Athletics
The school's athletic teams are known as the Sycamores. They participate in the Division I Missouri Valley Conference and NCAA FCS Missouri Valley Football Conference.
Athletically, it is best known as the alma mater of basketball legend Larry Bird; World Champion gymnast Kurt Thomas; and Olympic, World and Pan-American Champion free-style wrestler, Bruce Baumgartner. The legendary basketball coach John Wooden coached the Sycamores before accepting the Head Coaching position at UCLA. The Men's Basketball team won the 1950 NAIB National Champions and were National Runner-Up in 1946 and 1948. They were also the NCAA College Division (Div II) National Runner-Up in 1968 and the Division I National Runner-Up in 1979. The 1950 team comprised the core of the 1951 Pan-American Gold Medal Team. In 1971, Coach Grete Treiber led the ISU Women's gymnastics team to a National Runner-up finish at the AIAW National Championships. Kurt Thomas led the Men's Gymnastics Team to the 1977 NCAA National Championship. Indiana State University Chess Captain, Taylor Pinnick, has led the Sycamores to 9 consecutive wins in the Missouri Valley Conference.
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