utsa uncovered: sports at utsa
UTSA is an NCAA Division I school. Athletic competition in 14 different men’s and women’s sports began in 1981. At that time, the Roadrunners competed in the Trans America Athletic Conference. The 14 sports include women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s baseball, women’s softball, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field and men’s golf.UTSA now competes in the Southland Conference (SLC). After joining the conference in 1991, the Lady Roadrunners have dominated in track and field and cross country winning 16 team championships. The men’s program has captured team championships in basketball, baseball and two in cross country. The basketball team participated in the 1988, 1999, 2004 NCAA Basketball Tournament and the baseball team participated in the 1994 NCAA Baseball Tournament. Also, the basketball team became one of the first in history to win back-to-back conference championships in two different conferences when they won the title in the Trans America Athletic Conference in 1991 and then won the SLC Championship in 1992. UTSA was ranked as the #2 all-around athletic program in the Southland Conference in 1996-97.
the roadrunner hand sign
The Roadrunner Hand Sign is formed by opening your hand with your palm facing away from you, as if you were telling someone to stop. Then, curl your first three fingers toward the center of your palm. The hand sign is usually given as a symbol of Roadrunner pride at sporting events and pep rallies. Use it as often as you like, but never use it in vain.
a campus legend
Most people don’t know that a basketball legend roams the acreage at UTSA. The Director of Intramural Athletics at UTSA, Nevil Shed, played on the only Texas team to win the NCAA Division I Championship, the 1966 Texas Western College Miners. Texas Western is now the University of Texas at El Paso.
Shed, who played for the Miners from 1964-67, was one of five black starters who made history as the first all-black starting lineup in a Final Four game. The Miners completed the ’66 season with a record of 28-1. On March 19, 1966, Texas Western defeated the Kentucky Wildcats in the championship game by a score of 72-65 in College Park, Maryland. The Kentucky team included current Miami Heat Head Coach Pat Riley.
Coach Shed was born in New York City and attended Marris High School in the Bronx before making his way to Texas.