Trinity Tigers
Encyclopedia
Trinity University (Texas)
Trinity University is a private, independent, primarily undergraduate, university in San Antonio, Texas. Its campus is located in the Monte Vista Historic District and adjacent to Brackenridge Park....
in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. They participate in the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
's Division III and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference
The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference , founded in 1962, is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas...
. The school mascot is LeeRoy, a Bengal Tiger
Bengal Tiger
The Bengal tiger is a tiger subspecies native to the Indian subcontinent that in 2010 has been classified as endangered by IUCN...
. In the 1950s, LeeRoy was an actual tiger who was brought to sporting events, but today LeeRoy is portrayed by a student wearing a tiger suit.
Trinity has historically had a strong tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
program, with both the men's and women's programs winning national championships in 2000. The men's program also won the national championship in 2003. In recent years, Trinity has reached the national Division III playoffs in several sports, including football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, women's basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
(2003 national champions), volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, women's cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
, men's and women's track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
and men's and women's soccer (men's team won the national title in 2003 and placed second in 2007). In the past, Trinity was a Division I tennis power, under tennis coach Clarency Mabry, winning the men's NCAA championship in 1972, as well as being runners up in 1970, 1971, 1977 and 1979. The women's team captured the first USLTA women's collegiate championship in 1968 and won several more titles. In the early 1960s the program was home to arguably some of the best tennis players in the world, and bypassed the NCAA tournament to enter Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
. In 1963, Chuck McKinley
Chuck McKinley
Charles Robert "Chuck" McKinley Jr. was an American men’s amateur tennis player of the 1960s. He is remembered as an undersized, hard working dynamo, whose relentless effort and competitive spirit led American tennis to the top of the sport during a period heavily dominated by Australians.McKinley...
of Trinity won the Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship
1963 Wimbledon Championships - Men's Singles
Chuck McKinley defeated Fred Stolle 9–7 6–1 6–4 in the final to win the Gentlemen's Singles title at the 1963 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:The seeded players are listed below...
. He was also the runner up in 1961
1961 Wimbledon Championships - Men's Singles
Rod Laver defeated Chuck McKinley 6–3 6–1 6–4 in the final to win the Gentlemen's Singles title at the 1961 Wimbledon Championships.See also:-Seeds:The seeded players are listed below...
. Other than McKinley, famous tennis players to attend Trinity included Butch Newman, Bob McKinley, Frank Froehling
Frank Froehling
Frank Froehling is a former American tennis player.Froehling recorded a 46-5 career in singles matches and won nine singles titles during college career at Trinity University. He was also runner-up at U.S. National Tennis Championships in 1963. That year Froehling was named No. 6 player in the...
, Dick Stockton
Dick Stockton (tennis)
Dick Stockton , was a professional tennis player from the United States. He is currently the head coach of the men's tennis team at the University of Virginia....
, Bill Scanlon
Bill Scanlon
Bill Scanlon is a former tennis player from the United States, who won nine singles and two doubles titles during his professional career. The right-hander reached his highest singles ATP ranking on January 9, 1984, when he reached number 9...
and Gretchen Magers
Gretchen Magers
Gretchen Anne Magers is a former professional tennis player from the United States....
.
The Trinity sports program is celebrated for having won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference "Bell Trophy," awarded to the school in the conference that has the best overall sports record for the year, eleven out of the last thirteen years.
Club sports include men's and women's Lacrosse
Lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...
, Water Polo
Water polo
Water polo is a team water sport. The playing team consists of six field players and one goalkeeper. The winner of the game is the team that scores more goals. Game play involves swimming, treading water , players passing the ball while being defended by opponents, and scoring by throwing into a...
, and Trap
Trap shooting
Trap shooting is one of the three major forms of competitive clay pigeon shooting . The others are skeet shooting and sporting clays. There are many versions including Olympic trap, Double trap , Down-The-Line, and Nordic trap. American trap is most popular in the United States and Canada...
and Skeet
Skeet shooting
Skeet shooting is one of the three major types of competitive shotgun target shooting sports . There are several types of skeet, including one with Olympic status , and many with only national recognition.- General principles :Skeet is a recreational and competitive activity where...
.
In spite of these accomplishments Trinity athletics may be most famous for the “Trinity Miracle Play” executed by the Tiger football team. 2007 Trinity vs. Millsaps football game
2007 Trinity vs. Millsaps football game
The 2007 Trinity vs. Millsaps football game is best known for the memorable play that occurred in the game's last minutes. On October 27, 2007, the NCAA Division III 19th-ranked Trinity University Tigers threw 15 lateral passes and scored a 61-yard touchdown to win a game against the 24th-ranked...
On October 27, 2007, in a game played in Jackson, MS against conference rival Millsaps College, Trinity trailed by two points with two seconds left. With time for only one more play and needing to score a touchdown to win, the Tigers ran the “hook and lateral play,” in which a receiver runs a short hook route, and then laterals the ball to a trailing player. After the first lateral the Millsaps defense was not fooled and seemed about to tackle the ball carrier and end the game.
At this point the Tigers showed their knowledge of rugby by lining up across the field, rather than gathering in front of the ball carrier as is typical in American football. This meant that there was always a Tiger player in position, either even with or behind the ball carrier, to legally receive another lateral. Every time the Millsaps defense closed on the ball carrier the Trinity player was able to complete a legal lateral to a teammate. In what may be the longest play, in time elapsed, in the history of American football Trinity eventually completed 15 laterals before breaking through the tired Millsaps defense for a 60 yard touchdown. The score, known in Jackson as the “Major Disaster,” (Millsaps’ nickname is “The Majors”) gave Trinity the victory and ultimately the conference championship. The Trinity community is especially proud of this play because it demonstrated not only the Tigers athletic ability but also their intelligence and poise under pressure.
. The unlikely play was named the top sports moment of the year by Time Magazine http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/top10/article/0,30583,1686204_1686305_1690598,00.html as well as the "Game Changing Performance of the Year" by Pontiac
Pontiac
Pontiac was an automobile brand that was established in 1926 as a companion make for General Motors' Oakland. Quickly overtaking its parent in popularity, it supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933 and, for most of its life, became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the...
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/athletics/Football/Pontiac_GCPOY.htm https://r.espn.go.com/espn/contests/07GameChangingPerformance/index?cmp=ncaavanurl.
Trinty was the overall number one team in Texas fromm 1996 to 2008.