The San Jose State Spartans are the names of the athletic teams representing San Jose State University. SJSU sports teams compete in the Western Athletic Conference or WAC in NCAA at the Division I (I-Bowl Subdivision for football) level. The university has participated in athletics since it fielded a baseball team in 1890.
The school has achieved an international reputation in judo, having won 42 out of 46 national championships in the sport (as of 2007). Additionally, SJSU students and alumni have won more than half of the U.S. Olympic medals in judo. The SJSU men's club ice hockey team was ranked #1 in the west (ACHA) for the 2005–2006 season. San Jose State University sports teams have also won NCAA titles in track and field, golf, and boxing.
SJSU alumni have won 18 Olympic medals through the years, dating back to the first gold medal won by Willie Steel in track and field in the 1948 Olympics. Alumni have won medals in track and field, swimming, judo and boxing. Due to pressures created by Title IX, several of these programs have been eliminated, including the historical track team known as "Speed City" which produced Olympic medalists and social activists John Carlos and Tommie Smith.
San Jose State University was a boxing powerhouse during the latter years of NCAA sanctioned intervarsity boxing. The university is one of only a select number of colleges that sponsor a top-flight intercollegiate boxing team.
Nickname and Mascot History
Because of the school's background as a teacher's college, the original mascots changed many times for several years before finally adopting the Spartans as the official mascot and nickname in 1925. Mascots and nicknames prior to 1925 included the Daniels, Teachers, Pedagogues, Normals, and Normalites.After 1887 the official name of the San Jose campus was the "State Normal School at San Jose". The school's athletic teams initially played under the "Normal" identity as indicated in the photo at left. But they gradually shifted to the State Normal School identity, as evidenced by images of the SNS football and basketball squads from this era. Despite the SNS identity the school continued to be referred to as the "California State Normal School, San Jose" in official publications like the 1919 school bulletin at right. The recent historial diaplsy in the in The Martin Luther King Library on the San Jose State campus featured a number of pieces of State Normal School memorabilia, including an "SNS" pennant.
Football
See San Jose State Spartans FootballJudo
The San Jose State Judo program was established in 1937 for the Police Studies Department. In 1940, sophomore biology major Yosh Uchida was hired as the student-coach. The program was disbanded during World War II, and reestablished in 1946 upon Uchida's return to the college.In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Uchida and University of California, Berkeley coach Henry Stone established rules to allow their students to compete with each other, including a weight class system. Uchida and Stone convinced the Amateur Athletic Union to sanction judo as a sport, and San Jose State hosted the first AAU national championship in 1953.
In 1962, the Spartans won the first National Collegiate Judo Championship. They would continue to dominate the event to the present day, winning their forty third national championship in 2008.
In 2005, alumni and coach Mike Swain announced the establishment of the Swain Scholarship, the first full athletic scholarship in judo at an American university. In 2008, the SJSU judo program was named one of six National Training Sites by USA Judo.
Notable SJSU judoka
- Yosh Uchida, head coach 1964 United States Olympic Judo Team
- Ben Nighthorse Campbell, gold medalist, 1963 Pan American Games
- Gerardo Padilla, gold medalist, 1979 and 1983 Pan American Games
- Bobby Berland, silver medalist, 1984 Olympic Games
- Kevin Asano, silver medalist, 1988 Olympic Games
- Mike Swain, bronze medalist, 1988 Olympic Games
- Joe Wanang, gold medalist, 1991 Pan American Games
- Krazy George Henderson
Olympic medalists
| Athlete | Event | Year | Medal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kevin Asano | Judo | 1988 | Silver |
| Chuck Adkins | Boxing | 1952 | Gold |
| Bob Berland | Judo | 1984 | Silver |
| John Carlos | Track and Field | 1968 | Bronze |
| Jim Doehring | Track and Field | 1992 | Silver |
| Lee Evans | Track and Field | 1968 | Gold (2) |
| Mitch Ivey | Swimming | 1968 | Silver |
| Mitch Ivey | Swimming | 1972 | Bronze |
| John Powell | Track and Field | 1976 & 1984 | Bronze (2) |
| Ronnie Ray Smith | Track and Field | 1968 | Gold |
| Tommie Smith | Track and Field | 1968 | Gold |
| Willie Steele | Track and Field | 1948 | Gold |
| Jill Sudduth | Synchronized Swimming | 1996 | Gold |
| Mike Swain | Judo | 1988 | Bronze |
| Lynn Vidali | Swimming | 1968 | Silver |
| Lynn Vidali | Swimming | 1972 | Bronze |
Notable Sports Alumni
- Tariq Abdul-Wahad — NBA player (played at SJSU as Olivier Saint-Jean)
- Sherman Cocroft — former defensive back for the Kansas City Chiefs
- Ken Caminiti — former Major League Baseball player
- Ben Nighthorse Campbell — 1963 Pan American Games gold medalist in judo
- John Carlos — 1968 Olympic bronze medalist, best known for "Black Power" salute with fellow SJSU student and medalist Tommie Smith
- Kim Bokamper — former NFL linebacker, Miami Dolphins
- Rashied Davis —NFL Wide Receiver, Chicago Bears
- Steve DeBerg — former NFL quarterback, San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons
- Kevin Frandsen — Infielder, San Francisco Giants
- Jeff Garcia — Quarterback, Calgary Stampeders, San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Krazy George Henderson — professional cheerleader, inventor of the audience wave
- Darnell "Dr. Dunk" Hillman —former ABA/NBA player
- Pat Hurst — LPGA Golfer
- Juli Inkster — LPGA Golfer
- Johnnie Johnson — Former NFL running back
- James Jones —Wide Receiver Green Bay Packers
- Rick Kane — former NFL running back with the Detroit Lions
- Joe Nedney — National Football League kicker San Francisco 49ers
- Arron Oberholser — PGA golfer
- Ernie Reyes Sr. — Martial artist
- Tommie Smith — 1968 Olympic gold medalist, best known for "Black Power" salute with fellow SJSU student and medalist John Carlos
- Peter Ueberroth — head of 1984 Summer Olympics, Time 1984 Man of the Year and commissioner (1984 – 1989) of Major League Baseball
- Yosh Uchida — 1964 Olympic judo coach
- Dick Vermeil — American football coach
- Bill Walsh — American football coach
- Gerald Willhite — former NFL running back with the Denver Broncos
- John Broussard — Wide Receiver Jacksonville Jaguars
- Mervyn Fernandez — Former NFL Wide Receiver, Los Angeles Raiders
References
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Last updated on Wednesday June 11, 2008 at 20:18:21 PDT (GMT -0700)
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