The 1878 baseball team was the first athletic team in school history. The team consisted of just 10 players and a head coach. This first team was the beginning of an athletics department that now consists of 17 teams and over 350 student-athletes.
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The first men’s basketball team in school history took to the court for the 1901-02 season. The team posted a record of 5-3, including splitting two home games with Vanderbilt.
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The school’s first football team competed in the 1902 season. The team finished with a record of 3-1 under the direction of head coach W.H. “Houston” Gwin. Three of the four games that season were played in Birmingham, with two taking place at West End Park and one at the Alabama State Fairgrounds. The lone loss of the season was to Mississippi State at West End Park.
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Samford officially adopted the nickname “Crimson Bulldogs” in 1916. The name was chosen by a vote of the student body. The name won over the second option of “Baptist Bears” because the students felt that a bulldog could eat more Birmingham-Southern Panther meat than a bear could.
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The Samford football team played Birmingham-Southern in the first game at historic Legion Field on Nov. 19, 1927. Samford defeated Birmingham-Southern, 9-0. Over the years, Samford has posted a record of 34-17-3 in games played at Legion Field.
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On Sept. 18, 1935, the Samford football team tied defending national champion Alabama, 7-7 in Tuscaloosa. A member of the Alabama team that day was a young Paul “Bear” Bryant. After the game, Samford’s president, T.V. Neal, sent a telegram to his wife that simply read “Tied Tide!”
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Samford University was founded as Howard College in 1841. The school officially changed its name to Samford University in 1965. The name honors Frank Park Samford, a long-time trustee of the school.
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Rex Keeling became the first Samford player selected in the NFL Draft in 1967. Keeling, a kicker at Samford, was selected in the 16th round of the draft by the Houston Oilers.
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Samford moved into the NCAA from the NAIA in 1971. In that first year of NCAA status, the Bulldog football team posted a 9-1 record and won the NCAA Division II West Region Championship by defeating Ohio Wesleyan, 20-10 in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.
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Craig Beard became the first Samford player taken in the NBA Draft when the Chicago Bulls selected him in the fourth round of the 1985 Draft. Beard is Samford’s all-time leading scorer with 1,925 points from 1982 to 1985.
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The Samford football program was disbanded after the 1973 season, but was brought back in 1984 at the Division III level. The program moved to its current level of NCAA Division I-FCS (then I-AA) in 1988. Under the direction of head coach Terry Bowden, the Bulldogs posted a record of 5-6 in that first FCS season.
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In just its fourth season of Division I-FCS (then I-AA) football, the Bulldogs reached the semifinals of the FCS Playoffs. The team posted a final record of 12-2, earning playoff road wins over New Hampshire and James Madison. The team fell, 10-0 at eventual national champion Youngstown State in the semifinals. The team’s 12 wins are the most for any team in program history.
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The 1998-99 Samford men’s basketball team became the first team in program history to reach the NCAA Tournament. The Bulldogs defeated Central Florida, 89-61 in the finals of the TAAC Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to a tough St. John’s team. The team finished with an overall record of 24-6. In 2000, the Bulldogs repeated as TAAC Tournament champions and reached the NCAA Tournament for a second-straight season.
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The 2010-11 Samford women’s basketball team won the program’s first Southern Conference Tournament title and earned the team’s first bid to the NCAA Tournament. In the SoCon Tournament, the Bulldogs earned dramatic, come-from-behind wins over host Chattanooga in the semifinals, and Appalachian State in the finals to win the tournament. The team finished with a program-record 25 wins, posting an overall record of 25-8. The 2012 team repeated as SoCon Tournament champions and earned a second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
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Center Fielder Philip Ervin became the first player in baseball program history to be drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball Draft, when the Cincinnati Reds selected him with the 27th overall pick of the 2013 MLB Draft. In just three seasons in a Samford uniform, Ervin ranked in the top 10 in school history in career hits (230), batting average (.344), runs scored (157) and doubles (47).
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Safety Jaquiski Tartt became the highest National Football League Draft pick in Samford history when the San Francisco 49ers picked him in the second round, with the 46th overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. Tartt was a three-time All-SoCon and three-time All-American selection in his time at Samford. In his senior season he was named to the watch list for the Buck Buchanan Award, which goes to the top defensive player at the NCAA Division I-FCS level.
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