The Drake Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. Hist ...

, located in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

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

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

(MVC) and competes at the

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

level. Drake also sponsors teams in the

Pioneer Football League The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as a football-only conference. It has member ...

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Of its current 11 full members, 10 are located in three states of the northeastern United States: Connecticut, New Jersey, and ...

, and

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 ...

. Drake's live

bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.Drake Relays The Drake Relays (officially the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom) is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, in Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. Billed as ''America's Athletic Classic'', i ...

track and field meet held in April.

Drake Bulldogs history

Drake University began its athletics program in 1893 with football, baseball, and men's track. The men's basketball program began in 1906. In 1907, Drake joined the Missouri Valley Conference, having previously played as an independent. The teams were known as "The Drakes" until 1908, when

John L. Griffith John Lorenzo Griffith (August 20, 1877 – December 7, 1944) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player, track athlete, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the first commissioner of the Big Ten Conference fro ...

, the newly appointed football coach, brought

English Bulldog The Bulldog is a British breed of dog of mastiff type. It may also be known as the English Bulldog or British Bulldog. It is of medium size, a muscular, hefty dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose.Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the juncti ...

sports editor Art Gordon to dub the teams "the Bulldogs". Drake's current live mascot, Griff, is named for Griffith as a result. Griffith was later instrumental in another major component of Drake athletics when he organized the first

Drake Relays The Drake Relays (officially the Drake Relays presented by Xtream powered by Mediacom) is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, in Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. Billed as ''America's Athletic Classic'', i ...

in 1910. The Relays moved to Drake Stadium when it opened in 1925. Drake played the first-ever night game at

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...

in 1930, falling to

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

14-7. Drake won the national championships for cross country in 1944, 1945, and 1946, with Fred Feiler winning the individual titles in 1944 and 1945. Feiler became the second Bulldog to win an individual national championship, joining 1935 high jump champion Linn Philson; Drake would later see Jim Ford (1952, 200 meters) and Rick Wanamaker (decathlon, 1970) win individual track titles. On October 20, 1951, Drake's

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

football star

Johnny Bright John Dee Bright (June 11, 1930 – December 14, 1983) was an American professional football player in the Canadian Football League. He played college football at Drake University. He is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the Nation ...

was

assaulted An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in cr ...

in a game at Oklahoma A&M (now known as Oklahoma State). As a result of the incident and the failure of the

to take action against Oklahoma A&M or the offending player, Drake and fellow conference member

Bradley Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English. Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular. It is also an Anglicisation of t ...

both withdrew from the conference. Bright would finish 5th in the balloting for the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

. Drake rejoined the

for non-football sports in 1956. In 1969, the men’s basketball team advanced to the national semifinals, losing narrowly to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. Legend

Dolph Pulliam Adolphus "Dolph" Pulliam is a former American basketball player and television sportscaster. He played collegiately at Drake University. He was named to Drake University's All-Century basketball team. He helped lead the Drake men's basketball team ...

becomes the first athlete to be selected in both the NBA and NFL drafts. Pulliam was drafted by the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 as one of t ...

and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

in 1969. Football returned to the MVC in 1971, 20 years after the Bright incident. Baseball was dropped in 1974. Following changes in NCAA regulation in 1985, football was briefly dropped before returning as a non-scholarship Division III sport; it later returned to Division I but remains non-scholarship. Alumnus

Zach Johnson Zachary Harris Johnson (born February 24, 1976) is an American professional golfer who has 12 victories on the PGA Tour, including two major championships, the 2007 Masters and the 2015 Open Championship. In 2023, Johnson will captain the U. ...

has won two major championships, the 2007 Masters and the

2015 Open Championship The 2015 Open Championship was a men's major golf championship and the 144th Open Championship, held from 16 to 20 July at the Old Course at St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. It was the 29th Open Championship played at the course and Zach Johnson ...

. Olympians * 1948 (summer) – Don Pettie 100 meters, 200 meters * 1952 (summer) – Arnold Betton High Jump * 1952 (summer) – James Lavery 400 meters, 4x400 relay * 1960 (summer) –

Bob Soth Robert Charles Soth (born April 6, 1933) is an American long-distance runner. He competed in the men's 5000 metres at the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of ...

5,000 meters * 1996 (summer) – Dani Tyler softball * 2002 (winter) –

Ann Swisshelm Ann Swisshelm (born March 9, 1968) is a curler from Chicago. Swisshelm represented the United States in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics and the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She has also been known as Ann Swisshelm Silver. Career Swisshelm began curli ...

curling * 2014 (winter) –

curling

Drake Relays

Drake University also hosts the

during April. This

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

event has been held since 1910, and, after the NCAA Championships, is the second-largest collegiate track and field event in the United States. Participants come from all over the world to compete in this three-day event, which also helps to draw large crowds of spectators to Des Moines. Many Olympic athletes can be found participating in these events, which commonly break national and world records.

Facilities

Notable Bulldogs

– football player * Billy Cundiff – football player * Adam Emmenecker – basketball player *

York Hentschel York Hentschel (born June 16, 1953 - March 2, 2006) was a Grey Cup champion defensive lineman with the Edmonton Eskimos. As a member of the famed " Alberta Crude" defence, Hentschel won three Grey Cups with the Eskimos (1978 to 1980). Many felt ...

– football player *

– professional golfer *

Karl Kassulke Karl Otto Kassulke (March 20, 1941 – October 27, 2008) was a professional American football player. Kassulke graduated from Drake, where he starred as a safety. He played 10 seasons in the National Football League, all with the Minnesot ...

– football player *

Lewis Lloyd Lewis Kevin Lloyd (February 22, 1959 – July 5, 2019) was an American basketball player. A 6'6" swingman from Drake University, he played most of his professional career for the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets. Early life Nick ...

– basketball player * Al McCoy – sports broadcaster *

McCoy McLemore McCoy McLemore Jr. (April 3, 1942 – April 30, 2009) was an American professional basketball player in the 1960s and 1970s. He played college basketball for Drake University. Basketball career Early years Born in Houston, Texas, McLemor ...

– basketball player *

Bob Netolicky Robert Netolicky (born August 2, 1942) is a retired American basketball player. A 6'9" power forward/center, he played professionally in the now–defunct American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1967 to 1976. Netolicky was a four–time ABA Al ...

– basketball player *

Lee Stange Albert Lee Stange (October 27, 1936 – September 21, 2018) was an American professional baseball player and coach. During his playing career, the right-handed pitcher appeared in 359 games pitched in Major League Baseball over all or parts of ten ...

– baseball player * Bill Stevenson – football player *Danielle Tyler - softball player *

Willie Wise Willie M. Wise (born March 3, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player. After a successful ABA tenure, which eventually resulted in him making the ABA All-Time Team, Wise’s NBA career was ended prematurely by a knee injury. ...

– basketball player *

Felix Wright Felix Carl Wright (born June 22, 1959), is a former professional American football player who played defensive back from 1985–1992 for the Cleveland Browns and Minnesota Vikings in the National Football League. Undrafted out of Drake Universit ...

– football player * Wanda Ford – basketball player *

Lorri Bauman Lorri A. Bauman is a former United States, American basketball player for the Drake Bulldogs. She was the first woman in NCAA history to score 3,000 points and at one time held the record for NCAA Division 1 women's basketball points scored in a ...

– basketball player *

Willie McCarter Willie J. McCarter (born 26 July 1946) is an American retired basketball player. He was a 6'3" (1.90 m) 175 lb (79 kg) guard. He played at Drake University, averaging 19.9 ppg in three seasons. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers w ...

- basketball player

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = {{CollegePrimaryStyle, Drake Bulldogs, color=white , list = {{Missouri Valley Conference navbox {{Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference navbox {{Summit League navbox {{Iowa Sports