Athletics

Stanford participates in the NCAA's Division I-A and forms part of the Pacific Ten Conference. It also has membership in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation for indoor track (men and women), water polo (men and women), women's gymnastics, women's lacrosse, men's gymnastics, and men's volleyball. Stanford's traditional sports rival is Cal (UC Berkeley).

Stanford has won the NACDA Director's Cup (formerly known as the Sears Cup) every year for the past eleven years (the award has been offered the past twelve years), honoring the first-ranked collegiate athletic program in the United States. Stanford has earned 91 NCAA National Titles since its establishment (second-most by any university), 74 NCAA National Titles since 1980 (most by any university), and 393 individual NCAA championships (most by any university). Stanford athletes have won 47 Olympic medals since 1990; if Stanford were a country in the 1996 Olympics, it would have placed 7th in medal count. 15 athletes affiliated with Stanford University participated in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, winning a total of 17 medals.

Stanford offers 34 varsity sports (18 female, 15 male, one coed), 19 club sports and 37 intramural sports—about 800 students participate in intercollegiate sports. The University offers about 300 athletic scholarships.

The winner of the annual "Big Game" between the Cal and Stanford football teams gains custody of the Stanford Axe. Stanford's football team played in the first Rose Bowl in 1902. Stanford won back-to-back Rose Bowls in 1971 and 1972. Stanford has played in 12 Rose Bowls, most recently in 2000. Stanford's Jim Plunkett won the Heisman Trophy in 1970.

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Until 1930, Stanford did not have a "mascot" name for its athletic teams. In that year, the athletic department adopted the name "Indians." In 1972, "Indians" was dropped after a complaint of racial insensitivity was lodged by Native American students at Stanford. The Stanford sports teams are now officially referred to as the Stanford Cardinal (the deep red color, not the bird), but the band's mascot, "The Tree", has become associated with the school in general. Part of Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB), the tree symbol derives from the El Palo Alto redwood tree on the Stanford and City of Palo Alto seals. The exact meaning of Stanford's name is not easily understood, some think of it as a punchline to Harvard's name which is the Crimson.

Stanford hosts an annual U.S. Open Series tennis tournament (Bank of the West Classic) at Taube Stadium. Cobb Track, Angell Field, and Avery Stadium Pool are considered world-class athletic facilities.

Club sports, while not officially a part of Stanford athletics, are numerous at Stanford. Sports include archery, badminton, cricket, cycling, equestrian, ice hockey, judo, kayaking, men's lacrosse, polo, racquetball, rugby, squash, skiing, taekwondo, triathlon and Ultimate, and in some cases the teams have historically performed quite well. For instance, the men's Ultimate team won a national championship in 2002, and the women's team won in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, and 2005.