Long Beach State athletics, or simply Beach athletics (previously known as the 49ers), are the athletic teams that represent

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), also known in athletics as Long Beach State University (LBSU), is a public teaching-focused institution in Long Beach, California, United States. The 322-acre campus is the second largest in the ...

. Teams compete in 19 sports at the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA) Division I level. Long Beach State is a founding member of the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

, and also competes in the

Mountain Pacific Sports Federation The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the Western United States, although it has added members as far east as Massachusetts. The conference participates at the NCAA Divisio ...

and the

Golden Coast Conference The Golden Coast Conference (GCC) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States in which its members compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association National Collegiate (D-NC) division. The conference sponsors one sport, water p ...

for sports not sponsored by the Big West.

Nickname

In the realm of sports the school is referred to as "Long Beach State." The university's intercollegiate athletics program will continue to use "Beach Athletics", and its teams the prefix moniker "The Beach" as it is the only university on the West Coast and only NCAA Division I university with the word "Beach" in its name. One can see the cheer "Go Beach!" written on many CSULB products around campus and on the large

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

near the entrance to the campus. "'49er" remains an informal nickname and identifier for anyone affiliated with the university. The term "'49er" references the institution's founding year. The baseball team will continue to be the Dirtbags.

Sports sponsored

Baseball

Unlike all other Long Beach State sports teams, the baseball team unofficially goes under the moniker "

The Dirtbags The Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball team is the college baseball program that represents California State University, Long Beach. Although all Long Beach State sports teams are officially known as the Beach, the baseball team is typically refe ...

." After the hiring of Dave Snow as head coach in 1989, the LBSU baseball team has become one of the most successful teams in the school's athletic history. From 1989 to 2008, the Dirtbags appeared in 17 of the 20

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

tournaments and were consistently ranked in the national top 35. Along the way, the team won 9 Big West conference championships, hosted 5 NCAA regionals (plus 1 super regional), and appeared in 4 College World Series (1989, 1991, 1993 and 1998).Championship Teams
. ''49er Historical Archive.'' Retrieved August 10, 2007 The Dirtbags nickname refers to a gritty, team first style of play taught by Coach Snow and subsequent coaches. The school has also produced a number of prominent professional players over the years, including former

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

MVP

Jason Giambi Jason Gilbert Giambi (; born January 8, 1971) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and designated hitter. In his Major League Baseball (MLB) career, which began in 1995, Giambi played for the Oakland Athletics, New York Yank ...

, former American League Rookie of the Year Bobby Crosby, and all-star and 2008 American League Rookie of the Year

Evan Longoria Evan Michael Longoria (born October 7, 1985), nicknamed "Longo", is an American former professional baseball third baseman who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays, San Francisco Giants, and Arizona Diamondbac ...

. Many more ex-Dirtbags have participated in the prestigious

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

All-Star Futures game, including

Jered Weaver Jered David Weaver (born October 4, 1982) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Angels and San Diego Padres. Weaver was drafted in the first round (12th overall ...

Troy Tulowitzki Troy Trevor Tulowitzki (born October 10, 1984), nicknamed "Tulo", is an American professional baseball coach and former shortstop who played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), primarily with the Colorado Rockies. He also played for the T ...

Danny Espinosa Daniel Richard Espinosa (born April 25, 1987) is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Nationals, Los Angeles Angels, Seattle Mariners, and Tampa Bay Rays. Amateur career ...

, and

Jarren Duran Jarren William Duran (born September 5, 1996) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2021. Listed at and , he bats left-handed and throws right-handed. He h ...

. As of 2024, 57 Long Beach State baseball alumni have played in the big leagues.
''Dirtbags in the Pros.'' Retrieved September 29, 2024 The baseball team plays off campus at 3,238-seat

Blair Field Blair Field is a stadium in Long Beach, California. It originally opened in 1956 and is primarily used for baseball. It holds 3,238 people. It is named for Frank Blair, the sports editor for the ''Long Beach Press-Telegram'' newspaper for 32 y ...

in Recreation Park (center of city; 1.7 miles off campus). Opened in 1956 and remodeled in 1992, Blair Field has been the full-time Long Beach State home field since 1993.

Basketball

Long Beach State men's and women's basketball teams compete in the Big West Conference. The teams play their home games at the

Walter Pyramid The Walter Pyramid, formerly known as The Long Beach Pyramid, is a 4,000-seat, pyramid-shaped indoor arena on the campus of Long Beach State University in Long Beach, California. It serves as home venue to the University's men's and women's ...

Men's basketball

On April 6, 2007, it was announced that

Dan Monson Daniel Lloyd Monson (born October 6, 1961) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head coach at Eastern Washington. He was previously the head coach at Long Beach State for 17 seasons. He was also the head coach at Minnes ...

(formerly of

Gonzaga University Gonzaga University (GU) ( ) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Spokane, Washington, United States. It is Higher education accreditation in the United States, accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges ...

and the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

) would become Long Beach State's next head men's basketball coach, succeeding Larry Reynolds.

Women's basketball

The women's basketball team had its greatest success during the 1980s when coached by

Joan Bonvicini Joan Bonvicini (born October 10, 1953) is a former head basketball coach. Most recently, she was the head coach for the Seattle University women's basketball team, the Redhawks, and one of only 18 coaches in Division I women's basketball histo ...

for 12 years. During that time the team went 325–71. The Beach won 10 Big West Conference titles, made 10 straight NCAA appearances, had 12 consecutive winning seasons, and never won fewer than 24 games in a season. Bonvicini guided the Beach to Final Four appearances in 1987 and 1988.

Cross country

The Long Beach State Beach men's cross country team appeared in the NCAA tournament six times, with their highest finish being 10th place in the 1971–72 school year. The Long Beach State Beach women's cross country team has never made the NCAA tournament.

Women's soccer

The Long Beach State women's soccer team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 3–7 through seven appearances. Big West Conference logo 2021 in Long Beach State colors ltbg no-tm

Women's tennis

Long Beach State women's tennis team ('Beach Tennis') competes in the Big West Conference. As of the end of the 2018–19 season, the team has won thirteen Big West tennis titles since 2002 and qualified for thirteen NCAA tournament championships since 2002; advancing to the Round of 32 three times. Head Coach Jenny Hilt-Costello has won a league record eight Big West Conference Coach of the Year awards (2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014) and was named the ITA West Region Coach of the Year and a finalist for the national award in 2004. The women's tennis team plays at the Terry L. Rhodes Tennis Center, which opened on campus Fall 2008. The tennis center is named after 49er alumnus Terry Rhodes following his $1.25 million gift to the women's tennis program. Rhodes' gift is the largest single sport donation in university history. The new facility also includes The Gloria and Bob Hendricks Family Scoreboard, a high electronic display of all matches donated by the family of the former 49er women's tennis head coach.

Volleyball

Men's volleyball

The men's volleyball competed in the

and now in the

. They won the MPSF regular season title in 2008 and 2017 and the Big West regular season titles in 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023*, 2024, 2025. While winning the Big West Conference Tournament Championship in 2018 and 2024. They won the 1991, 2018, 2019. and 2025

NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship The NCAA men's volleyball tournament, officially titled the NCAA national collegiate men's volleyball championship, is an annual competition that determines the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship in American college men ...

and have placed second seven times. * * Co-Champion As of 2024, the Long Beach State men's volleyball team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of through fourteen appearances.

Women's volleyball

Long Beach State is home to one of the top women's

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. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

teams in the nation. LBSU alumnus Brian Gimmillaro has coached the team since 1985 and his tenure is the second-longest of any Long Beach State coach with one team. Long Beach State has appeared in the NCAA tournament 25 consecutive times under Gimmillaro from 1987 to 2011, only missing the tournament under his tenure in 1986 and 2012. Long Beach State has won five national titles in women's volleyball, in 1972, 1973, 1989, 1993 and 1998, the first two being

AIAW The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) was a college athletics organization in the United States, founded in 1971 to govern women's college competitions in the country and to administer national championships (see AIAW Cham ...

championships. The 1998 women's team was the first team in NCAA Division I history to have an undefeated season. The team's most famous alumna is

Misty May Misty Elizabeth May-Treanor (; née May; born July 30, 1977) is an American retired professional beach volleyball player. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and , was the most successful female beach volleyball player having won 112 tou ...

, who won three Olympic gold medals in Beach Volleyball in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. The Long Beach State Beach women's volleyball team have an NCAA Division I Tournament record of through twenty-seven appearances.

Water polo

The Long Beach State men's water polo team competes in the

. The men's team has an NCAA Division I Tournament record of 7–12 through twelve appearances. The Long Beach State women's water polo team competes in the Big West Conference.

Former varsity sports

Football

Long Beach State competed in Division I football for a number of years (1969–91), producing a number of professional players, including

Terrell Davis Terrell Lamar Davis (born October 28, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL) from 1995 to 2001. He is the Broncos all-time leading rusher and ...

and Mike Horan, among others. George Allen, the famed

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

and

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

coach, had a short one-year tenure at Long Beach State. Long Beach State discontinued its football program after the 1991 season due to budget constraints. Prior to going Division I in 1969 the football team competed in the old "College Division" of the NCAA from 1955 through 1968.

Rowing (Crew)

Long Beach State Rowing, also known as Beach Crew, was initially a varsity sport but has since become a club sport following nationwide changes to the organization of collegiate rowing following the introduction of Title IX. Despite its status as a club sport Beach Crew continues to uphold a storied legacy and remains a highly competitive program on the West Coast.

Non-varsity sports

In addition to NCAA-sanctioned sports, Long Beach State also fields numerous competitive club sports teams, such as

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

ultimate Ultimate or Ultimates may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums *Ultimate (Bryan Adams album), ''Ultimate'' (Bryan Adams album) *Ultimate (Jolin Tsai album), ''Ultimate'' (Jolin Tsai album) *Ultimate (Pet Shop Boys album), ''Ult ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

crew A crew is a body or a group of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchy, hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard. The word has nautical resonances: the ta ...

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

and many others.

Rowing (crew)

Long Beach State Rowing, more popularly known as "Beach Crew," was founded in the fall semester of 1957, and continues to be one of the oldest, continuous, collegiate sports on campus. The team is currently run through the office of Club Sports & Recreation, but has been a part of the CSULB athletic department in past years. The team was co-founded by Bill Lockyer, a local businessman of Long Beach, and Dr. Ludwig Spolyar, a campus activities adviser. Lockyer, who coached for over a decade, was succeeded by Ed Graham in 1970. Long Beach State Rowing is a member of the

Western Intercollegiate Rowing Association Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are no ...

(WIRA), whose participants are mostly non-

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

schools on the West Coast. The team is a founding member of the American Collegiate Rowing Association (ACRA), the national collegiate organization whose members are not eligible to compete in the National NCAA Championships or the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships. In the 2022 spring season Long Beach State’s double sculls placed first in WIRA. The team overall would later place 9th in small boats at ACRA and became the 2nd best small boats program on the west coast. The team is currently coached by Mike Long, John O’Donnell, and former US National Team member Scott Erwin. Beach Crew rows in Alamitos Bay and Marine Stadium in Long Beach. The boathouse, The Pete Archer Rowing Center, was established in 1932. Marine Stadium was built for the 1932 Olympics and is listed as a historic landmark by the State of California. In 2020 it was announced that Marine Stadium will once again host Olympic Rowing in 2028.

Rugby

Founded in 1974, the Long Beach State Rugby Club plays

college rugby College rugby is played by men and women throughout colleges and universities in the United States. Seven-a-side and fifteen-a-side variants of rugby union are most commonly played. Most collegiate rugby programs do not fall under the auspices of ...

at the Long Beach State rugby field. The rugby team moved up from playing as a Division I-AA member of the Golden Coast Conference of Intercollegiate Rugby and became a Division I-A member of the California Collegiate Conference in 2022, which also means moving from American College Rugby to the College Rugby Association of America, the top level of college rugby recognized by

USA Rugby USA Rugby (formally the United States of America Rugby Football Union, Ltd.) is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States. Its role is to achieve and maintain “high levels of quality in all aspects of rugby ...

. Long Beach has had a strong history winning 16 League Championships, 21 tournament championships, 1 National Championship appearance(loss to Air Force 1989), 13 All-Americans and 3 US Eagles. In 1995 Chris Rohrbach received the Woodley Award (Rugby Heisman) as the Collegiate player of the year. More recently Long Beach has been successful, Winning conference championships in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. Long Beach has also reached the national playoffs in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015. Long Beach is led by Head Coach Jason Reynolds.

Facilities

: opened in 1956 and home to the

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

team. It was renamed "Bohl Diamond at Blair Field" after Marilyn Bohl, supporter and donator. * George Allen Field: home to the women's soccer team. It was opened in 1991 and dedicated to NFL coach George Allen (1918–1990). * Jack Rose Track:

athletics track An all-weather running track is a rubberized, artificial Race track#Surfaces, running surface for track and field athletics. It provides a consistent surface for competitors to test their athletic ability unencumbered by adverse weather conditi ...

, named after Long Beach

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

coach Jack Rose. * Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center: an olympic-sized

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

, home to the men's and women's water polo teams. * Rhodes Tennis Center: Inaugurated in 2008 as home to the women's tennis program. It was named after Terry Rhodes, contributor. *

: a pyramid-shaped indoor

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

, home to the basketball and volleyball teams of the University.

Gallery

File:Blair Field Grandstand (Long Beach, California).jpg, Blair Field File:49er Softball Complex scoreboard (Long Beach State).jpg, Softball complex File:George Allen Field (Long Beach St).jpg, George Allen Field (soccer) File:Jack Rose Track (Long Beach State).jpg, Jack Rose Track File:Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center (Long Beach State).jpg, Ken Lindgren Aquatics Center File:Rhodes Tennis Center (Long Beach State).jpg, Rhodes Tennis Center File:Csulb-pyr1.jpg, Walter Pyramid

Championships

Appearances

The Long Beach State Beach competed in the NCAA tournament across 16 active sports (8 men's and 8 women's) 207 times at the Division I level. * Baseball (21): 1970, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2016, 2017 * Men's basketball (10): 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1993, 1995, 2007, 2012, 2024 * Women's basketball (12): 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2017 * Beach volleyball (1): 2017 * Men's cross country (6): 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975 * Men's golf (5): 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1982 * Women's soccer (7): 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018 * Softball (33): 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 * Women's tennis (13): 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019 * Men's indoor track and field (11): 1965, 1972, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2007, 2009, 2017 * Women's indoor track and field (2): 1998, 2000 * Men's outdoor track and field (23): 1964, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, 2019 * Women's outdoor track and field (10): 1982, 1983, 1984, 1990, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2011 * Men's volleyball (15): 1970, 1973, 1990, 1991, 1999, 2004, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 * Women's volleyball (27): 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014 * Men's water polo (12): 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2018

Team

The Beach of Long Beach State have earned 7 NCAA championships at the Division I level. *Men's (4) **

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. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

(4): 1991, 2018, 2019, 2025 *Women's (3) **

(3): 1989, 1993, 1998 Results Long Beach State won 3 national championships at the NCAA Division II level. * Men's swimming and diving: 1968 * Men's tennis: 1967 * Men's outdoor track and field: 1967 Below are six national championships that were not bestowed by the NCAA. *Women (6) **Badminton (2): 1970, 1974 (

) **Field hockey (1): 1979 (AIAW) **Volleyball (2): 1972–73 season, 1973 (fall) (AIAW) **Beach volleyball (1): 2013 (

AVCA The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is an organization of over 9,000 members, incorporated as a private non-profit corporation, non-profit educational corporation in 1981, as the Collegiate Volleyball Coaches Association. It is cur ...

) Below are five national club team championships won at the highest collegiate level. *Archery (recurve) (1): 2015 (mixed team) *Roller hockey (1): 2011 *Sailing (2): 1966 match race, 1981 team race *Surfing (1): 2001

Individual

Long Beach State had 16 athletes win NCAA individual championships at the Division I level. At the NCAA Division II level, Long Beach State garnered 29 individual championships.

National award winners

Traditions

Coaches

Long Beach has had a number of nationally prominent coaches in its history, including

Tex Winter Morice Fredrick "Tex" Winter (February 25, 1922 – October 10, 2018) was an American basketball coach and innovator of the triangle offense, an offensive system that became the dominant force in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and res ...

Jerry Tarkanian Jerry Tarkanian (August 8, 1930 – February 11, 2015) was an American basketball coach. He coached college basketball for 31 seasons over five decades at three schools. He spent the majority of his career coaching with the UNLV Runnin' Reb ...

and

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head co ...

in men's basketball, George Allen in football,

Alan Knipe Alan Knipe (born January 1, 1969) is the head coach of the Long Beach State men's volleyball team. As a player at CSULB, he helped the team reach back-to-back NCAA Men's Volleyball Championships in 1990 and 1991, winning the Championship in 1991 ...

in men's volleyball,

Frances Schaafsma Frances M. Schaafsma (May 4, 1934 − November 11, 1992) was a pioneer in women's sports in both basketball and volleyball, as well as a pioneer in collegiate athletics administration for female athletes. Her books on these two sports were among t ...

in women's volleyball and basketball,

in women's basketball, Anita Miller Huntsman in women’s field hockey, throwing coach

Art Venegas Arturo "Art" Venegas (born 1951) is a former track and field coach, specializing in the throwing events. During his coaching career, Venegas led 63 athletes to conference titles, and he coached 33 throwers to NCAA championships. The U.S. Track & ...

in track and field, and Jon Urbanchek and Don Gambril in swimming.

Mascot

In spring 2018, the school's previous mascot, "Prospector Pete", was retired. On May 10, 2019, the school announced that its new mascot will be a shark, although there are no current plans for the school to be officially known as the "Sharks".

Olympics

Long Beach State has had an athlete participate in every

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

since the first Olympiad after the school's founding.Olympians Associated with Long Beach State
. ''49er Historical Archive.'' Retrieved August 10, 2007

School colors

The school colors have been black and gold since 2000, when they were changed by a student referendum (after George Allen changed the football uniform colors) from the original brown and gold.

Rivalries

Beach Athletics has several rival schools in the sports in which it competes. Besides being located in close proximity to each other, Long Beach State and the

Cal State Fullerton Titans The Cal State Fullerton Titans (also known as CSUF or Fullerton Titans) are the sport, athletic teams that represent California State University, Fullerton. The Titans are a member of the NCAA Division I level. The Titans compete within the Big W ...

have competed heavily as conference rivals, particularly fueled by the history of success of their baseball programs. Since 2006, Long Beach State and the

UC Irvine Anteaters The UC Irvine Anteaters are the athletic teams fielded by the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine). Its athletics programs participate in the NCAA's Division I, as members of the Big West Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Feder ...

have participated in the annual "Black and Blue Rivalry Series." In this challenge, each school earns points for its collective conference championships and head-to-head victories against each other (across all NCAA sports in which both schools participate). The totals are added up at the end of the season and a winner is declared. Finally, Long Beach State also has a long-standing "beach school" rivalry with the

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing the University of California, Santa Barbara. Referred to in athletic competition as ''UC Santa Barbara'' or ''UCSB'', the Gauchos participate in 19 NCAA Division I i ...

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Los Angeles