The Dartmouth College Big Green
are the varsity and club athletic teams of Dartmouth College, an American university located in in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth's teams compete in the Ivy League conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, as well as in the ECAC Hockey conference. The College offers 34 varsity teams, 17 club sports, and 24 intramural teams. [1] Sports teams are heavily ingrained in the culture of the College and serve as a social outlet, with 75% of the student body participating in some form of athletics. [2]
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DARTMOUTH BIG GREEN TICKETS
EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
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Ledyard Classic Day 1: Northeastern vs. Providence & Dartmouth Big Green vs. Alaska Anchorage Seawolves Tickets 12/28 | Dec 28, 2024 Sat, 4:00 PM | | Dartmouth Big Green vs. Colby-Sawyer Chargers Tickets 1/1 | Jan 01, 2025 Wed, 6:00 PM | | Dartmouth Big Green Women's Basketball vs. Colby-Sawyer Chargers Tickets 1/1 | Jan 01, 2025 Wed, 1:00 PM | | Brown Bears Women's Basketball vs. Dartmouth Big Green Tickets 1/4 | Jan 04, 2025 Sat, 2:00 PM | | Merrimack Warriors vs. Dartmouth Big Green Tickets 1/5 | Jan 05, 2025 Sun, 5:00 PM | |
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Nickname, symbol, and mascot
Dartmouth has never had an official mascot.
[3] The nickname "The Big Green," originating in the 1860s, is based on students' adoption of a shade of forest green ("Dartmouth Green") as the school's official color in 1866.
[4] Beginning in the 1920s, the Dartmouth College athletic teams were known by their unofficial nickname "the Indians," a moniker that probably originated among sports journalists.
This unofficial mascot and team name was used until the early 1970s, when its use came under criticism. In the 1974, the Trustees declared the "use of the [Indian] symbol in any form to be inconsistent with present institutional and academic objectives of the College in advancing Native American education."
[5] Some alumni and students, as well as the conservative student newspaper,
The Dartmouth Review
, have sought to return the Indian symbol to prominence,
[6] but no team has worn the symbol on its uniform in decades.
[7]
Varsity teams
Baseball
Basketball
Dartmouth College competed in two
NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship games but came up short both times. In 1942, Dartmouth was runner-up to
Stanford University and lost to the
University of Utah in 1944.
Football
In 1925, Dartmouth was recognized as a national champion by completing an 8-0 undefeated season.
[8]
Dartmouth won the Ivy League title in 1958, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1990, 1991, 1992 & 1996
[9]
Lacrosse
In 2003, Dartmouth's Men's Lacrosse team posted one of the most famous upsets in lacrosse history when unranked Dartmouth played #2 Princeton at Princeton's Class of 1952 Field. Dartmouth, having finished last in the Ivy League in 2002, were ten goal underdogs against Princeton, the defending Ivy League champs going into the game. Nevertheless Dartmouth prevailed and stunned the Tigers 13-6. Dartmouth went on to win the Ivy League title and qualify for the NCAA tournament.
In 2006, Dartmouth Women's Lacrosse lost to
Northwestern University, the defending national champion, at the
NCAA Women's Lacrosse Championship.
Darmouth Men's Lacrosse has a mature team with all except for one starter returning from last year's 7-7 season. Importantly, last year's team matured over the season with attack players Ari Sussman and Brian Koch each scoring 27 goals. Sussman was Ivy League rookie of the year in 2007. The defense will be led by Casey Hingten and Andy Gagel, both 3 year starters (Hingten received honorable mention in the Ivy League last year) and Tim McVeigh, a sensior. Mike Novosel, a 3 year starter, will start in the goal. Last year Dartmouth won the last two games of the season against highly ranked Princeton and Harvard. Four of their 7 losses were to top 10 ranked teams (Virginia, Duke, Notre Dame, and Cornell). The addition of a talented group of freshman and a great group of sophomore who are maturing will provide much greater depth than in either of the two previous seasons. Dartmouth is ranked 28th in the preseason by Inside Lacrosse magazine. Let the season unfold.
Ice hockey
Dartmouth
ice hockey teams have had success over many decades. The men's team won the
ECACH regular season crown in 2006 and the Ivy League title 15 times (1934, 1943, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1957, 1948, 1949, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1979, 1980 & 2007). The women's team won the ECACH title in 2001, 2003, 2007, and the Ivy title 8 times (1991, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004 & 2007). The Dartmouth men finished as the runners-up in the
NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Championship game in both 1948 and 1949. Notable Alumni: Lee Stemniak (Toronto Maple Leafs), Tanner Glass (Florida Panthers), David Jones (Colorado Avalanche), TJ Galiardi (Colorado Avalanche), Grant Lewis (Atlanta Thrashers), Ben Lovejoy (Pittsburg Penguins)
[10]
Sailing
Boat racing since 1932, the Dartmouth College Sailing Team continues to hold its spot as one of the best in the country. They sailing team has won 3 National Championships and has over 52 All-American sailors. They compete in the fall and spring. The sailing team practices on
Mascoma Lake in
Enfield, NH.
Skiing
At the 2007
NCAA Skiing Championships, the Big Green captured their first NCAA national championship in team sports of any kind since 1976 (The figure skating team has won four consecutive national team championships, the cycling team won national collegiate titles in 2002, 2003 and 2004, and in 1992, the men's heavyweight crew team won the varsity 8 at the IRA national championships, but these sports aren't NCAA affiliated). The ski team also also captured NCAA titles in 1976 and 1958.
Squash
Crew
Students first began
rowing at Dartmouth in 1833 and it has since grown to be the most popular sport at Dartmouth, with over 200 participating. Today, Dartmouth Rowing Club consists of three varsity programs: Men's Heavyweight, Men's Lightweight, and Women's Open-weight. The men's teams compete in the
Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges (EARC) while the women's team competes in the
Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges (EAWRC).
All teams train out of the The Friends of Dartmouth Rowing Boathouse, located on the
Connecticut River and less than a 10 minute walk from campus. The river provides more than 15 miles of flat rowable river, but teams must deal with the river's late winter thaw. Other facilities include two smaller boathouses, rowing tanks, the varsity weight room, and two ergrooms.
Teams train for and race in long distance 'head races' in the fall. Because of the frozen river, winter training consists of intense indoor training. The main season is the spring, which consists of shorter 2000m sprint races. The season for both men's heavyweight and lightweight programs culminate in the
Eastern Sprints and
IRA regattas. The women's team competes in the
Women's Eastern Sprints with hopes to qualify for the women's national
championship.
Men's Varsity Swim Team
The men’s varsity swim team at Dartmouth College began in 1920, making it one of the oldest continuous collegiate swim programs in the
United States. The swim team competes in the , which includes all eight
Ivy League schools and the . The team’s season begins in mid September and continues until late March, during which the take place. During the season the team has weekly competitions, against EISL member teams as well as several other New England college teams. The team practices and hosts meets in the
Dartmouth College Aquatic Facilities' Karl Michael Competition Pool & the Spaulding Pool, both located in
Alumni Gymnasium.
The team has a long tradition of success within the league as well as nationally. During the 1930s, the team rose to prominence within the league, garnering multiple championship titles and sending several swimmers and relays to the Championships. More recently, its 200
freestyle relay team was ranked in the top 50 in the nation.
In 2002, Dartmouth College was forced to cut both the men’s and women’s swim teams as a result of the schools financial troubles and forced budgetary cuts. The cutting of the swim teams received national attention after a member placed the team on
EBay in an effort to raise money for the team. After significant lobbying and fundraising by students, alumni, and supporters, both the men’s and women’s teams were reinstated under the John C. Glover Fund for the Support of Swimming and Diving. The fund was named after John C. Glover, an all America swimmer for Dartmouth in the class of 1955, who died while training for the Olympics at
Yale University in 1956.
Rugby Football Club
The Dartmouth
Rugby Football Club (or ) was established in 1951 at Dartmouth College and has seen success ever since. In 1965, the first XV was undefeated and was declared the unofficial national collegiate champion. More recently, the club has enjoyed continued success on a national stage. Dartmouth has reached the Final Four of the national collegiate championship three times since 1980 and narrowly lost in two championship games. Dartmouth first won the New England Championship in 1980 and has repeated numerous times. Dartmouth has also won the Ivy League cup 12 times since it was established in 1969.
[11] The Dartmouth Women's Rugby Club (or DWRC) was established in the spring of 1978 and has had nine Ivy League titles.
The clubs dedicated the
Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse in September, 2005 with matches against Army (DRFC) and Radcliffe (). The Clubhouse was built into the hillside at the halfway line of Battle Field and Brophy Field, which are separated by a twenty-foot bank. Spectators view games from the deck of the Clubhouse and from the hillside that runs the length of the fields.
The team comprises more than 100 students and often fields more than four sides on a given weekend during the fall term. Most of the members of the club have never been in a rugby game prior to going to Dartmouth, and many have never seen a game.
One of the strengths and strongest traditions of the two clubs are the Annual Tours. In 1962 DRFC toured in Ireland. In 1964 the team toured both Germany and Scotland. Recently the teams have traveled to Ireland, South Africa, Argentina, England, California, and Spain. See the DRFC or the Dartmouth Women's Rugby .
Ultimate Frisbee Team
The
Dartmouth Ultimate Frisbee team was first established in 1977 at
Dartmouth College, originally named "The Blossom Brothers." The team's origins and development in many ways parallel the development of the sport of
Ultimate itself. The initially relaxed, informal sport gave way to a more competitive sport, with rules and procedures outlined by the
Ultimate Players Association. In the same way, the Dartmouth team now trains with a combination of track workouts,
weight-lifting,
plyometrics, and Ultimate strategies. Although the team is not a varsity or NCAA-recognized team, the intensity of their practices and workouts is similar to that of many varsity sports teams.
The Dartmouth men's ultimate team first gained recognition when it competed in the college National series in 2003. Dartmouth placed low in the series, but since has been a leading presence in the Northeast region. The team's current rivals in the Northeast region are Brownian Motion, Zoo Disc, and Redline, from
Brown University,
University of Massachusetts, and
Harvard University, respectively. In 2008, the team qualified for UPA College Nationals a second time and tied for 13th place.
The Dartmouth women's ultimate team, named Princess Layout, competed in the national series for the first time in 2004 where they tied for 9th place. Since then, they have become a force to be reckoned with in the Northeast region, placing first at Regionals and tying for 11th at Nationals in 2005, and placing first at Regionals and tying for 5th at Nationals in 2006.
The men's team has experimented with several names over the past two decades: before attending Nationals in 2003, Dartmouth's team name was the Dartmouth Pirates. When attending Nationals in 2003, the team renamed itself "Pain Train," taken from the
Terry Tate: Office Linebacker Reebok ads. Current cheers, however, are exceedingly hostile and violent, such as "WOO WOO!", and are sometimes followed by spastic movements that resemble ancient
Mayan battle dances. Currently, three or so members of the men's team are disillusioned with this needless anger, and hope to rename it the "Dartmouth Love Train" for the 2010 season.
[12]
Current funding is provided in small part by Dartmouth's club sports fund, while the majority of funds are raised by members and fundraising activities.
Facilities
Building
| Image
| Constructed
| Notes
| Reference
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Berry Sports Center
|
| 1987
| Berry Sports Center holds racquetball and basketball facilities (Leede Arena).
| [13]
|
Boss Tennis Center
|
| 2000
| The Alexis Boss Tennis Center, located behind Thompson Arena, contains six regulation tennis courts. The attached Alan Gordon Pavilion provides locker rooms and a lounge.
| [14]
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Davis Field House
|
| 1926
| Davis Field House, which overlooks the Memorial Field track, is a facility for varsity athletic teams.
| [15]
|
Floren Varsity House
|
| 2006-2007
| Floren, expected for occupancy in the fall of 2007, will contain a strength training center, a sports classroom, meeting rooms, locker rooms, equipment storage, and team offices.
| [16]
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Friends of Dartmouth Rowing Boathouse
|
| 1985-1986
| The Boathouse sits on the banks of the Connecticut River, just north of the Ledyard Bridge.
| [17]
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Leverone Field House
|
| 1962-1963
| Designed by Italian architect Pier Luigi Nervi, Leverone contains an indoor track and tennis courts.
| [18]
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Memorial Field
|
| 1921-1923
| Memorial Field, Dartmouth's football and track & field stadium, was built on the site of previous athletic grandstands. It is named in memory of the Dartmouth alumni who died in World War I.
| [19]
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Thompson Arena
|
| 1975
| Thompson Arena, Dartmouth's hockey facility, was also designed by Pier Luigi Nervi.
| [20]
|
The Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse
|
| 2005
| The CFRC is the home of the Dartmouth Rugby Football Club and the Dartmouth Women's Rugby Club.
| [21]
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References
- About Dartmouth: Facts
- Conservatives Gain Ground at Dartmouth: Dartmouth Alumni Elect Conservatives to Trustees Amid Struggle to Change College's Direction
- Is "The Big Green" really Dartmouth's mascot? If so, where does it come from and what does it mean?
- Why is green Dartmouth's color?
- The 'Big Green' Nickname
- Dartmouth Indians: The New Tradition
- The Banning of the Indian
- Past Division I-A Football National Champions
- All Time Ivy Champions
- Ivy Ice Hockey Champions
- Dartmouth College Rugby Football Club
- Breaking News: Dartmouth men to become "Love Train" in '10
- Berry Sports Center
- Alexis Boss Tennis Center and Alan Gordon Pavilion
- Davis Field House
- Floren Varsity House
- Friends of Dartmouth Rowing Boathouse
- Leverone Field House
- Memorial Field
- Thompson Ice Arena and Auditorium
- Dartmouth Women's Rugby Club