 |
Hall of Fame: Members | Criteria for Membership
Major Sports Awards: Annual Award Winners
The history of athletics at Pomona College and more recently of Pomona and
Pitzer Colleges is as rich, complex, and storied as the Colleges themselves.
 Intercollegiate play began in 1895, when Pomona College's football, baseball,
and track teams competed against other prominent west coast institutions. From 1895 until
1946, Pomona College competed as a single college under a variety of nicknames: The "Blue and
White," the Huns, the Sage Hens, and simply Pomona were all used
interchangeably.
In 1946, the college joined with
neighboring Claremont Men's College to form the Pomona-Claremont Sagehens.
This union was an extremely successful one that yielded three consecutive
conference titles in football, from 1954-1956, including a still unmatched undefeated season
in 1954. In 1956, the two colleges separated and began to compete independently. In
1970, seven years after its founding, Pitzer College joined Pomona in athletics
under an interim basis that in 1972 became permanent. The Pomona-Pitzer
athletic tradition continues to this day.
 The
Southern California Athletic Conference was formed in 1908, but folded in 1911
with the withdrawal of the University of Southern California.
In 1914, representatives from Pomona College, Occidental College, and USC met to
form the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC). In
1915, USC again withdrew citing a desire to compete against larger schools. This
opened the door for Whittier College, the University of Redlands, and Throop
College (later changed to the California Institute of Technology).
 As a founding member of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference (SCIAC), and one of the first athletic programs on the west coast,
Pomona College has played a significant role in the history of intercollegiate
athletics. From 1897 to 1925, the Pomona football team played USC 20 times, with
a 4-12-4 overall record. From 1921 thru 1931, the Blue and White played UCLA 12
times, compiling an impressive 6-5-1 record. On October 6, 1923, Pomona and USC
played in the inaugural game at the Los Angeles Coliseum, with the Trojans
prevailing 23-7. On Thanksgiving Day, 1926 Pomona College and the newly
christened Wildcats of the University of Arizona squared off for the first U.A. homecoming game; the
Wildcats defeated Pomona 7-6.
 Pomona
College introduced the sport of women's basketball to southern California
colleges. In 1903, the first women's basketball team was organized, three years
before the formation of the men's team, and competed against local high schools.
It would not be until 1909, however, that the women would be able to compete
against other collegiate competition. On February 20, 1909, the Blue and White
fell to USC 17 to 3.
Many legends have graced the athletic fields at Pomona College as both player
and coach. Byron Van Leuven, the school's first football coach, was also at the
time, the star halfback and team trainer. Robert Strehle '19, for whom the current
track and field facilities are named, was a former standout athlete, coach, and
athletic director at Pomona. In 1917, Strehle ran the fastest 220 yard low
hurdle time recorded on the west coast. 1904 graduate and former standout tennis
player, Ralph Noble served as the head football coach from 1906-1907. No account
of Pomona College athletic history would be complete however without mention of
Earl Jay "Fuzz" Merritt.
Merritt, a 1925 graduate and a former football, track, baseball, and basketball
star was hired by the college in September of 1925 as a freshman advisor and
instructor of physical education. From 1935 thru 1942 and 1946 thru 1958,
Merritt guided the Sage Hens to a 95-59-9 record. In 1961, Merritt retired from
Pomona College, and in 1991, Alumni Field was renamed Earl J. "Fuzz" Merritt
Field.
 The history of the Pomona College mascot and nickname is a
slightly more complex matter.
As mentioned earlier, the college competed under a variety of names through
1913, when the nickname "Sage Hen" first appeared in a November 29, issue of
The Student Life:
"Once again the Oxy Tiger wanders from his lair and comes to peaceful, peaceful
Claremont with intent to murder. The Sage Hen will fight -- on the field. On the
campus she is entirely amicable."
~ E. H. Spoor '15
Sports Editor,
The Student Life
From 1914 thru 1917, the nickname "Hun" and "Sagehen" were used arbitrarily.
Beginning in 1918 and continuing to the present, the Sagehen became the only
symbol of Pomona and later Pomona-Claremont, and Pomona-Pitzer athletics.
What is a Sagehen, and how did it become our mascot? The first question is far
easier to answer than the second one.
The Sage Grouse, and more specifically, the
Greater Sage Grouse (Centrocercus
urophasianus) is a large ground-dwelling bird that can reach up to 30 inches in
length and two feet in height. It is distinguished by its long pointed tail. The
Greater Sage Grouse is an omnivore and eats mainly insects and sagebrush, hence
its name. It is unique for its fierce loyalty to a specific area, and thus its
livelihood can be completely reliant on the existence of sagebrush.
For more information on the the
Sage Grouse, please click on this link.
 There
are several stories regarding the origin of our beloved Cecil the Sagehen. The
most prevalent is that a reporter while intending to refer to the Pomona
athletic teams as sage (meaning wise) Huns, accidentally typed hens. While this
story is frequently retold, this seems both unlikely and highly coincidental.
Considering the relative distance from the "u" and the "e", and taking into
consideration editorial supervision as well as the actual existence of Sage Hens
in the southern California, this seems to be no more than a myth. However Pomona
College came to be known as the Sagehens, it seems especially fitting
considering the bird's origins and originality.
The first reference to "Cecil" is made in the1946 Metate, and there have
been several incarnations since that time.
|
