Pepperdine Waves

The Pepperdine Waves are the athletics teams of Pepperdine University, located outside the city of Malibu, California. They compete at the Division I level of the NCAA. The school is a member of the West Coast Conference for the majority of its programs. Pepperdine University was recently ranked by the Sears Cup as having the most successful athletic program for non-football Division I schools. (Stanford was ranked the most successful Division I athletic program with football.) Pepperdine University sponsors seventeen NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics teams. There are also several intercollegiate sports clubs such as men's soccer, men's and women's lacrosse, surf team, Ultimate Frisbee and men's rugby.

Pepperdine Waves
UniversityPepperdine University
ConferenceWest Coast Conference
NCAANCAA Division I
Athletic directorSteve Potts
LocationMalibu, California
Varsity teams17
Basketball arenaFirestone Fieldhouse
Baseball stadiumEddy D. Field Stadium
Soccer stadiumTari Frahm Rokus Field
Other arenasAlumni Park
Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool
Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center
Zuma Beach
MascotWillie the Wave
NicknameWaves
Fight song"Fight For Pepperdine"
ColorsBlue, White, and Orange[1]
              
Websitewww.pepperdinewaves.com
Pepperdine athletics wordmark.svg

Pepperdine's chief athletic rival is the Loyola Marymount Lions, who are also in the WCC.

Nickname

Since the school's founding, the school's nickname has been the Waves. It was selected by president Batsell Baxter, as the general consensus among faculty and students was that there were too many animal names in college athletics at the time. Though the school was located in South Los Angeles at the time, the name has stuck, becoming more appropriate after the school's move to Malibu.[2]

Sports sponsored
Men's sports Women's sports
BaseballBasketball
BasketballBeach volleyball
Cross countryCross country
GolfGolf
TennisSoccer
Track and field†Swimming and diving
VolleyballTennis
Water poloTrack and field†
Volleyball
† – Track and field includes both indoor and outdoor

Baseball

Major league pitcher Jon Moscot pitched for the baseball team in 2011 and 12.[3][4][5] Other Waves pitchers who went on to success in the majors include Dan Haren,[6] Randy Wolf,[7] and Noah Lowry.[8]

Women's beach volleyball

The Pepperdine Waves women's beach volleyball team represents Pepperdine University in women's beach volleyball.[9] Pepperdine launched its beach volleyball program in 2011.[9]

Men's golf

The men's golf team has won 20 West Coast Conference championships (1987, 1989, 1991,1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2015, 2018, 2019)[10] They won the NCAA Division I Championship in 1997.

Pepperdine golfers who have won at the professional level are Brent Geiberger (2 PGA Tour wins), Jason Gore (1 PGA Tour win, 7 Web.com Tour wins), Jeff Gove (3 Web.com Tour wins), Michael Putnam (3 Web.com Tour wins), Kevin DeHuff (2018 Holiday Party Match Winner), and Byron Smith (4 Canadian Tour wins).

Men's tennis

In 1982 Brad Gilbert transferred to Pepperdine University, playing for Allen Fox. He became an All-American and reached the finals of the 1982 NCAA Championship. Gilbert is a 1999 inductee into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame.[11]

Andrew Sznajder played college tennis at Pepperdine, where he was a two-time All-American selection (1987 and 1988; he was # 3 in college rankings both years).[12][13] In 1988, he won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association indoor individual championship. He turned pro in his sophomore year.[12]

Water polo

Merrill Moses, Olympic water polo player, played water polo for the Waves for four years.

Former sports

Football
Main article: Pepperdine Waves football

Pepperdine played football from 1946 to 1961. At the end of the inaugural 1946 season the Waves defeated Nebraska Wesleyan University in the 1947 Will Rogers Bowl.[14]

Facilities

Traditions

Mascot

The school's first mascot was Roland the Wave (a nod to the popular cheer "Roll on you Waves!"). From 1945 to 1950 the school used a wave costume (less amorphous than the current mascot's) on the sidelines. In 1951, Joe the Pelican was introduced at a football game. The idea was quickly dropped, however, because of the expense of caring for a live pelican. In 1952, Willy the Wave made his debut. Willy has always had the head and "hair" of a wave, though he has gone through several costumes, including one with white hair representing the foam of a wave, and the early 1990s version which bore a strong resemblance to the Mac Tonight mascot of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese commercials at the time. In 1996, Willy was replaced with King Neptune as part of a re-branding effort. The nickname never took off, however, and was scrapped in 2003. It was not until 2006, however, that Willy made his final return to Pepperdine athletics, this time with a larger wave head and usually wearing boardshorts and an Aloha shirt.[15]

School colors

Since the founding, the school's colors have been blue and orange. They were chosen by President Baxter over the final choice of blue and gold as at the time, no other Pacific school used the colors, which represented the blue of the Pacific Ocean and the oranges grown by the state of California. (Cal State Fullerton has since adopted similar colors, though their shades are darker than Pepperdine's.)[16]

  • Alumni Park Cross Country Course
  • Eddy D. Field Stadium
  • Firestone Fieldhouse
  • Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool
  • Ralph-Straus Tennis Center
  • Tari Frahm Rokus Field
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References
  1. "Official Colors | Resources | Pepperdine Community". Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  2. We Are The Waves - PepperdineSports.com
  3. Bill Vilona (June 7, 2014). "Moscot's rise shows draft's flaws". Pensacola News Journal. Retrieved April 9, 2015.
  4. "2011 Men's All-America Baseball Team (Division I)". Jewish Sports Review.
  5. Dick Dornan (June 13, 2012). "Pepperdine baseball enjoys banner season". Malibu Times.
  6. https://www.dailynews.com/2012/12/04/mlb-ex-angels-pitcher-dan-haren-also-of-bishop-amat-and-pepperdine-signs-with-washington-nationals/
  7. http://www.malibutimes.com/sports/article_38aa7cfc-0c49-11e8-aa7f-037c633b9dc1.html
  8. https://archives.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/former-giant-noah-lowry-moves-on-after-pitching-career-cut-short/Content?oid=2336726
  9. "Program History" (PDF). pepperdinewaves.com. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  10. "Pepperdine Golf – Records Book – 2012–13 Men's Golf" (PDF). Retrieved June 14, 2013.
  11. "CSTV.com: #1 in College Sports". Archived from the original on 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
  12. Andrew Sznajder | Bio | ATP World Tour | Tennis
  13. "Player profile – Andrew SZNAJDER (CAN)". Davis Cup. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  14. Grenley, Dave (June 3, 2010). "The History of Pepperdine Football". Pepperdine Waves. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  15. The Story of the Pepperdine Mascot - PepperdineSports.com
  16. School Colors: Blue & Orange - PepperdineSports.com
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