Long Beach State 49ers
Encyclopedia
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I member, Long Beach State has 18 sports teams and plays competitively in baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, women's tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, and women's soccer, as well as both men's and women's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, water polo
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
teams. The university is a founding member of the Big West Conference
Big West Conference
The Big West Conference is an NCAA-affiliated Division I mid-major college athletic conference. When the conference began in 1969, its name was the Pacific Coast Athletic Association . After nineteen years, in 1988, its name was changed to the Big West Conference. The conference stopped...
, and also competes in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is a college athletic conference whose member teams are located in the western United States. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I level.-History:...
for sports not sponsored by the Big West.
In the realm of sports the school is referred to as "Long Beach State." The official name of Long Beach State sports teams is "The 49ers" in honor of the year the university was founded and for the prospectors of the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
one hundred years before then. Unofficially, "The Beach" is used to refer to Long Beach State and its sports teams as it is the only university on the West Coast with the word "Beach" in its name. One can see the cheer "Go Beach!" written on many CSULB products around campus and on the large water tower
Water tower
A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....
near the entrance to the campus.
The school colors have been black and gold since 2000, when they were changed by a student referendum (after George Allen changed the football uniform colors) from the original brown and gold.
Rivals
The Beach has several rival schools when it comes to sports. In addition to being located in close proximity to each other, Long Beach State and Cal State FullertonCalifornia State University, Fullerton
California State University, Fullerton is a public university located in Fullerton, California. It is the largest institution in the CSU System by enrollment, it offers long-distance education and adult-degree programs...
have competed heavily as conference rivals in baseball more than 20 years. More recently, specifically since 2006, Long Beach State and UC Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
have participated in the annual "Black and Blue Rivalry Series." In this challenge, each school earns points for its collective conference championships and head-to-head victories against each other (across all NCAA sports in which both schools participate). The totals are added up at the end of the season and a winner is declared. Both schools are currently tied 2-2. Finally, Long Beach State also has a long-standing "beach school" rivalry with UC Santa Barbara
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
.
Baseball
Unlike all other Long Beach State sports teams, the baseball team unofficially goes under the moniker "The Dirtbags." After the hiring of Dave Snow as head coach in 1989, the LBSU baseball team has become one of the most successful teams in the school's athletic history. The Dirtbags are consistently ranked in the national top 30 and have appeared in 17 of the last 20 NCAANational Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
tournaments. Along the way, the team has won 9 Big West conference championships, hosted 4 NCAA regionals (plus 1 super regional), and appeared in 4 College World Series. The school has also produced a number of prominent professional players over the years, including former American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
MVP Jason Giambi
Jason Giambi
Jason Gilbert Giambi is an American professional baseball first baseman with the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball.He was the American League MVP in 2000 while with the Oakland Athletics, and is a five-time All-Star who has led the American League in walks four times, in on base percentage...
, former American League Rookie of the Year Bobby Crosby
Bobby Crosby
Robert Edward Crosby is an infielder in Major League Baseball who is currently a free agent. The son of former major league infielder Ed Crosby, he bats and throws right-handed...
, and all-star and 2008 American League Rookie of the Year Evan Longoria
Evan Longoria
Evan Michael Longoria is a Major League Baseball third baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays. Formerly, Longoria was a star infielder for the Long Beach State University baseball team, the Cape Cod League MVP, and the Big West Co-Player of the Year.He made his major league debut for the Rays in , and...
. Many more ex-Dirtbags have participated in the prestigious MLB
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
All-Star Futures game, such as rookie phenomenons Jered Weaver
Jered Weaver
Jered David Weaver , is a Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim...
and Troy Tulowitzki
Troy Tulowitzki
Troy Trevor Tulowitzki , nicknamed Tulo, is a Major League Baseball shortstop for the Colorado Rockies.Tulowitzki's arm, range and instincts at shortstop are highly regarded...
.
Volleyball
Long Beach State is home to one of the top women's volleyballVolleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
teams in the nation. CSULB alumnus Brian Gimmillaro has coached the team since 1985 and his tenure is the second-longest of any Long Beach State coach with one team. Long Beach State has appeared in the NCAA tournament 24 consecutive times under Gimmillaro, only missing the tournament once in 1986.
Long Beach State has won three national titles in women's volleyball, in 1989, 1993 and 1998. The 1998 women's team was the first team in NCAA Division I history to have an undefeated season. The team's most famous alumnus is Misty May
Misty May-Treanor
Misty Erie May-Treanor is an American professional volleyball player. She has won more tournaments than any other female player with 107 career wins....
, who won two Olympic gold medals in Beach Volleyball in 2004
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
and 2008
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
.
The men's volleyball competes in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is a college athletic conference whose member teams are located in the western United States. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I level.-History:...
. They won the MPSF regular season title in 2008. They won the 1991 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship
NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship
The NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship is the tournament that determines the national championship of American college volleyball.The "Final Four" is a term used exclusively by NCAA Basketball but is commonly used to describe the Men's Volleyball Championship...
and have placed second five times.
Tennis
Long Beach State women's tennis team ('Beach Tennis') won the first of a conference record 8 Big West tennis titles in 2002 to reach their first NCAA tournament. From 2004–2009, Long Beach State won six consecutive Big West tennis titles and the automatic berth to the NCAA championships. The team has appeared in the conference title match every year since 2001. The 2010 team went undefeated in league play to win the Big West Conference regular season championship. The 2011 team captured another regular season title and then the program's eighth tournament championship by reaching a record eleventh consecutive conference final and then defeating rival UC Irvine for a sixth time in the championship match.'Beach Tennis' has qualified for eight NCAA Championships and advanced to the 'Round of 32' in 2006. The 49ers have been a # 2 seed once, a # 3 seed five times and a # 4 seed twice in NCAA tournament play.
Head Coach Jenny Hilt-Costello has won a league record six Big West Conference Coach of the Year awards (2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009) and was named the ITA West Region Coach of the Year and a finalist for the national award in 2004.
Three 'Beach Tennis' players have earned Big West Conference Player of the Year honors, including Hannah Grady who became the first student-athlete in any Big West Conference sport to be named Player of the Year four consecutive years (06, 07, 08, 09). In February 2010, court #1 at the Rhodes Tennis Center was named Hannah Grady Court in lieu of retiring her number, as tennis players do not wear numbers. Four players have been named Conference Freshman of the Year since the award started in 2005.
Long Beach State has been nationally ranked continuously since March 2001. The 2006 team reached #18 in the ITA National Rankings; then peaking at #26 in 2007, #35 in 2008, #25 in 2009 and again #35 in 2010. The 2011 team peaked and also finished at # 36 in the national rankings.
The women's tennis team plays at the Terry L. Rhodes Tennis Center, which opened on campus Fall 2008. The tennis center is named after 49er alumnus Terry Rhodes following his $1.25 million gift to the women's tennis program. Mr. Rhodes' gift is the largest single sport donation in university history. The new facility also includes The Gloria and Bob Hendricks Family Scoreboard, a 40 feet (12.2 m) high electronic display of all matches donated by the family of the former 49er women's tennis head coach. The facility is located on the northeast side of campus immediately next to the $70 million Student Recreation and Wellness Center that opened in Fall 2010.
Basketball
The CSULB men's basketball team has also enjoyed success in recent times. In the 2006-07 season, the 49ers finished with a 24-8 (12-2) record, the Big West conference championship, and the school's first trip to the NCAA tournament in 12 years. Star guard Aaron Nixon was named Big West player of the year, as well as being selected as an AP Honorable Mention All-American. On April 6, 2007, it was announced that Dan MonsonDan Monson
Daniel Lloyd Monson is an American college basketball coach. He was hired as the head coach of the Long Beach State 49ers on April 7, 2007. Previously he was head coach at the University of Minnesota for over seven seasons, from July 24, 1999, to November 30, 2006...
(formerly of Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University
Gonzaga University is a private Roman Catholic university located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Founded in 1887 by the Society of Jesus, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and is named after the young Jesuit saint, Aloysius Gonzaga...
and the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
) would become Long Beach State's next head Men's Basketball Coach, succeeding Larry Reynolds.
The women's basketball team had its greatest success during the 1980s when coached by Joan Bonvicini
Joan Bonvicini
Joan Bonvicini is the current head coach for the Seattle University women's basketball team, the Redhawks, and one of only 18 coaches in Division I women's basketball history with 600 career victories. She was head coach at the University of Arizona for 17 seasons, leading the Wildcats to the...
for 12 years. During that time the team went 325-71. The 49ers won 10 Big West Conference titles, made 10 straight NCAA appearances, had 12 consecutive winning seasons, and never won fewer than 24 games in a season. Bonvicini guided the 49ers to Final Four appearances in 1987 and 1988.
Water Polo
The Long Beach State women's water polo team ranked as high as 10th in the nation during the 2011 season. Finishing the regular season with a 12-16 record, the 49ers went into the Big West ConferenceBig West Conference
The Big West Conference is an NCAA-affiliated Division I mid-major college athletic conference. When the conference began in 1969, its name was the Pacific Coast Athletic Association . After nineteen years, in 1988, its name was changed to the Big West Conference. The conference stopped...
Championship seeded 6th. After knocking out two higher ranked teams, (UC Santa Barbara and CSU Northridge) Long Beach advanced to the championship game against UC Irvine. The 2011 squad also contributed five players to the All-Big West Team.
Football
Long Beach State competed in Division I football for a number of years (1969–91), producing a number of professional players, including Terrell DavisTerrell Davis
Terrell Lamar Davis is a former American football running back who played for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League from 1995 to 2001. Davis was drafted by the Broncos in the sixth round of the 1995 NFL Draft. Davis is the Denver Broncos all-time leading rusher, with 7,607 rushing...
and Mike Horan, among others. George Allen
George Allen (football)
George Herbert Allen was an American football coach in the National Football League and the United States Football League. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002.-Early life:...
, the famed Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
coach, had a short one-year tenure at Long Beach State. Long Beach State discontinued its football program after the 1991 season due to budget constraints. Prior to going Division I in 1969 the football team competed in the old "College Division" of the NCAA from 1955 through 1968.
Olympics
Long Beach State has had the honor of having at least one of its own athletes participate in every Summer Olympic GamesSummer Olympic Games
The Summer Olympic Games or the Games of the Olympiad are an international multi-sport event, occurring every four years, organized by the International Olympic Committee. Medals are awarded in each event, with gold medals for first place, silver for second and bronze for third, a tradition that...
since the first Olympiad after the school's founding.
Coaches
Long Beach has also had a number of nationally prominent coaches, including Tex WinterTex Winter
Morice Fredrick "Tex" Winter is a Hall-of-Fame American basketball coach, and innovator of the triangle offense.-Early life:...
, Jerry Tarkanian
Jerry Tarkanian
Jerry Tarkanian , also known as "Tark the Shark", is a retired college basketball coach known as one of the winningest coaches in college basketball history...
and Lute Olson
Lute Olson
Robert Luther "Lute" Olson is a retired American men's basketball coach. He was most recently head coach at the University of Arizona for a period of 25 years. He was also head coach at the University of Iowa for 9 years and California State University, Long Beach for one season...
in men's basketball, George Allen
George Allen (football)
George Herbert Allen was an American football coach in the National Football League and the United States Football League. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002.-Early life:...
in football, Frances Schaafsma
Frances Schaafsma
Dr. Frances M. Schaafsma was a pioneer in women's sports in both basketball and volleyball, as well as a pioneer in collegiate athletics administration for female athletes. Her books on these two sports were among the first and best-known...
in women's volleyball and basketball, Joan Bonvicini
Joan Bonvicini
Joan Bonvicini is the current head coach for the Seattle University women's basketball team, the Redhawks, and one of only 18 coaches in Division I women's basketball history with 600 career victories. She was head coach at the University of Arizona for 17 seasons, leading the Wildcats to the...
in women's basketball, and Jon Urbanchek and Don Gambril in swimming.
Popular culture
Alumnus John "J.P." Calderon competed in the 13th edition of the hit reality television show Survivor. Calderon, who is now a professionally ranked AVPAssociation of Volleyball Professionals
The Association of Volleyball Professionals, or AVP, is a beach volleyball tour which takes place throughout the United States. The summer tour starts in April and continues almost every weekend until the end of October....
player, graduated from Cal State Long Beach in 2000 after playing on the nationally ranked Division I Men's Volleyball Team.
Club sports
In addition to NCAA-sanctioned sports, Long Beach State also fields numerous competitive club sports teams, such as rugby, ice hockeyIce hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
, ultimate
Ultimate (sport)
Ultimate is a sport played with a 175 gram flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to a player in the opposing end zone, similar to an end zone in American football or rugby...
, soccer, crew
Sport rowing
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, and many others.