The LSU Tigers boxing team represented

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

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 ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

from 1930 to 1956.

History

LSU boxing started as a club sport in 1929 and enjoyed its first varsity season in 1930. The Tigers held matches at the

Huey P. Long Field House Huey P. Long Field House, on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was constructed in 1932. It was named for notable U.S. Senator and state governor Huey Long. The field house is considered the original student uni ...

and starting in 1937 at the John M. Parker Coliseum. In LSU's first season, they had a record of 5-2 and 6-1 in the ensuring 1931 campaign. In 1934, LSU won its first Southeastern Conference title by beating rival Tulane. Late in the 1930s, LSU won additional SEC titles and finished with a second-place finish in the 1939 NCAA Tournament and a third-place finish in 1940 NCAA Tournament. Some Tiger stalwarts during this period were Heston Daniel, Al Michael, Snyder Parham and Dub Robinson. World War II interrupted the sport, but LSU returned to varsity boxing in 1948. The 1949 season, LSU's second season after the war, proved to be its best. Paced by individual national champions Wilbert "Pee Wee" Moss and Edsel "Tad" Thrash and coached by Jim Owen, the Tigers went undefeated in regular season play. They finished the year by beating South Carolina in front of 11,000 fans in Parker Coliseum to win its first and only national title. Boxing at LSU continued as a varsity sport during the early 1950s with boxers Calvin Clary, Thurman "Crowe" Peele and

Bobby Freeman Robert Thomas Freeman (June 13, 1940 – January 23, 2017)"Bobby Freeman"
Ace Records.co.uk. Retrieve ...

. Peele won the NCAA heavyweight title in 1955. Late in the decade, a dwindling number of schools in the region that sponsored boxing as a varsity sport led to higher travel costs for the LSU team. Ultimately, LSU announced in 1956 it would no longer support boxing on the varsity level. LSU recorded an all-time dual meet record of 101-22-6, one national championship, 31 individual conference champions, 11 individual NCAA champions and 12 NCAA runners-up.

Championships

Team national championships

Sources:

Individual national championships

*11 individual NCAA champions

Individual conference championships

*31 individual conference championships

References