SPORTS TEAM HISTORY

  • Home
  • Sports History
    • Baseball History
    • Basketball History
    • College History
    • Football History
    • Hockey History
    • Soccer History
  • Greatest Player Polls
  • More…
    • STH News
    • Sports Team History Products
Sports Team History

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages
Sports Team History
Image

Sam Houston State Bearkats School History

STH Greatest Player Polls Banner
Sports Market History Banner #4
STH Products Sale Banner
Sports News History Banner
Sam Houston State Bearkats




Bearkats Primary Logo
Bearkats Alternate Logo
Bearkats Wordmark Logo

History of the Bearkats

The Sam Houston State Bearkats are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing Sam Houston State University, located in Huntsville, Texas. Sam Houston's colors are orange and white, and their sports team's nickname is the Bearkats. Sam Houston sports teams participate in NCAA Division I (Football Championship Subdivision (FCS-formerly known as Division I-AA) for football) in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), having joined that conference on July 1, 2021, after spending the previous 34 years in the Southland Conference. SHSU's primary rival is Stephen F. Austin (SFA), and tensions between the two schools can run high before significant sporting events that pit one against the other.

The Sam Houston athletic department captured the Southland Conference Commissioner's Cup in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2014, 2018, and 2019 for the all-around athletic department. It topped the Southland Conference for all-academic recognition. The Kats are the only athletic department in the Southland Conference to get the Commissioner's Cup for 3 consecutive years, while the 7 total cups are the most in league history.

Sam Houston boasts the best average student-athlete GPA and the highest number of student-athletes named to the Southland Conference honor roll. This is particularly evident in the men's basketball program, which fielded 6 of the 13 student-athletes who gained Academic All-Conference honors, including junior Ryan Bright, who was also named student-athlete of the year for men's basketball.

Sam Houston's move to the WAC was announced on January 14, 2021, as part of a significant expansion of that conference. Also announced as future WAC members were three other Southland members from Texas (Abilene Christian, Lamar, SFA) plus Big Sky Conference member Southern Utah. Initially, all five schools were to join in July 2022, but the entry of SHSU and the other Texas schools was moved to 2021 after the Southland expelled its departing members.

Sam Houston has been announced as a future member of Conference USA, effective no later than July 2023.





College Sports Established
1879

Location
Huntsville, Texas

College Name
Sam Houston State University

Collegiate History
1987 - Present / NCAA Division I

Conference History
2023 - Present / C-USA Conference
2021 - 2023 / Western Athletic Conference
1987 - 2021 / Southland Conference

Nickname
Bearkats - Sam Houston State University's athletic teams have been nicknamed "The Bearkats" since 1923 when the University's name was changed by the Texas State Legislature from Sam Houston Normal Institute to Sam Houston State Teachers College. Prior to 1923, the varsity sports teams were nicknamed "The Normals".

Early references to "Bearkats" spelled the name either "Bearcats", "Bear Cats" or "Bearkats". A bearcat actually is a kinkajou, a carnivorous mammal native to South America 10 to 12 inches in length with whiskers like a cat that sits up on its hind haunches like a bear. A nocturnal creature, it is known to be ferocious if provoked.

It is doubtful those who coined the "Bearkat" nickname had a kinkajou in mind, however. More likely, the name came from a popular local saying of the time, "tough as a Bearkat!" The late Reed Lindsey, who was a student/athlete in the 1920s and later retired as University registrar, once said that "it was a good fighting name of the time." Since the animal in the saying was thought more mythical than real, the spelling settled upon was "Bearkat."

In the late 1940s, then SHSU president Harmon Lowman attempted to change the SHSU mascot from Bearkats to "Ravens" (after General Sam Houston's Cherokee nickname). Mrs. Vernon Schuder reported that the alumni were polled, she voted for the raven but that "all those old Bearkats beat us out!"

SHSU had a live kinkajou mascot in 1952 but the animal did not adapt to captivity and quickly was released from his duties. The current Sammy Bearkat mascot character began appearing at SHSU sports events in 1959. (Special thanks to Paul Culp of the SHSU Library whose research made this article possible.)

NCAA Championships
Baseball 0

Men's Basketball 0

Women's Basketball 0

Football 0

Soccer 0

Who is the greatest Sam Houston State Bearkats?
  • Add your greatest player

To qualify as the greatest player for this team, the player must have played one season for this team. If not, we will remove the player.
* verifies that player has played for this team as an added player by a fan.

Sports News History

Sports News Worth Knowing

RSS NCAA Football Headline News

  • 2025 Gators legacy DL recruit stoked over Florida football offer
  • Pac-12 expansion with San Diego State, SMU may be necessary before league inks new media rights deal
  • Returning production rankings for all 133 FBS teams
  • Iowa gives Ferentz a chance to recoup pay cut
  • Alabama hires Kevin Steele as defensive coordinator: Veteran assistant tapped to replace Pete Golding

Sports Market History

Sports Team Marketplace of Champions!

Sports Team Office Products

Loading RSS Feed

College Logo Battle

Greatest Player Polls

STH Product Sale

College Schools
Menu
  • ACC
    • Boston College Eagles
    • Clemson Tigers
    • Duke Blue Devils
    • Florida State Seminoles
    • Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
    • Louisville Cardinals
    • Miami Hurricanes
    • North Carolina State Wolfpack
    • North Carolina Tar Heels
    • Notre Dame Fighting Irish
    • Pittsburgh Panthers
    • Syracuse Orange
    • Virginia Cavaliers
    • Virginia Tech Hokies
    • Wake Forest Demon Deacons
  • American Athletic
    • Central Florida Knights
    • Cincinnati Bearcats
    • East Carolina Pirates
    • Houston Cougars
    • Memphis Tigers
    • SMU Mustangs
    • South Florida Bulls
    • Temple Owls
    • Tulane Green Wave
    • Tulsa Golden Hurricane
    • Wichita State Shockers
  • ASUN
    • Austin Peay Governors
    • Bellarmine Knights
    • Central Arkansas Bears
    • Eastern Kentucky Colonels
    • Florida Gulf Coast Eagles
    • Jacksonville Dolphins
    • Jacksonville State Gamecocks
    • Kennesaw State Owls
    • Liberty Flames
    • Lipscomb Bisons
    • North Alabama Lions
    • North Florida Ospreys
    • Stetson Hatters
  • Atlantic 10
    • Davidson Wildcats
    • Dayton Flyers
    • Duquesne Dukes
    • Fordham Rams
    • George Mason Patriots
    • George Washington Colonials
    • La Salle Explorers
    • Loyola Ramblers
    • Massachusetts Minutemen
    • Rhode Island Rams
    • Richmond Spiders
    • Saint Louis Billikens
    • St. Bonaventure Bonnies
    • St. Joseph’s Hawks
    • Virginia Commonwealth Rams
  • Big 10
    • Illinois Fighting Illini
    • Indiana Hoosiers
    • Iowa Hawkeyes
    • Maryland Terrapins
    • Michigan State Spartans
    • Michigan Wolverines
    • Minnesota Golden Gophers
    • Nebraska Cornhuskers
    • Northwestern Wildcats
    • Ohio State Buckeyes
    • Penn State Nittany Lions
    • Purdue Boilermakers
    • Rutgers Scarlet Knights
    • Wisconsin Badgers
  • Big 12
    • Baylor Bears
    • Iowa State Cyclones
    • Kansas Jayhawks
    • Kansas State Wildcats
    • Oklahoma Sooners
    • Oklahoma State Cowboys
    • TCU Horned Frogs
    • Texas Longhorns
    • Texas Tech Red Raiders
    • West Virginia Mountaineers
  • Big East
    • Butler Bulldogs
    • Connecticut Huskies
    • Creighton Bluejays
    • DePaul Blue Demons
    • Georgetown Hoyas
    • Marquette Golden Eagles
    • Providence Friars
    • Seton Hall Pirates
    • St. John’s Red Storm
    • Villanova Wildcats
    • Xavier Musketeers
  • Big Sky
    • Idaho State Bengals
    • Idaho Vandals
    • Montana Grizzlies
    • Montana State Bobcats
    • Northern Arizona Lumberjacks
    • Northern Colorado Bears
    • Portland State Vikings
    • Sacramento State Hornets
    • Weber State Wildcats
    • Past Teams
      • Southern Utah Thunderbirds
  • Big West
    • Cal Poly Mustangs
    • Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners
    • Cal State Fullerton Titans
    • Cal State Northridge Matadors
    • Hawaii Warriors
    • Long Beach State 49ers
    • UC Davis Aggies
    • UC Irvine Anteaters
    • UC Riverside Highlanders
    • UC San Diego Tritons
    • UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
  • C-USA
    • Charlotte 49ers
    • FIU Panthers
    • Florida Atlantic Owls
    • Louisiana Tech Bulldogs
    • Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
    • North Texas Mean Green
    • Rice Owls
    • UAB Blazers
    • UTEP Miners
    • UTSA Roadrunners
    • Western Kentucky Hilltoppers
    • Future Team
      • Sam Houston State Bearkats
  • Ivy
    • Brown Bears
    • Columbia Lions
    • Cornell Big Red
    • Dartmouth Big Green
    • Harvard Crimson
    • Penn Quakers
    • Princeton Tigers
    • Yale Bulldogs
  • MAC
    • Akron Zips
    • Ball State Cardinals
    • Bowling Green Falcons
    • Buffalo Bulls
    • Central Michigan Chippewas
    • Eastern Michigan Eagles
    • Kent State Golden Flashes
    • Miami (Ohio) Redhawks
    • Northern Illinois Huskies
    • Ohio Bobcats
    • Toledo Rockets
    • Western Michigan Broncos
  • Missouri Valley
    • Belmont Bruins
    • Bradley Braves
    • Drake Bulldogs
    • Evansville Purple Aces
    • Illinois State Redbirds
    • Indiana State Sycamores
    • Missouri State Bears
    • Murray State Racers
    • Northern Iowa Panthers
    • Southern Illinois Salukis
    • UIC Flames
    • Valparaiso Beacons
  • Mountain West
    • Air Force Falcons
    • Boise State Broncos
    • Colorado State Rams
    • Fresno State Bulldogs
    • Nevada Wolf Pack
    • New Mexico Lobos
    • San Diego State Aztecs
    • San Jose State Spartans
    • UNLV Rebels
    • Utah State Aggies
    • Wyoming Cowboys
  • Ohio Valley
    • Eastern Illinois Panthers
    • Lindenwood Lions
    • Little Rock Trojans
    • Morehead State Eagles
    • SE Missouri State Redhawks
    • SIU Edwardsville Cougars
    • Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles
    • Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks
    • Tennessee State Tigers
    • Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles
  • PAC 12
    • Arizona State Sun Devils
    • Arizona Wildcats
    • California Golden Bears
    • Colorado Buffaloes
    • Oregon Ducks
    • Oregon State Beavers
    • Southern California Trojans
    • Stanford Cardinal
    • UCLA Bruins
    • Utah Utes
    • Washington Huskies
    • Washington State Cougars
  • Patriot
    • American Eagles
    • Army Black Knights
    • Boston Terriers
    • Bucknell Bisons
    • Colgate Raiders
    • Holy Cross Crusaders
    • Lafayette Leopards
    • Lehigh Mountain Hawks
    • Loyola-Maryland Greyhounds
    • Navy Midshipmen
  • SEC
    • Alabama Crimson Tide
    • Arkansas Razorbacks
    • Auburn Tigers
    • Florida Gators
    • Georgia Bulldogs
    • Kentucky Wildcats
    • LSU Tigers
    • Mississippi State Bulldogs
    • Missouri Tigers
    • Ole Miss Rebels
    • South Carolina Gamecocks
    • Tennessee Volunteers
    • Texas A&M Aggies
    • Vanderbilt Commodores
  • Sun Belt
    • Appalachian State Mountaineers
    • Arkansas State Red Wolves
    • Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
    • Georgia Southern Eagles
    • Georgia State Panthers
    • James Madison Dukes
    • Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns
    • Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks
    • Marshall Thundering Herd
    • Old Dominion Monarchs
    • South Alabama Jaguars
    • Southern Miss Golden Eagles
    • Texas State Bobcats
    • Troy Trojans
  • West Coast
    • BYU Cougars
    • Gonzaga Bulldogs
    • Loyola Marymount Lions
    • Pacific Tigers
    • Pepperdine Waves
    • Portland Pilots
    • Saint Marys Gaels
    • San Diego Toreros
    • San Francisco Dons
    • Santa Clara Broncos

STH News

Latest Sports Team History News

Jerry Rice the WR G.O.A.T.

February 3, 2023

A Tale of Two Expansion Teams: Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets

February 2, 2023

Red Sox Looking for a Great Start in the MLB 2023 Season!

February 1, 2023

Highest Scoring Trio in Premier League History

February 1, 2023

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
Search in posts
Search in pages
Sports Logo History
Sports News History
Sports Market History
  • About
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy

Sports Team History
© 2013 - 2023 Sports History Group LLC - All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Sports History
    • Baseball History
    • Basketball History
    • College History
    • Football History
    • Hockey History
    • Soccer History
  • Greatest Player Polls
  • More…
    • STH News
    • Sports Team History Products
  • Home
  • Sports History
    • Baseball History
    • Basketball History
    • College History
    • Football History
    • Hockey History
    • Soccer History
  • Greatest Player Polls
  • More…
    • STH News
    • Sports Team History Products