Athletics
The Golden Eagle is Marquette's mascot and the school colors are Marquette Blue and Marquette Gold, with powder blue incorporated in the 1970s and late 2000s. Marquette is a Division I member of the NCAA and competes in the Big East Conference. The university has 11 varsity teams: basketball, cross-country, men's golf, soccer, track & field, tennis and women's volleyball. In 2013, Marquette will begin competition in varsity men's and women's lacrosse as a member of the Big East. Football was discontinued by the university after the 1960 season for financial reasons. Since joining the Big East in 2005, the only conference championship won by the Golden Eagles was in 2008 by the men's golf team. Marquette's athletic rivals include Syracuse, Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Wisconsin.
In 1962, Marquette was the first college in the U.S. to sign a Hispanic to play basketball on the college level. In 2009, because of Marquette, Milwaukee was named by CNN as one of America's great college basketball towns.
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