The Eastern Illinois Panthers are the intercollegiate athletic programs of

Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

(EIU) located in

Charleston, Illinois Charleston is a city in, and the county seat of, Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,286, as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with its neighbor, Mattoon. Both are p ...

, United States. The Panthers athletic program is a member of the

Ohio Valley Conference The Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern United States. It participates in NCAA Divisi ...

(OVC) and competes at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

level in the

Football Championship Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

. EIU's colors are

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

and

gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

. Selected as the team mascot in 1930, EIU's

panther Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **'' Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. *** Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in So ...

was informally known as "Billy" for many years and was officially named "Billy the Panther" in 2008. Panther teams have won five NCAA national championships in three sports. The Panthers also won the 1969 NAIA men's soccer title.

History

Eastern Illinois athletics began in the school's very first year, with the inaugural football team taking the field only three weeks after the first students arrived on campus in 1899. Eastern Illinois was a member of the

Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference The Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) was a college athletic conference that existed from 1908 to 1970 in the United States. At one time the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, or IIAC, was a robust league that clai ...

from 1912 to 1970. From 1978 to 1982 they were members of the Mid-Continent Athletic Association which was absorbed by the

Association of Mid-Continent Universities The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the W ...

later known as the

Mid-Continent Conference The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the W ...

now the

Summit League The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States from Illinois on the East of the Mississippi River to the Dakotas and Nebraska on the W ...

till 1996. In 1996 they joined the Ohio Valley Conference which is their current conference. A member of the

since 1996, Eastern Illinois University sponsors teams in ten men's and ten women's

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

sanctioned sports. The Panthers' men's soccer team and men's and women's swimming teams compete as associate members of the

since those sports are not sponsored by the OVC. The OVC merged its men's tennis league into that of the

Horizon League The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region. The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midw ...

after the 2021–22 school year, with all OVC teams in that sport, including Eastern Illinois, becoming Horizon associates.

Sports sponsored

Baseball

*1973 NCAA Division II World Series Third Place. *1978 NCAA Division II World Series Fifth Place. *1981 NCAA Division II World Series Runner-Up. The Panther baseball team has appeared in two

NCAA Division I Baseball Championship The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is held each year from May through June and features 64 college baseball teams in the United States, culminating in the eight-team Men's College World Series at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebr ...

, in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Basketball

Men's basketball

* NAIA Tournament appearances (6)

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

, 1950, 1952,

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

. With a combined record of 7–7. Highest finish, 4th: 1957. * NCAA Division II Tournament appearances each year from

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

. Highest finish, 3rd:

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

and

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

. * NCAA Division I Tournament appearances (1992 and 2001). *All time tournament results

Women’s basketball

* NCAA Division I Tournament appearance 1988.

Men's cross country

Team Championships: *1968 – NCAA College Division National Champions *1969 – NCAA College Division National Champions *1977 – NCAA Division II National Champions

Football

Division II National Champion *

Division II National Runner-Up. *

NCAA Division I Football Championship The NCAA Division I Football Championship is an annual post-season college football game, played since 2006, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). From 1978 to 2005, the game was kn ...

tournament appearances: 1982, 1983, 1986, 1989, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015. *Conference Titles: 1912, 1913, 1914, 1928, 1948, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1995, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2013 * All time tournament results

Men’s golf

National Finishes: *1969 - NAIA 4th Place *1972 - NAIA 8th Place Individual National Champions: *1972 - Gaylord Burrows - NAIA

Soccer

Men's soccer

* 1969 – NAIA National Champion. * NCAA Division II runners-up in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, 3rd in

, and 4th in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

. * Stripped of 1981 Division I 3rd-place finish.

Women’s soccer

The Panther women’s soccer team has appeared in four NCAA Division I Women's Soccer Tournaments in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Softball

The Panther softball team has appeared in two

Women's College World Series The Women's College World Series (WCWS) is the final portion of the NCAA Division I softball tournament for college softball in the United States. Eight teams participate in the WCWS, which begins with a double-elimination tournament. In other wo ...

, in

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

and

Men’s swimming and diving

Individual National Champions: *1973 - Bob Thomas, NCAA Division II 200 yard backstroke *1973 - Bob Thomas, NCAA Division II 400 yard IM *1973 - Jon Mayfield, NCAA Division II 200 yard breaststroke *1973 - NCAA Division II 400 yard medley (Bob Thomas, Jon Mayfield, Dan Cole, Dave Toler) *1974 - Bob Thomas, NCAA Division II 200 yard backstroke *1974 - Bob Thomas, NCAA Division II 400 yard IM *1974 - Jon Mayfield, NCAA Division II 200 yard breaststroke *1974 - NCAA Division II 400 yard medley (Bob Thomas, Jon Mayfield, Brian Forsberg, Dave Toler) *1975 - Jon Mayfield, NCAA Division II 200 yard breaststroke

Track and field

Team Championships (men's): *1974 – NCAA Division II National Champions *1976 — NCAA Division II National Runner-up Individual Champions: *1955 – Ray White, NAIA Long Jump *1967 – John Craft, NAIA Triple Jump *1969 – John Craft, NCAA College Division Triple Jump *1972 – Rodney Jackson, NCAA College Division 400 hurdles *1973 – Rodney Jackson, NCAA College Division 400 hurdles *1974 – Darrell Brown, NCAA Division II Long Jump *1975 – Toni Ababio, NCAA Division II Long Jump *1975 – Toni Ababio, NCAA Division II Triple Jump *1976 – Ed Hatch, NCAA Division II 400 Meter Dash *1979 – Robert Johnson, NCAA Division II 110 hurdles *1981 — 4x400 Relay, Women’s Track & Field AIAW II *1981 – Augustine Oruwari, NCAA Division II 110 hurdles *1988 – Jim Maton, NCAA Division I 800 meter run (Indoor) *1992 – Dan Steele, NCAA Division I 400 hurdles

Volleyball

The Eastern Illinois volleyball team has been the Ohio Valley Conference champions in 1998 and co champions in 2004. The volleyball team has made one

NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament The NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament is an annual event that leads to the championship in women's volleyball from teams in Division I contested by the NCAA each winter since 1981. Texas won the most recent tournament, defeating Louis ...

appearance in

Athletic facilities

Current facilities

Facilities are housed on the west side of the EIU campus between 4th Street and Grant Avenue. *

Coaches Stadium at Monier Field Coaches Stadium at Monier Field is a baseball venue in Charleston, Illinois, United States. It is home to the Eastern Illinois Panthers baseball team of the NCAA Division I Ohio Valley Conference. It has a capacity of 500 spectators. Eastern I ...

— Baseball *Darling Courts — Men's and women's tennis *Lakeside Field — Men's and women's soccer *

Lantz Arena Lantz Arena is a 5,400-seat multi-purpose arena in Charleston, Illinois. It is home to the Eastern Illinois University (EIU) Panthers men's and women's basketball teams and to the women's volleyball team. Completed in 1967, the Lantz Arena Complex ...

— Men's and women's basketball, Volleyball *Lantz Field House — Men's and women's indoor track and field * O’Brien Field — Football, Men's and women's outdoor track and field *Ray Padovan Pool — Men's and women's swimming and diving *Tom Woodall Panther Trail — Men's and women's cross country *Williams Field — Softball Men's and women's golf practice at four local courses including Charleston Country Club, Mattoon Country Club, Meadowview Golf Course and Bent Tree Golf Course.

Former facilities

* Pemberton Hall — Men’s Basketball * McAfee Gymnasium — Men’s Basketball *Schahrer Field — Football (1899–1948)

Club and intramural facilities

*Student Rec Center — Intramural sports

Notable former athletes

Baseball

* Tim Bogar, retired

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(born 1990), baseball outfielder *

Randy Myers Randall Kirk Myers (born September 19, 1962) is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and Toronto Bl ...

, former American Major League Baseball pitcher with the

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and the

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between 1985 and 1998. 4x

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. *

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, former

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baseball pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a ...

for the

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, and

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, MLB baseball player for the

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and

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, retired all-star

player

Basketball

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, former

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player in

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, former

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

All-Star forward *

Kyle Hill Kyle Eric Hill (born April 7, 1979) is an American retired professional basketball player. He was picked by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2001 NBA draft with the 44th overall draft pick. Hill's National Basketball Association, NBA rights were then ...

, former

player in

* Jay Taylor, former NBA player for the

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Football

Brad Childress Bradley Childress (born June 27, 1956) is a former American football coach. He worked for over 40 years as a coach for various college programs and National Football League (NFL) franchises. He was the offensive coordinator for Wisconsin from 19 ...

, former head coach of the

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Jimmy Garoppolo James Richard Garoppolo (born November 2, 1991), nicknamed Jimmy G, is an American football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Eastern Illinois, where he set the school r ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

Jeff Gossett All American D2 Baseball at Eastern Illinois. All American punter 1977 D2 at Eastern Illinois. Jeffrey Alan Gossett (born January 25, 1957) is a former American football punter who played in the National Football League (NFL) and the United Sta ...

, former NFL punter for the LA/Oakland Raiders and 3 other NFL teams * Kamu Grugier-Hill,

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

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* Alexander Hollins, wide receiver for the

* John Jurkovic, former NFL

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for the

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and

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offensive coordinator for the

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, former NFL

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for the

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and

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, head coach of the

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and winner of

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, retired NFL Offensive/Defensive tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers,

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, and

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, former

for the

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and now a sportscaster * Micah Rucker, former wide receiver for the

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, and

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; also played in the

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, former head coach of the

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and

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and 3 times

winner. *

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, retired

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fullback * Pierre Walters, former NFL

for the

Handball

* Tim Dykstra, former

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

player who competed in the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

MMA

* Matt Hughes, 2x NCAA All-American wrestler, former

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

Welterweight Champion *

Kenny Robertson Kenneth Duane Robertson (born February 14, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist. A professional mixed martial artist since 2008, he has also competed for the UFC and Bellator. Before MMA In high school he wrestled for Metamora Township H ...

, 4x NCAA Division I qualifier for wrestling; current

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

for the

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, current

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, current

Rugby

Lauren Doyle Lauren Doyle (born February 23, 1991) is an American rugby sevens player. She won a silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games as a member of the United States women's national rugby sevens team and represented the United States in Rugby seve ...

, represented the United States of America for

Rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held over six days in August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The 2016 Olympics was the debut for rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics, though rugby union was last played at the 1924 games. The usual laws of ...

Soccer

Schellas Hyndman Schellas Hyndman (born November 4, 1951) is a retired soccer coach. He was previously head coach of FC Dallas in Major League Soccer. Despite having a limited career as a professional athlete, Hyndman is one of the most successful college socc ...

, former head coach of soccer's

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

Matt Bobo Matthew "Matt" Bobo (born January 6, 1977 in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American soccer player who last played for Carolina RailHawks in the North American Soccer League. Career College and Amateur Bobo attended the University of Wisconsin– ...

, former

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

player *

John Baretta John Baretta (born May 6, 1955) is a Canadian retired soccer goalkeeper who played in the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League and American Soccer League. Baretta attended Eastern Illinois University where he was a 1978 ...

, former

goalkeeper * George Gorleku, former

Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–92) Major Indoor Soccer League has been the name of three different American professional indoor soccer leagues: *Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992), known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League *Major Indoor Soccer League (2001–2 ...

player * LeBaron Hollimon, former

National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) The National Professional Soccer League was a professional indoor soccer league in the US and Canada. It was originally called the American Indoor Soccer Association. History In November 1983, a Kalamazoo, Michigan-based group called Soccer Le ...

player *

Damien Kelly Damien Kelly is an Irish retired American soccer forward who played professionally in the United Soccer League, American Indoor Soccer Association and Southwest Independent Soccer League. Youth Kelly attended Eastern Illinois University where ...

, former

player * Mark Simpson, former goalkeeper and assistant coach for

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

* Jason Thompson, former player for

Glen Tourville Glen Tourville is a retired American soccer player and former coach. Player Tourville attended the Eastern Illinois University where he played on the men's soccer team in 1978 and 1979. In 1979, the Panthers went to the NCAA Men's Division II ...

, former

player

Track

John Craft John Melvin Craft (born March 24, 1947, in Laurel, Mississippi) is an American former triple jumper who placed 5th in the Men's triple jump at the 1972 Summer Olympics. He attended Eastern Illinois University Eastern Illinois University is a ...

, placed 5th in the Men’s triple jump at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Sandy Osei-Agyemang Sandy Osei-Agyemang (born 19 July 1949) is a Ghanaian former sprinter who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: Münch ...

, advanced to the second round in the Men's 100 metres and Men's 4 × 100 metres relay at the

Dan Steele Dan Steele (born March 20, 1969) is an American bobsledder and track and field athlete who competed from the early 1990s to 2002. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the four-man event at Salt Lake City in 2002. He was re ...

, track All-American, 400-meter National Champion, and Bronze Medalist at the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Darrin Steele Darrin Steele (born March 20, 1969) is an American bobsledder. He competed at the 1998 Winter Olympics and the 2002 Winter Olympics. A native of Sherrard, Illinois, Steele graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a degree in economics. S ...

, competed at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

and the

References

External links

* {{Authority control Sports clubs established in 1895 1895 establishments in Illinois