History of the Bisons
The Lipscomb Bisons are the athletic teams that represent Lipscomb University, located in Nashville, Tennessee, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the Division I level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), primarily competing in the ASUN Conference (formerly known as the Atlantic Sun Conference until after the 2015–16 school year) since the 2003–04 academic year. The Bisons previously competed in the TranSouth Athletic Conference (TranSouth or TSAC) of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) from 1996–97 to 2000–01. Their mascot is LU the Bison.
College Sports Established
1891
Location
Nashville, Tennessee
College Name
Lipscomb University
Collegiate History
1996 - Present / NCAA Division I
Conference History
2003 - Present / ASUN Conference
2001 - 2003 / Independent
1996 - 2001 / TranSouth Athletic Conference
Nickname
Bisons - In fall 1932, the bison became a permanent part of the Lipscomb University tradition. During the 1931-32 school year, Lipscomb fielded its first-ever intercollegiate men’s basketball team. Head coach Robert Alexander had the task of selecting uniforms for the new team. Alexander took student athlete Jack Draper, team captain, with him to Burke and Company in downtown Nashville to purchase team uniforms.
Draper noticed a jacket with a buffalo, as he called it, across the back.
“After seeing a buffalo on the back of a jacket hanging in the store, Jack Draper suggested to Coach Alexander to call the team the ‘Thundering Herd,’” said Andy Lane, associate director of athletics. “But the coach liked the ‘Bisons’ as the team mascot.”
Lane said the team agreed and Lipscomb athletic teams have been called the Bisons since. Before that time, Lipscomb’s athletics teams were sometimes called the “Crusaders,” but the name was not widely accepted by the student body.
Students formed the Bisonettes in 1956 to lead school spirit, according to “A Century of Memories, 1891-1991.” The Bisonettes dressed uniformly and sat together during basketball games and marched at halftime. Selected from each class, there were 60 members of the group. They remained a feature of the basketball season until the program ended in 1974 due to a lack of interest.
NCAA Championships
Baseball 0
Men's Basketball 0
Women's Basketball 0
Football 0
Soccer 0
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