Baylor Bears

Baylor Bears (variously Baylor or BU) refers to the sports teams of Baylor University. Baylor's men's sports teams are nicknamed the Bears, and some women's teams are nicknamed the Lady Bears. Student athletes participate in the NCAA's Division I, and Baylor is the only private school in the Big 12. Prior to joining the Big 12, Baylor was a member of the Southwest Conference from the conference's charter in 1914 until its dissolution in 1996.

Baylor won its first team NCAA title in 2004 as the men's tennis team defeated UCLA in the championship game. They narrowly lost to UCLA in the 2005 national championship match. Baylor alum Benjamin Becker defeated Andre Agassi in Agassi's final professional match at the U.S. Open.

The Mascot of Baylor University is a Bear named Judge and Bruiser (mascots).

Varsity sports

Baylor competes in the following 16 varsity sports:

Men's sports: Baseball Basketball Cross Country Football Golf Tennis Athletics (track and field)

Women's sports: Basketball Cross Country Equestrian Golf Soccer Softball Tennis Athletics (track and field) Volleyball

Baseball

Baylor's baseball team is one of the most successful athletic programs at Baylor. Since the inception of the Big 12, Baylor has carried the best conference record at 137–83 (.623) under head coach Steve Smith.

The 2005 Bears played one of the toughest schedules in the nation and went all the way to Omaha where they finally lost to the University of Texas, whom they had beaten 3 times during conference play. The Bears' strength was their pitching, with a weekend rotation of Trey Taylor, Cory VanAllen and Mark McCormick with closers Abe Woody and Ryan LaMotta. While their offense was poor during the regular season, during the post season the offense produced. Many players from this team have gone on to play professional baseball.

Five Baylor student-athletes were drafted in the 2006 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. At least one Baylor player has been drafted every year since 1991. A total of 56 Baylor players have been drafted since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1997, the most of any program in the conference.

Basketball

The Baylor Lady Bears won the NCAA in 2005. Coached by Kim Mulkey, at that time Mulkey-Robertson, the Lady Bears defeated the Spartans of Michigan State University 84–62. Mulkey became the first women's coach and only the third coach in history to win an NCAA Division I basketball championship as both a player and a coach, joining Dean Smith and Bob Knight.

The men's basketball program was plagued by Baylor University. Patrick Dennehy, a player for the team, was murdered by a former player for the team, and then-coach Dave Bliss was forced to resign amidst allegations that he had made improper financial payments to players and planned to cover his actions by characterizing Dennehy as a drug dealer. The school placed itself on probation, limited itself to 7 scholarships for two years and imposed a post-season ban for one year. Additionally, the NCAA further punished the team by initiating a non-conference ban for the 2005-2006 season and extending the probationary period during which the school would have limited recruiting privileges.

The 2005 Bears were hindered by only having 7 scholarship players and recorded only one win in conference play. In spite of these challenges, head coach Scott Drew was able to put together a 2005 signing class ranked No. 7 nationally by HoopScoop. The 2006 Bears include Aaron Bruce, the highest scoring freshman in the NCAA in 2005, and Mamadou Diene, rated one of the top 10 centers for the 2007 NBA draft. The program's recovery has culminated in an at-large NCAA Men's Tournament berth in March 2008.

Baylor men's teams won five conference championships in the former Southwest Conference (1932, 1946, 1948, 1949*, 1950*; * denotes shared title). The Bears reached the Elite Eight in 1946 and the Final Four in 1948 and 1950. The 1948 team advanced to play the Kentucky Wildcats for the NCAA championship, but fell 58-42 to Adolph Rupp's first national championship team.

Both the men and women call the Ferrell Center home, which was built in 1988. Previously they played in the Heart of Texas Colieseum.

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Students celebrate Baylor Football's 2004 victory over Texas A&M at Floyd Casey Stadium.

Football

The Baylor football team plays at Floyd Casey Stadium, located a few miles away from campus. The stadium was built in 1950 and currently seats more than 50,000 fans. It was called Baylor Stadium until 1988.

Since joining the Big 12 conference in 1996, Baylor has held a 13–43 record in regular season play, the worst record in the Big 12 south, with its best season coming in 2005. In 2004, Baylor defeated its first ranked opponent since 1998, #16 ranked Texas A&M, by a score of 35-34 in Overtime (sport) on a Two-point conversion. In 2005 the team opened 3-0 for the first time since 1996 and finished 5-6; Baylor also won its first Big 12 road game in school history at Iowa State. Also despite a disappointing 4–8 record in 2006, the Bears swept the Big 12 North portion of its conference schedule and won 3 conference games in a season for the first time since joining the Big 12 in 1996. On November 18, 2007, Baylor fired football coach Guy Morriss and announced on November 28, 2007 that former University of Houston head coach Art Briles as the new coach.

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Baylor vs. Texas in 2006

During the 2006 campaign, the Bears notched a 3-5 record in the Big 12, its best since the Big 12 Conference was created. The record included wins over Kansas State University, Kansas University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder, all teams of the conference's northern division. The Bears' five losses were all to the Big 12 South Division, which includes the University of Texas, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University, the University of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University. Baylor recorded the third largest comeback in its history against the Kansas Jayhawks by scoring 19 points in the 4th quarter to win the contest 36–35. The game also marked Baylor's first homecoming victory since beating Texas in 1997.

Track and field

Baylor's most notable sports program is perhaps its track and field team, producing 466 All-Americans under the 42-year tenure of head coach Clyde Hart. The greatest standout of the track program has been its men's 4x400 relay team, which has sent teams to the NCAA finals in each of the past 27 years and produced three Olympic gold medalists: Michael Johnson (athlete), Jeremy Wariner and Darold Williamson. The last three Olympic gold medalists in the 400 meter run are Baylor grads (Johnson in '96 and '00, then Wariner in '04). In 2005, Clyde Hart became Director of Track & Field, and Todd Harbour took over as head coach of Baylor's track and field and cross county squads.

Championship history

National championships

Baylor has two national titles:

Men's Tennis

• 2004

Women's Basketball

• 2005

Conference championships

Baylor has won 57 conference titles, 29 of which are from the Big 12, and the other 28 from the Southwest Conference:

Baseball

• Regular Season: 1923, 1966, 2000, 2005

Men's Basketball

• Regular Season: 1932, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1950

Men's Tennis

• Regular Season: 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
• Tournament: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008
• Tournament: 2005

Softball

• Regular Season: 2007

Women's Tennis

• Regular Season: 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
• Tournament: 2006, 2007, 2008

Rivalries

Baylor has carried over its rivalries from the now-defunct Southwest Conference, the most important of which are with the Texas A&M and the Texas A&M. The Baylor–Texas A&M rivalry is known as the Battle of the Brazos, because the Brazos River runs near both campuses (90 miles apart).

In recent years, Baylor renewed an old rivalry with Texas A&M. TCU and Baylor had the nation's longest "continuous game" rivalry in when the series was temporarily stopped in 1995 upon the SWC's demise, as the schools went to different conferences. The TCU–Baylor rivalry originated around 1900 when both schools were located in Waco.

Baylor Line

About the Line

The Baylor Line is one of the first aspects of Baylor spirit to which freshmen are introduced. The student group is unique to Baylor University. The Baylor Line is made entirely of freshmen and is the core of Baylor spirit and tradition. Students wear a football jersey with the number of their proposed graduation year and a nickname on the back.

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Before each football game, the Baylor Line gathers at one end of Floyd Casey Stadium and waits for the signal to rush the field and create a giant human tunnel through which the football team runs to enter the stadium. 6 members of the Baylor Line carry flags with the letters B-A-Y-L-O-R and a large flag with the "BU" single while the rest of the Line runs behind them. After that, students rush the sidelines and stand in an exclusive Baylor Line section behind the opponents' bench. Here, students cheer for Baylor and heckle the other team.

History of The Line

The Baylor Line was organized in 1970 and was an all male organization until 1993. The Baylor women were previously called the Baylor Sidelines. At its inception, the Baylor Line was a group of men who lined the front of Baylor's student section -- for the express purpose of keeping Baylor women away from other teams' fans. Today, however, the Line is only limited to freshmen.

Colors of the Line were rotated among white, Baylor green and Baylor gold, but in the interest of having a more substantial-looking student section, the decision was made to use gold every year.

Alma mater

In 1931, Mrs. Enid Markham, wife of music professor Robert Markham, wrote lyrics that were presented in chapel in November and soon sanctioned as the official school song. The "Good Old Summer Time” tune was rearranged to fit Mrs. Markham’s “Baylor Line” by Baylor Band Director Donald I. Moore.

♫ That Good Old Baylor Line! ♫
That Good Old Baylor Line!
We’ll march forever down the years,
As long as stars shall shine.
We’ll fling our Green and Gold afar
To light the ways of time,
And guide us as we onward go;
That Good Old Baylor Line!

Words Copyright 1952
by Enid Eastland Markham

External links

• Baylor Bears official website
• Baylor Line

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