Cornell Big Red

Cornell Big Red
The Cornell Big Red is a collective name of different sports teams, of the Cornell University. It is a common experience that the men's and women's Big Red teams, are considered as NCAA Division I teams and they compete in the Ivy League.

The university has sponsored 36 varsity sports till date, the number of intramural and club teams are yet at different level. It is interesting to know that Cornell's teams did not have any official name till the year of 1905.

It was a time, when a recent graduate, named Romeyn Berry, he wrote the lyrics for a new football song. The lyrics had included the words "the big, red team," which became the base of the name.

There is no specific mascot for Cornell on official basis, but still the bear is recognized as a symbol of Cornell Athletics. A live bear named Touchdown had been carried to the fields of the football games in the year of 1915, as a representation of Cornell.

There is a brown bear costume, which is usually worn by any undergraduate student, has been referred to as the "Big Red Bear" or by its nickname, "Touchdown."

The official colors of Cornell's are carnelian red and white, which has a historical significance as old as the university's Inauguration Day on October 7, 1868.

Several of the Cornell's athletic directors have made great contributions to collegiate athletics in general, including Romeyn Berry, James Lynah, and Robert Kane.

The university has a football, lacrosse, field hockey & sprint football teams, which usually play in Schoellkopf Field, having the capacity of 25,597 people. The ice hockey teams' play in another arena called Lynah Rink, which has the capacity of 4,267 people.

There are many other facilities present at the campus, which include a designed golf course, baseball's Hoy Field, the Softball Field, the Oxley Equestrian Center, and numerous fields and gymnasiums. Both the men's and women's hockey teams of Cornell have competed in the ECAC Hockey League.

On another note the Big Red are also the members of the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association, the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing Colleges, the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association and the Eastern Association of Rowing Colleges.

The Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame had an inauguration in the year of 1978. the great contributions came from the late Ellis H. Robison '18, who was greatly devoted to support the idea on a moral and financial grounds, he was a former student of the university.

The Hall of Fame room had been moved to Friends Hall in 2006, where a high tech touch screen display presents the biographies and photos of every Hall of Famer.

A well produced graphic display of memorabilia and photography of legendary athletes serves as the backdrop for meetings and celebrations in a room fit for its legendary Cornellians.

The Big Red Athletic Hall of Fame has really honored the great achievements of the students, who had really lightened the name of the institute in any field