The Drake Bulldogs are the

intercollegiate athletics College sports or college athletics encompasses amateur sports played by non-professional, collegiate and university-level student athletes in competitive sports and games. College sports have led to many college rivalries. College sports trac ...

teams that represent

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The University offers over 140 undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, education, Legal education, law, and pharmacy. Drake U ...

, located in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

, 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 fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...

(MVC) and competes at the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division 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 athlet ...

level. Drake also sponsors teams in the

Pioneer Football League The Pioneer Football League (PFL) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference which operates in the United States. The conference participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I Fo ...

Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, ) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with NCAA Division I. Its current 13 full members are located in five Northeastern states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachuse ...

, 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 Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Mis ...

. 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 a stocky, muscular dog of medium size, with a large head, thick folds of skin around the face and shoulders and a rel ...

mascot is Griff II; the costumed mascot is Spike; and the school colors are blue and white.

History

left, Drake football team of 1907 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, 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 a stocky, muscular dog of medium size, with a large head, thick folds of skin around the face and shoulders and a rel ...

s to the sidelines of games, prompting

Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. 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 cab ...

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 is an outdoor track and field event held in Des Moines, Iowa, Des Moines, Iowa, in Drake Stadium (Drake University), Drake Stadium on the campus of Drake University. Billed as ''America's Athletic Classic'', it is regarded as one ...

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, Chicago, 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 from the National ...

in 1930, falling to

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

14-7.

The 1945 Drake University National Championship Cross Country Team

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 that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

football star

Johnny Bright John Dee Bright (June 11, 1930 – December 14, 1983) was an American professional football player in the Canadian Football League (CFL). A troubling racist incident he endured as a college football player in the U.S. caused rule changes in the ...

was

assaulted In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result i ...

in a game at

Oklahoma A&M Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known as ...

(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 may refer to: People * Bradley (given name) * Bradley (surname) Places In the United Kingdom In England: * Bradley, Cheshire * Bradley, Derbyshire * Bradley (house), a manor in Kingsteignton, Devon * Bradley, Gloucestershire * ...

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

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

. 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, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. Legend

Dolph Pulliam Adolphus Pulliam (born March 14, 1946) is an American former 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 ...

becomes the first athlete to be selected in both the

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

and

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

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 Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

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 of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

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. At the 2023 Ryder Cup, Johnson capt ...

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 ...

Sports sponsored

Drake University athletics began in 1893. and since 1910, the school has been home to and sponsor of what has become one of the world's premier collegiate athletic events, the annual

track and field meet held in April.

Drake Relays

Drake University also hosts the

during April. This

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

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 William Ambrose Cundiff (born March 30, 1980) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Drake University, and was signed by ...

– football player * Adam Emmenecker – basketball player * York Hentschel – football player *

– professional golfer * Karl Kassulke – football player * Lewis Lloyd – 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 National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 1960s and 1970s. He played college basketball for the Drake Bulldogs men's basketball, Dr ...

– basketball player * Bob Netolicky – basketball player *

– 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 te ...

– 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. C ...

– basketball player * Felix Wright – football player * Wanda Ford – basketball player *

Lorri Bauman Lorri A. Bauman is an American former 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 career; the r ...

– basketball player *

Willie McCarter Willie J. McCarter (July 26, 1946 – April 18, 2023) was an American basketball player. He was a , guard. He played at Drake University, averaging 19.9 ppg in three seasons. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers with the 12th pick in the 19 ...

- basketball player

Olympians

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