California Golden Bears Tickets

The California Golden Bears is the epithet for 27 varsity athletic programs of the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as California or Cal, the university competes in the NCAA's Division I as a member of the Pacific Ten Conference, and for a limited sports as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. California has won national titles in 16 different sports and 66 team titles overall. Cal athletes also competed in the Olympics as a host of different countries. Notable facilities used by the Bears include California Memorial Stadium and Haas Pavilion. Cal finished the 2005-2006 athletic season with 865.5 points, earning seventh place in the Director's Cup standings, the Golden Bears' highest finish ever.

Founded in the same year as the university in 1868, crew was the very first sport played at UC Berkeley. Since then it has become one of the most consistently successful Cal varsity programs. Women's crew began in 1974 and it has also become a perennial contender. Stanford is considered their chief rival, the Crew team's traditional rival is the University of Washington Huskies which year in and year out field some of the best crews in the country.Cal basketball's home court Haas Pavilion was built on top of the old Harmon Gymnasium by the capital donated by the owners of Levi-Straus. Haas Pavilion is one of the loudest gyms in the Pac-10, possibly second only to their cross-bay rivals, Stanford's Maples Pavilion. The current head coach of men's basketball is Ben Braun.

The Cal baseball team plays at Evans Diamond, located between Haas Pavilion and Edward's Track Stadium. Cal has appeared in the post-season a total of nine times, including five times in the College World Series; Cal won the title in 1947 and 1957. Perhaps the most famous Cal player was second baseman Jeff Kent, who led the Golden Bears to the 1988 World Series, and was named the 2000 National League Most Valuable Player as a member of the San Francisco Giants. Shortstop Geoff Blum of Cal's 1992 College World Series team hit the game-winning home run in the 14th inning of a 2005 World Series game for the Chicago White Sox.

The Golden Bears first played intercollegiate basketball in 1907 and began full conference play in 1915. The dominant decade was 1920s for Cal basketball, as the Bears won 6 conference titles under coaches E.H. Wright and Nibs Price.Nibs Price coached Cal with great success for 30 years from 1924 to 1954, earning a 449-294 total record, many single season winning records, and an additional 3 conference titles in the 1930s and 1940s. Cal reached the pinnacle of the sport during 1955 to 1960. The Golden Bears earned the conference title four out of his five years and in 1959, won the NCAA title.

The fortunes of Cal men's basketball were never the same after Pete Newell; as of 2006 Cal did not win a conference title since 1960. The 1970s and 1980s were down years for the program, despite having players such as Kevin Johnson. The highlight of this era was a 75-67 victory over UCLA in 1986 that ended a 25-year, 52 game losing streaks to the Bruins.Cal Rugby's home is at 5000-seat Witter Rugby Field, located near California Memorial Stadium in Strawberry Canyon. The Golden Bears are the reigning collegiate national champion, which became very familiar in Berkeley.

Rugby union began playing at Cal in 1882 and continued until 1886, when it was ditched in favor of American Football. Rugby made a return in 1906 after football was deemed too dangerous to play. From 1906 to 1914, Cal rugby garnered a respectable 78-21-10 record. 1914, however, saw the return of football and Cal could not field a rugby team for almost 20 years. In 1931, rugby returned under alumnus Ed Graff. It was during this time that Cal began to compete for the World Cup, awarded to the winner of the annual series between Cal and the University of British Columbia.

Since 1906, Cal students and alumni participated in the Olympics in a variety of sports and represented a diverse group of nations, despite the fact that the university is located in the United States. In the first half of the 20th century, Cal's Olympics presence was felt mainly in the sports of rugby and crew. The gold medal winning American rugby teams of the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics were made up of many Cal players who were displaced following the school's decision to support American football, rather than rugby. In men's crew, Cal's team won gold for the United States three times - at the 1928, 1932, and 1948 Summer Olympics. To date, this is more than any other college or university in the world.