University of Denver

The University of Denver (DU), founded in 1864, is an independent university in Denver, Colorado. DU typically enrolls about 9,800 students, about equally divided between graduate and undergraduate programs. The 125-acre main campus is a designated arboretum and is located in a pleasant residential neighborhood (University Park) about seven miles south of downtown Denver.

Athletics

DU's athletic teams are known as the Pioneers and have been fielding intercollegiate teams since 1867. Today, DU operates a full NCAA Division I athletic program with a unique and successful mix of sports in and around the $75 million Daniel Ritchie Center for Sports and Wellness, which was completed in 2000.

Related Topics:
Athletic - Pioneers

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Men's Ice hockey is DU's flagship spectator sport, regularly selling out the new 6,000 seat Magness Arena on campus, the showpiece of the Ritchie Center. The Pioneers won consecutive NCAA titles in 2004 and 2005, to go with five previous NCAA Championships in the '50s and '60s, giving DU 7 hockey titles overall, second only to the University of Michigan's nine NCAA hockey titles. Skiing is another strong sport at Denver, with 18 NCAA titles (more than any other school) including the most recent in 2005 and as well as three consecutive NCAA titles from 2001 to 2003.

Related Topics:
Ice hockey - Pioneers - NCAA

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The women's gymnastics, women's soccer, and men's lacrosse teams have all also been ranked in the national top 20 in recent years, and the men's basketball team won the Sun Belt West Division in 2005 and appeared in the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) for the first time since the 1950s. The women's basketball team appeared in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.

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Denver is a member of the Sun Belt Conference for Men's and Women's Basketball, Swimming, Tennis and Golf as well as Women's Volleyball and Women's Soccer, while the other Denver teams play in other conferences in those sports that are not sponsored by the Sun Belt. Men's Ice Hockey plays in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, men's soccer and women's lacrosse play in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, men's and women's skiing competes in the Rocky Mountain Intercollegiate Ski Association, while men's lacrosse plays in the Great Western Lacrosse League. Women's Gymnastics competes as an Independent.

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Football was once the most popular sport at Denver, as the school competed in the Sun Bowl and Alamo Bowl during the late 1940's. However, the program was discontinued in 1960 due to financial reasons, and Denver's baseball team was dropped in 1999.

Related Topics:
Football - Sun Bowl - Alamo Bowl - 1940's - 1960

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Denver's athletic alumni include over 50 NHL hockey players, including the late Keith Magnuson, Craig Patrick, Cliff Korroll, Peter McNab, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Dineen, and current NHLers Antii Laaksonen, Mark Rycroft and Matt Pettinger. Other notable Denver sports alumni include former Major League Baseball player Dan Schatzeder, basketball player Vince Boryla, 1952 US Olympic Long Jump Gold Medalist Jerome Biffle and current Colorado Rapids soccer player Nat Borchers.

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References

The following references are sorted in alphabetical order.

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• "College of Law Building Named in Honor of 1919 Law Graduate: New University of Denver College of Law building named the Frank H. Ricketson Jr. Law Building", a DU news release
• Denver page at "The Football Graveyard"
• Fast Facts, a page on the web site of DU
• "Learn, Practice, Perform", an article on page 30 of the spring 2004 issue of the University of Denver Magazine