Football at FSC?!?

Florida Southern fielded a football team from 1912 to 1933. A highlight of the program was a 7-0 victory over the University of Florida in 1919.

-

Among the earliest women's sports at Florida Southern was this 1929 women's basketball team. Note the various colored sashes worn by players.

Lake Hollingsworth, and other lakes in the area, provided an excellent location for the FSC women's and men's crew teams. Pictured is the 1933 women's team.

The First National Championship!

The 1971 baseball team, coached by Hal Smeltzly, won the Moccasins' first NCAA National Championship. The baseball team has won nine titles under four different head coaches.

Head volleyball coach Lois Webb (right) proudly displays the 1980 AIAW regional championship trophy. Coach Webb would guide the volleyball team for 26 seasons and then serve as FSC Athletic Director for seven years. She also coached women's basketball and women's golf at FSC.

The Triple Crown

Moccasin athletic success hit an all-time high in 1981 as the men's basketball, men's golf and baseball teams all won National Championships that spring. At left are coaches Charley Matlock (golf), Hal Wissel (basketball) and Joe Arnold (baseball) with Athletic Director Hal Smeltzly (seated).

The 1981 National Championship basketball game was broadcast on ESPN and handling the color commentary was then-rookie broadcaster Dick Vitale (right) with FSC coach Hal Wissel (center) and ESPN's Tim Brando (left).

The 1981 Men's Basketball National Championship team was immortalized in this coloring book that was distributed at various Lakeland-area McDonald's.

This black swan may have been responsible for the FSC baseball team's 28-game win streak in 1981. The team took a bus to the ballpark and would pass nearby Lake Morton. Everytime the bus passed this swan, it would bob his head and the Mocs would win, bob and win, bob and win, 28 times. On the 29th trip, the swan refused to acknowledge the bus despite repeated laps around the lake and the team lost and the streak came to an end.

Among the members of the Moccasins' 1984 men's golf team were future PGA Tour members Rocco Mediate (bottom middle) and Lee Janzen (upper middle). Janzen would win US Opens in 1993 and 1993 while Mediate battled Tiger Woods in overtime at the 2008 Open.

The 1985 baseball team played host to the Miss Teen USA Pageant contestants for an afternoon of baseball fun. Escorts for the contestants during the televised pageant were members of the FSC student body.

The Famous Chicken, pictured here with then-Moccasin head baseball coach Chuck Anderson and major leaguer Joe Niekro, made two appearances at FSC baseball games in the late 1980s.

The 1991 Volleyball team poses with their national fourth place trophy. That season marked the third straight trip to the Elite Eight by the volleyball team.

The FSC Softball Team celebrates winning the 1993 NCAA National Championship, the first won by a women's program at FSC.

Head women's basketball coach Norm Benn cuts down the net as the Lady Mocs earned a trip to the 1995 Elite Eight.

The FSC women's golf team poses after winning the 2000 NCAA National Championship, the first of four NCAA Titles won by the program.

The baseball team won the program's ninth National Championship in 2005. Coach Pete Meyer (#25 top right) is now the Moccasin Director of Athletics.

The 2005 Baseball National Championship Ring. Overall, the Moccasin athletic program has won 26 NCAA National Championships.

Former players surround Softball Coach Chris Bellotto (center in salmon top) at a party celebrating Coach Bellotto's 1000th career win. The sign adorns Barnett Field, home of the Lady Mocs.

Speaking of Barnett Field, this pair of nesting ospreys chose a light tower in left field foul (or is that fowl?) territory to build their nest.

The Moccasin softball team got a thrill of a lifetime on May 8, 2008 as they played against the USA Olympic Softball team at a game played in front of 5,000 fans in Plant City, Florida.