East Carolina Pirates

East Carolina Pirates
While competing in NCAA Division I as a member of Conference USA, East Carolina Pirates represent East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, in intercollegiate sporting events.

The team got its name from the association of pirates with the coast of North Carolina. Blackbeard was one of the most famous pirates, and he resided in North Carolina and that is why the current mascot of the team matches to the description of Blackbeard.

The team initially started to be known as Pirates from 1934 onwards, but that was changed to Pee Dee Pirates after a contest that was held in 1983.

From than onwards, team became ?Pee Dee Pirates?, a name which was highly unpopular among the students of East Caroline University, hence the name was changed back to ?Pirates? in 1985 by then Chancellor of the University.

After the arrival of the students, the next decision that was in queue to be made was to choose the colors of the University. For that, voting was held in which most of the students voted for Old Gold and Royal Purple and these two colors have been university?s colors ever since.

The football team of East Carolina University plays its home games at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium, which is located at the campus of ECU. The team was invited to Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama after they finished their season in 2006 with a 7-5 record.

Since 1961, a total of 52 players went on to play for major league football games in National Football League. For the past 16 NFL drafts, out of 12 draft picks, at least one of those players formerly played with the Pirates.

Pirates also went head to head with Boise State Broncos in 2007 in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl. Pirates were able to cause a stir when they defeated Broncos with a 41-38 record. Chris Johnson, who was the Runningback of Pirates, pulled off a NCAA record after gathering 407 all purpose yards.

East Carolina Pirates men?s swimming team started from the 1953-54 season, while the women?s swimming team started later from 1977-78 season. Pirates? men?s swimming team has the honor of being the first team at East Carolina University to win a National Championship.

The men?s team also got their hands on Conference Championships in 1986 and 1989. In Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), Pirates? women?s swimming also won Conference Championships in 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000.

While the following year they won Conference Championship in East Coast Athletic Conference and another one came in 2003 in C-USA.

Pirates Baseball team competes in C-USA, and is a Division I NCAA program. As of the moment, the team plays its home games at Clark-LeClair Stadium which is located on campus.

For the past several seasons, Pirates have been able to fetch a winning season consistently. Pirates? baseball team has won 10 Conference tournament championships along with 12 regular season conference championships.

More than 100 former Pirates players went on to play games in major league. Billy Godwin is the current head coach of the team.