Georgetown Hoyas

The Georgetown Hoyas are the athletics teams that officially represent Georgetown University in college sports. Hoyas (the name means "what" or "such") participate in the NCAA's Division I Big East Conference in 26 sports and the Division I-AA Patriot League in football. The men's basketball team is the school's most famous and most successful program, but Hoyas have achieved some degree of success in a wide range of sports.

Cultural traditions

"What is a Hoya?"

The University admits that the precise origin of the term "Hoya" is unknown. [ [http://alumni.georgetown.edu/site/PageServer?pagename=athletics_landing Georgetown University, "What is a Hoya?"] ] The official story is that at some point before 1920, students well-versed in the classical languages combined the Greek "hoia" or "hoya", meaning "what" or "such", and the Latin "saxa", to form "What Rocks!" Depending on who tells the story, the "rocks" either refer to the baseball team, which was nicknamed the "Stonewalls" after the Civil War, to the stalwart defense of the football team, or to the stone wall that surrounded the campus. [ [http://www.hoyasaxa.com/sports/hoia.htm Hoya Saxa, "What is a Hoya?"] ] In 1920, students began publishing the campus's first regular newspaper under the name "The Hoya", after successfully petitioning Rev. Coleman Nevils, S.J., Dean of the College, to change the name of the young paper, which was originally to be known as "The Hilltopper". By the fall of 1928, the newspaper had taken to referring to the sports teams (then called the Hilltoppers in reference to Georgetown's geography) as the Hoyas. This was influenced by a popular half time show, where the mascot, a dog nicknamed "Hoya," would entertain fans. [cite book |last= O'Neill |first= Paul R. |coauthors= Paul K. Williams |title= Georgetown University |publisher = Arcadia |year= 2003 |pages= 63 |isbn= 0-7385-1509-4] Dean Nevils's former school, College of the Holy Cross, also refers to the term "Hoya" in one of its fight songs, as does a third Jesuit school, Marquette University.

Big East and other opponents, whose schools tend to have more concrete nicknames, have long used "What's a Hoya?" as a chant to mock Georgetown. [ [http://www.bcheights.com/media/paper144/news/2005/01/31/Sports/Crowd.Shows.Up.For.Winning.Streak-846345.shtml "The Heights", "Crowd shows up for winning streak"] ] Marquette University, whose fight song is "Ring Out, Ahoya!" will often taunt the Georgetown basketball team with the phrase "Wring out a Hoya."

Harrison High School, Located in Kennesaw, Georgia, is the only other institution in the country licensed to share this name. However, Georgetown Preparatory School, which separated from the University in 1927, uses the name "Little Hoyas" for its sports teams and shares the University's blue and gray color scheme.

Mascot

Georgetown's nickname is The Hoyas, but its mascot is "Jack the Bulldog." Among the earliest mascots was a terrier named Stubby, whose name is largely unfamiliar today but was perhaps the most famous dog of his generation. Stubby was discovered by a soldier at the Yale Bowl, and went on to fight in the trenches of World War I in France. He was promoted to Sergeant for his actions in combat and awarded a special medal by General John J. Pershing in a post-war ceremony. His owner then entered Georgetown Law School, and Stubby became part of the halftime show. [Smithsonian Institution, " [http://americanhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/collection/object.asp?ID=15 The Price of Freedom: Americans at War -- Stubby] "]

From then on, Georgetown had a live dog as its mascot. Rev. Vincent McDonough, SJ's dog, Jazz Bo, nicknamed Hoya is likely a cause of the teams adopting the name. In 1951, the school joined a growing movement among private schools, such as the University of Chicago, and suspend the football program as un-academic. The dog as a symbol lived on, though, and sporadically students would bring pet bulldogs to games. In 1962, as the school revived the football team and adopted as its logo a drawing of a Bulldog sporting a blue and gray cap, students adopted a bulldog named "Jack." In 1977, the university began the tradition of dressing up a student in a blue and gray bulldog costume, replacing the live bulldog." [http://www.hoyasaxa.com Hoya Saxa Online] ", " [http://www.hoyasaxa.com/sports/bulldog.htm Georgetown Traditions: Jack The Bulldog] "]

Finally, in 1999, Rev. Scott Pilarz, S.J., with the help of the Hoya Blue fan club, revived the tradition of a live bulldog; when Pilarz left for the University of Scranton (taking Jack with him), Georgetown immediately secured a new bulldog puppy and found another Jesuit, Rev. Christopher Steck, S.J., to care for him.

Fight song

Georgetown's fight song is rare among U.S. university fight songs (Illinois's "Oskee Wow-Wow," St. Olaf College's "Um Yah Yah", and Texas A&M's "Aggie War Hymn" being other prominent examples) for mentioning other colleges by name. Specifically, it mentions Yale University, Harvard University, Princeton University, College of the Holy Cross, the United States Naval Academy, and Cornell University, who were all rivals of Georgetown in the early to mid-20th century, and mocks their fight songs. In recent years the Hoyas only play Cornell and Holy Cross regularly (in football), and many of these schools no longer use the fight songs that Georgetown's song mocks.

Men's basketball

The Georgetown University Men's Basketball team is perhaps the most well-known Hoya program. Georgetown's first intercollegiate men's basketball team was formed in 1907. John Thompson III, son of the accomplished Hoyas coach John Thompson, is the current head coach. The Hoyas historically have been well regarded not only for their team success, but also for their ability to generate players that after graduation succeed both on the court (such as Patrick Ewing) and off (such as Henry Hyde). The team has reached the NCAA Tournament Final Four 5 times, has won the Big East Men's Basketball Tournament 7 times, and has won the Big East regular season title 3 times.

Rowing

Rowing at Georgetown has a distinguished history. Indeed, Georgetown's current University Colors have their origin in the founding of the university's Boat Club in 1876, which deemed Blue and Gray "appropriate colors for the [Boat] Club and expressive of the feeling of unity between the Northern and Southern boys of the College." The colors were enshrined on a blue and gray banner, emblazoned with the Latin "Ocior Euro," or "Swifter Than the Wind," which the girls of Georgetown Visitation School presented to the Boat Club. From the start Georgetown's rowing team raced against the likes of Yale, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Cornell and Wisconsin.

Today, under the guidance of Tony Johnson, now Director of Rowing and Varsity Heavyweight Coach, Georgetown still competes as a member of the top league in American rowing, the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges. With the addition of a men's lightweight team in 1963, a women's team in 1975, and a women's lightweight team in 1996, Georgetown's four crew teams have seen success in recent years, including trips to the Henley Royal Regatta for the men's heavyweight and lightweight teams and second-in-the-nation finishes for both men's ["Men's Crew Places Second at Lightweight National Championship" [http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/m-crew/spec-rel/060904aaa.html GUHoyas.com] ] and women's ["Georgetown Women's Lightweight Crew Completes Best Season in Program History" [http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/w-crew/spec-rel/060906aaa.html GUHoyas.com] ] lightweight teams. Many Georgetown oarsmen and -women have gone on to represent the United States on national and Olympic teams, ["Groom Wins Olympic Rowing Trials" [http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/m-crew/spec-rel/052404aaa.html GUHoyas.com] ] and a new boathouse is scheduled to be completed in the near future. [ [http://www.buildtheboathouse.org "Build the Boathouse"] ]

Men's Rugby

The Georgetown University Rugby Football Club is the intercollegiate men's rugby union team that represents Georgetown in the USA Rugby league.

Women's lacrosse

The women's lacrosse team has been particularly strong in recent years, winning 6 consecutive Big East titles. The Lady Hoyas reached the NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship final in both 2001 and 2002. They play their home games on Multi-Sport Facility ("Harbin Field"), which is surrounded on two sides by dormitories, to respectably large crowds. In 2005, their first season under new coach Ricky Fried, the team went 13-5 and made the NCAA Tournament for the 8th straight year.

Football

In the 1940s, Georgetown had one of the better college football teams in America. As the college game became more expensive, however, Georgetown refused to make the expensive investments that other Catholic universities like Notre Dame made to maintain a top-notch program.

In 1941, Georgetown played in the Orange Bowl, where they lost 14-7 to Mississippi State. They also played in the 1950 Sun Bowl against Texas Western. Texas Western, now known as the University of Texas at El Paso (more commonly UTEP), won the game by a score of 33-20.

After a 2-7 season in 1950 which included losses to the likes of Penn State, Miami, and Maryland, Georgetown discontinued the sport, which was revived in 1964 by students. Its first game drew 8,000 to campus against New York University (NYU). Varsity football resumed in 1978 at the Division III level. Today, Georgetown plays at the Division I-AA level (due to NCAA legislation forbidding Division I or II schools from playing football in lower divisions), competing in the Patriot League and perennially plays against Ivy League schools.

"Big Jim" Ricca, an NFL defensive end and offensive lineman, graduated in 1949 and was the last Hoya to play in an NFL game. [http://www.thehoya.com/features/012304/features3.cfm "Glory Days: The Past, Present and Future of Hoyas Turned Professional Athletes] "The Hoya," January 23, 2004] In 2007, the Washington Redskins made Alex Buzbee a reserve player, becoming the first Georgetown player on an NFL team since Ricca retired in 1956. [cite news |url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/07/AR2007080701838.html |title= For Redskins Rookie, Slogan Is Hoya Sacks |first= Katie |last= Carrera |work= The Washington Post |date= August 8, 2007 |accessdate= 2008-07-21]

Perhaps the football team's most accomplished athlete was Al Blozis, who would play for the NFL's New York Giants before being killed in action in World War II. Blozis's great athletic accomplishments, however, came in shotput and discus. He set the world indoor record for the shotput, throwing it 56 feet 4.5 inches in 1941. He was the national indoor and outdoor shotput champion in both 1942 and 1943.

Other sports

Hoyas have excelled in a wide range of sports over the years:
*Five players from the men's soccer team have played professionally for Major League Soccer: Phil Wellington (drafted in 1996), Brandon Leib (1997), and Eric Kvello (1999), Dan Gargan 2004 (Selected 43rd overall in the 2005 MLS Supplemental Draft), Jeff Curtin 2005 (1st round draft Pick #14 overall). Ricky Schramm, who played on the 2006 Hoyas, was drafted in the 3rd round by DC United.
*The sailing team finished 2005 ranked #1 [Georgetown University Sailing [http://guhoyas.collegesports.com/sports/c-sail/spec-rel/120205aaa.html] , Dec 2 2005] in the [http://www.collegesailing.org/rankings.asp ICSA Sailing World College Rankings] . As of April 2008, they are now #4. Andrew Campbell has led the sailing team to the three national championships [Georgetown University Sailing [http://guhoyas.collegesports.com/sports/c-sail/recaps/112005aaa.html] , Nov 2 2005] and a second place finish in the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Associaion (ICSA) championships in Hood River, Oregon. He was named male sailing athlete of the year in 2002 and 2005. [Georgetown University Sailing [http://guhoyas.collegesports.com/sports/c-sail/spec-rel/010406aaa.html] Jan 4 2006]
*The University is also home to the Georgetown University Croquet Society, a nationally competitive croquet team. [Sam Sweeney, "The Empire Strikes Back: Hoya Croquet," "The Georgetown Voice," 3 May 2007, http://www.georgetownvoice.com/2007-05-03/sports/the-empire-strikes-back-hoya-croquet]

Administration

Athletic directors

Since July 1, 2005, the Director of the Athletic Department has been Bernard Muir. The former directors since the title's creation in 1914 are Charles R. Cox (1914-1920), Rev. Vincent S. McDonough (1920-1924), Louis Little (1924-1930), H. Gabriel Murphy (1930-1941), Rome F. Schwagel (1941-1942, 1947-1949), Joseph T. Gardner (1942-1943), Rev. John J. Kehoe (1943-1944), John L. Hagerty (1946-1947, 1949-1969), Robert H. Sigholtz (1969-1972), Francis X. Rienzo (1972-1999), Joseph C. Lang (1999-2004), and Adam Brick (2004-2005)."Hoya Saxa Magazine", January 2006 issue]

List of sports

Intercollegiate sports include (inaugural season and current coach in parentheses)
*Men's: baseball (1860, Pete Wilk), basketball (1907, John Thompson III), crew (1876; 1958, Tony Johnson), cross country (1924, Pat Henner), football (1887, Kevin Kelly), golf (1925, Tommy Hunter), lacrosse (1951, Dave Urick), soccer (1952 Brian Wiese), swimming and diving (1949, Steven Cartwright [http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/cartwright_steven00.html] ), tennis (1920), and track and field (1891, Pat Henner)
*Women's: basketball (1960, Terri Williams Fluornoy), cross country (1976, Pat Henner), field hockey (1960, Laurie Carroll), golf (2001, Connie Isler), lacrosse (1975, Ricky Fried), soccer (1991, Dave Nolan), softball (2005, Pat Conlan), swimming and diving (1975, Steven Cartwright [http://guhoyas.cstv.com/sports/c-swim/mtt/cartwright_steven00.html] ), tennis (1960), track and field (1976, Pat Henner), and volleyball (1960, Arlisa Hagan)
*Coed: sailing (1937, Mike Callahan)

References

External links

* [http://www.bigeast.org/schools/gu/bige-gu-body.html Big East Official Georgetown Page]
* [http://guhoyas.cstv.com/ Georgetown University Official Athletic Site]
* [http://www.georgetowncrew.org/ Georgetown Rowing Association]
* [http://www.buildtheboathouse.org/ Georgetown University Boathouse]
* [http://www.hoyasaxa.com/sports/bball.htm HoyaSaxa.com Basketball]
* [http://www.hoyasaxa.com/sports/football.htm HoyaSaxa.com Football]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/sports/colleges/georgetown/index.html Georgetown section] in the "Washington Post" website