History
Baseball was the first organized sport on campus, with a club formally organized in March 1860. Games would be played amongst the students until Lafayette teams began playing amateur clubs from the region. Lafayette met Lehigh in its fist intercollegiate game in October 1869, a 45-45 tie in Easton, and earned its fist win against Lehigh, a 31-24 decision in Bethlehem. Lafayette's first non-Lehigh college game was a 26-11 loss to Princeton University in May 1874.
Football appeared on campus in 1878, and did not become fully organized until 1880. The first games took place in 1882, when Lafayette lost to Rutgers University. The team earned its first win ever against Rutgers the following year.
Interest in football became so great that by 1889, a field was needed to handle the crowds and earn revenue for the team to compete against a schedule. The Alumni Advisory Committee was formed to handle all aspects of facilities, management, and equipment fundraising, although players were still largely responsible for their own equipment and health. By 1894, March Field was complete and featured a track meet at the dedication.
Football quickly became the marquis sport at Lafayette as students, alumni, and citizens of Easton packed March Field through 1925. Lafayette became the first non-Ivy League school to win a national football championship in 1896. The team continued to enjoy success through the 1920s by winning two national championships and becoming one of the top football teams in the East and the United States. In 1926, Fisher Field was built to capitalize upon the excitement of football, as well as Alumni Gymnasium in order to house other athletic programs and provide general training for the student body.
Lafayette was independent in football until 1929, when it joined the Middle Three Conference with Lehigh University and Rutgers University.
With the decline of football as a national power in the 1950s, basketball became a popular sport. The Leopards made appearances in the NCAA Tournament and the more noted NIT Tournament. Also, Lafayette baseball made several trips to the College World Series in the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1958, Lafayette helped form the Middle America Conference (MAC), which soon became known as the more recognized East Coast Conference. All Leopard teams aside from football competed in the conference.
The Leopards continued to play "major" college football through the 1970s, until the NCAA reclassified the divisions. Lafayette soon found itself as a member in Division I-AA, where Lafayette remains a member today (now known as the FCS Subdivision. At this time, Lafayette's major rivalry with Rutgers ended, also due to Rutgers' increasing size and competitiveness in football. In search of an athletic league with more like-minded institutions focused on academic scholarship and non-athletic scholarship financing for student-athletes, Lafayette co-founded the Patriot League in 1986. A major objective of the league was to serve as non-conference football opponents for the Ivy League.
As women matriculated at Lafayette in 1974, teams were quickly established in basketball and field hockey. Lafayette quickly became a mid-major power in women's lacrosse and field hockey, which continued into the 21st century. The field hockey team currently ranks in the top 20 for all-time victories.
Lafayette continued offering non-scholarship athletic financial aid through the 1990s, when Holy Cross started offering athletic scholarships for their basketball teams. Other schools followed suit except Lafayette, which held out until 2006, three years longer than the last holdout (Bucknell). At the time, Lafayette was the lone school in Division I aside from the Ivy League not offer athletic scholarships in any sports. Along with basketball athletic scholarships, Lafayette offers scholarships in field hockey and men's soccer. In 2012, Lafayette, along with the rest of the Patriot League, elected to award football scholarships starting with the class of 2017. Scholarships in other sports will follow suit.
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