East Carolina Pirates
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East Carolina University's intercollegiate sports teams are called the "Pirates", and participate in the NCAA Division I in all sports (except in football, where they are located in Division I-A Football Bowl Subdivision) and the Conference USA in most sports. (The men's hockey program competes in the Blue Ridge Hockey Conference. The school colors are Purple and Gold, with Black being an outline color. The mascot of ECU is the Pirate.
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[edit] Why The Pirates?
Pirates have long been associated with the North Carolina coast. One of the most famous pirates, Blackbeard, resided in Bath, NC and Ocracoke, NC. The modern day mascot is based on the description of Blackbeard. Many other pirates used the shallow coast and Outer Banks to evade the captures. ECU officially became the Pirates in 1934. In 1983, a contest was developed to name the Pirate. Children all over Pitt County submitted their ideas and Pee Dee the Pirate was chosen. The Pee Dee River is a river along the North Carolina and South Carolina border where pirates often set up camp. In 1985 Chancellor Howell decided on his own to drop "Pee Dee" and be known only as "The Pirates". People still use the terms Pee Dee and Petey as the terms for The Pirates.
[edit] Why Purple and Gold?
One of the first order of business once students arrived to East Carolina in 1909 was to decide on colors for the school. The students voted and Old Gold and Royal Purple won. ECU has been purple and gold ever since.
[edit] Football
The ECU Pirate Football team competes at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium located on the campus of ECU in Greenville, NC. Football started in 1932 and the Pirates have been to 12 Bowl Games. In 2006 the Pirates ended the year with a 7-5 record and were invited to the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, AL. The head coach of the Pirates is Skip Holtz. Nineteen Pirate student-athletes have been honored as football All-Americans in addition to countless other awards. ECU has had 52 players selected in the NFL Draft since 1961. The Pirates have had at least one player chosen in 12 of the past 16 NFL drafts with one first round selection as the No. 24 overall pick in the 1992 draft. ECU has produced eight players who have played in 11 Super Bowls dating back to 1985. Five of those Pirates have won World Championships.
[edit] Swimming and Diving
The ECU Swimming and Diving team has had many great seasons. The Mens team started in the 1953-54 season and the Womens started in the 1977-78 season. In 1957, the Mens Swimming and Diving Team became the first team at ECU to win a National Championship. Over the years, 87 Swimmers and Divers at ECU have been All-Americans. The Mens Teams were Conference Champions in 1986 and 1989 in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). The Womens team was Conference Champs in 1995-1997, 2000 in the CAA; 2001 in the East Coast Athletic Conference; 2003 in CUSA. The Head Coach is Rick Kobe.
[edit] Baseball
The Pirates are annually rated as one of the nation's top collegiate baseball programs. The men's baseball team currently plays on the campus of ECU in Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville, NC. The Pirates boast a long and storied tradition of success on the baseball diamond. In fact, ECU has been nothing short of spectacular recording 54 winning seasons in the past 56 years. They have been regular season champions 12 times and conference tournament champions 10 times. The Pirates have gone to the NCAA Tournament 21 times with the last time being in 2005. The Pirates have appeared in 22 NCAA Baseball Regional tournaments (including seven straight between 1999 and 2005), two NCAA Baseball Super Regional appearances, one Conference USA regular-season championship, and have won 40+ games in five of the last seven seasons. Over the years, 15 players have been honored as All-Americans, over 100 former players have played in the Major Leagues, and in 1962 the Diamond Bucs won the NAIA National Championship. See Friends of ECU Baseball. The current coach is Billy Godwin.
Other Varsity Mens teams include: Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Tennis and Track and Field. Other Varsity Womens teams include: Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Track and Field and Volleyball.
