearly 100 years on this campus there has been a common thread among Western students called the "Western Spirit" and it's a spirit well known to Hilltopper fans. Defined as a special feeling of belonging, more than 66,000 alumni and nearly 18,000 WKU students share that Western Spirit. The first official intercollegiate athletic competition involving Western Kentucky University was a baseball game with rival Eastern Kentucky in Bowling Green in 1910. The Hilltoppers won that first contest 6-0. The first women's athletic event for WKU was a basketball game in 1914 and the growth of women's athletics on the Hill continues with the recent addition of swimming, softball and soccer. Western now fields teams in 20 varsity sports -- 10 for men and 10 for women. Western was a member of the Ohio Valley Conference for 34 years (1948-82), winning that league's All-Sports Championships 12 times. Western joined the Sun Belt Conference in 1982 and has won the Vic Bubas Cup, significant of overall athletic excellence, three times, the first in 1987 and then again in 2002 and 2003. Western has finished in the top half of the league 19 times in the 21 years. Western Kentucky has enjoyed great success in its athletic endeavors over the years. The men's basketball program, guided for 42 years (1922-64) by legendary Hall of Fame coach E.A. Diddle, ranks among the ten winningest programs in NCAA history. It has produced 23 All-Americans, and has made 30 postseason tournament appearances, including a runner-up finish in the prestigious 1942 NIT National Championship game; an NCAA Final Four appearance in 1971; and "Sweet Sixteen"appearances in 1960, 1962, 1966, 1978 and 1993. The women's basketball program has consistently been ranked among the nation's top twenty and has competed in three Final Fours, advancing to the national championship game in 1992. The Hilltopper football team won eight Ohio Valley Conference titles before beginning competition as an independent beginning in 1982. WKU football has produced 17 first-team All-Americans, competed in the NCAA playoffs eight times, won two bowl championships (the Refrigerator Bowl in 1952 and the Tangerine Bowl in 1963), and has finished the year ranked among the nation's leaders in the polls on 15 occasions. In 2002, the Hilltoppers defeated McNeese St. to claim their first ever NCAA 1-AA National Championship. The baseball team has won three Ohio Valley Conference titles and over 1,000 games, producing five All-Americans. Western athletes have claimed NCAA individual titles in cross country, track and gymnastics, and have earned All-America honors in baseball, basketball, cross country, football, gymnastics, riflery, swimming and track and field. |
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