Indiana State Sycamores

Early on in the school's history, the athletes were referred to as the "Fighting Teachers" (one of the school's early names was "Indiana State Teachers College"), until the students chose the name "Sycamores", due to the abundance of sycamore trees in Indiana and especially in the Wabash River Valley; though it is believed that the students voted on 'Sycamores' on a lark, never thinking it would win. During the 1950s and 1960s, the sycamore tree itself was used as Indiana State's mascot. However, as a tree does not lend itself well to an athletic mascot, especially considering Indiana State's in-state rivalries with the Ball State Cardinals and Butler Bulldogs, the university created an Indian mascot named "Chief Quabachi", and his "Princess", in 1969.[3] This change paid homage to the fact that ISU was the "State" university of a state named after Indians (prior to statehood Indiana was primarily inhabited by Indians). The university dropped the "Chief Quabachi" mascot in 1989 in response to a variety of objections over use of the Indian caricature[4] and did not have another mascot until 1995, when a blue-and-white wolf named "Sycamore Sam" became Indiana State's mascot.[5]

As of December 1, 2018, Indiana State has won one NCAA team championship.[9]

The men's basketball team won the 1950 NAIA National Championship.

Kurt Thomas led the men's gymnastics team to the 1977 NCAA National Championship. In 1973 and 1979, the team finished third in the NCAA Championships. In 1971, Coach Margit "Grete" Treiber led the ISU women's gymnastics team to a national runner-up finish at the AIAW National Championships. In 1964, Coach Roger Counsil led the ISU men's freshman gymnastics team to a national runner-up finish at the NCAA Championships.

The women's bowling team won the 1984 United States Bowling Congress' National Intercollegiate Championship.[10]

The men's basketball team was the NCAA Division I national runner-up in 1979 and the NCAA College Division national runner-up in 1968.

The men's basketball team was the national runner-up to the 1946 and 1948 NAIA National Championship. The 1950 title team placed eight players on the 1951 Pan-American Games gold medal-winning team. Head Coach John Longfellow also served as co-head coach of the Pan-American Games team.

Indiana State athletes have won 29 NCAA Individual Championships.

• Holli Hyche (Indoor/Outdoor Track) – 7[11]

(Indoor: 55M – 1993, 1994; 200M – 1993 & 1994)

(Outdoor: 100M – 1993; 200M – 1993, 100M – 1994)

• Kurt Thomas (Gymnastics) – 5[12]

(All-Around 1977, 1979, Parallel Bars 1977, 1979, Horizontal Bar 1979)

• Kylie Hutson (Indoor; Outdoor Track) – 4

(Indoor and Outdoor Pole Vault 2009, Indoor^{^} and Outdoor^† Pole Vault 2010)

^{^} Indoor: 14' 9" – NCAA Record

^† Outdoor: 14’ 7.25" – NCAA Record

• Felisha Johnson (Indoor/Outdoor Track) – 2

(Indoor Weight Throw 2011, 2013)

• David Seal (Gymnastics) – 2

(Rings 1970, 1972)

• Curt Hahn (Gymnastics) – 1

(Sidehorse 1964)

• Ken Scorra (Gymnastics) – 1

(Horizontal Bars 1964)

• Bob Mahorney (Gymnastics) – 1

(Rings 1973)

• Ed Slezak (Gymnastics) – 1

(Pommel Horse 1973)

• Rick Danley (Gymnastics) – 1

(Horizontal Bar 1974)

• Mike Hanna (Outdoor Track) – 1

(Pole Vault 1968)

• Bruce Baumgartner (Wrestling) – 1

(Heavyweight 1982)

• Chris Lancaster (Outdoor Track) – 1

(110M High Hurdles 1990)

• Aubrey Herring (Indoor Track) – 1

(60M Hurdles 2001)

• John Caddell (Swimming & Diving) – 3

(1M Diving 1963, 1964; 3M Diving 1964)

• Mike Lane (Swimming & Diving) – 1

(3M Diving 1965)

• Larry Dalton (Swimming & Diving) – 1

(200M Freestyle 1965)

• Sarah Brumgart (Gymnastics) – 1

(Balance Beam) Division of Girls & Women's Sports (DGWS) National Collegiate Championship – 1971[13]

• Cheryl Pedlow Bridges-Flanagan (Outdoor track) – 2

(1 mile, 880 yards) DGWS National Collegiate Championship – 1969[14]

• Mike Hanna (Indoor track) – 2

(Pole Vault) Canadian Indoor National Championship – 1968, 1969[15]

3 titles in baseball.

11 titles in baseball and men's basketball.

30 titles in baseball, men's basketball, men's cross-country, men's golf, football, men's swimming, men's track & field and wrestling.

• Paul Wolf—ICC Baseball Coach of the Year (1958, 1963, 1966 and 1967)
• Duane Klueh—ICC Basketball Coach of the Year (1959, 1963, 1966, 1967)
• Mark Dean—ICC Football Coach of the Year (1952)
• Bill Jones—ICC Football Coach of the Year (1959, 1960, 1963)
• Jerry Huntsman—ICC Football Coach of the Year (1966)
• Paul Selge—ICC Swimming Coach of the Year (1965)
• Chester Sanders—ICC Wrestling Coach of the Year (1966)
• Ted Parker—ICC Wrestler of the Year (1966)

4 titles in women's basketball, women's track & field and women's cross-country.

• Andi Myers—Gateway Basketball Coach of the Year (1988)

57 titles in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track & field and men's and women's cross-country. Of particular note, the Runnin' Sycamores (the men's and women's cross-country and track & field teams) have won 32 titles in the past 26 seasons.

* Note – All of the above championship information is from the media guides available at www.gosycamores.com or from the Indiana State archives (each yearbook from 1896–1993 is available).[18]