Gettysburg College Athletics

WHY BULLETS? Athletes composing the teams of Gettysburg College were designated "Bullets" in 1924 by Paul L. Roy, city editor of the Gettysburg Times. The nickname originated after a Rotary Club dinner at the Quaker Valley Country Club at which football coach William W. "Bill" Wood spoke. Roy, a guest at the dinner, wrote an article for the Times the following day in which he compared the team to "Bullets," a take-off on the Civil War Battlefield. Thereafter, the Times always referred to Orange and Blue teams as the "Bullets."

Sports and recreation have a rich history at Gettysburg that dates all the way back to the Civil War. Baseball was a common practice among collegians and took hold as the school's first varsity sport in 1865. In the years after, football, basketball, and track and field all found a home on campus, marking the beginning of one the premiere athletic programs in central Pennsylvania. 

Orange and blue mark the school's primary colors, but that wasn't always the case. In the 19th century, the school colors were canary, red, and blue. Those colors were replaced in the 1890s when it turned out the color scheme could not be woven into caps using looms at that time. A supply of orange and blue caps were available and the student body voted to change the colors, thereafter marking Gettysburg teams as the "Orange and Blue."

Success abounded for the program in the early years of the 20th century with numerous conference titles in the Easter Pennsylvania Conference and Middle Atlantic Conference. Gettysburg did not shy away from competition, playing much larger institutions, some of which compete at the Division I level today. The Bullets as the program came to be known by the late 1920s, competed against those larger schools as a member of the Middle Atlantic Conference University Division until 1974. At that time, the NCAA created three divisions of competition and Gettysburg joined local rivals Dickinson College and Franklin & Marshall College in Division III, kicking off renewed rivalries that continue today against those institutions. 

Gettysburg College currently sponsors 24 varsity sports - 12 for men and 12 for women - that compete at the NCAA Division III intercollegiate level. Gettysburg is a founding member of the Centennial Conference, one of the premier conferences for NCAA Division III athletics. The conference is home to some of the nation's finest liberal arts colleges, all of which are committed to excellence in academics and athletics.

The Centennial Conference holds championships in 24 sports for men and women. Gettysburg was the first institution to claim 100 conference titles and it has captured 116 Centennial team championships over the last 37 years. Among the 24 championship-sponsored sports, Gettysburg teams have laid claim to the most titles in men's lacrosse (15), women's lacrosse (12), men's swimming (15), women's swimming (15), volleyball (11), and women's golf (10). 

In addition to the team championships, Gettysburg student-athletes have accrued over 1,000 All-Centennial Conference First Team selections and individual conference championships in the past 30 seasons. A total of 116 Bullets have been named CC Outstanding Performer/Player of the Year in their respective sports, including swimmer Kate Crilly '20 in 2019-20. 

The national scene has been inundated with orange and blue as over 300 Gettysburg student-athletes from 19 varsity sports have amassed more than 500 All-America certificates over the last century. The Bullets have received 40 Academic All-America awards as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), including three-time honoree Molly Gale '05 (softball).

Year-in and year-out, a large grouping of Gettysburg teams compete in the national tournament and make significant contributions. The Bullets have won a total of four team national titles in field hockey (1980) and women's lacrosse (2011, 2017, 2018). Gettysburg has also won five individual national titles in wrestling, women's swimming, men's track and field. 
 
The following is a complete list of Gettysburg's Centennial Conference championships:

Men's Basketball (3): 2001, 2002, 2009

Women's Basketball (5): 2013, 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024

Women's Cross Country (1): 1994

Field Hockey (5): 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001

Football (3): 1983, 1984, 1985

Men's Golf (4): 1994, 1995, 2002, 2019

Women's Golf (11): 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023

Men's Lacrosse (15): 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2016

Women's Lacrosse (13): 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022

Men's Soccer (3): 1993, 1999, 2001

Women's Soccer (5): 1993, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2004

Softball (6): 1994, 1999, 2007, 2018, 2021, 2024

Men's Swimming (15): 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018

Women's Swimming (15): 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2020

Women's Tennis (1): 1996

Women's Indoor Track & Field (2): 1994, 1995

Women's Outdoor Track & Field (4): 1994, 1997, 2003, 2004

Volleyball (11): 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
  The following is a complete list of Gettysburg's Middle Atlantic Conference championships:

Baseball (4): 1958 (Co), 1962, 1986, 1987

Men's Cross Country (4): 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978

Women's Cross Country (1): 1992

Field Hockey (2): 1979, 1980

Football (1): 1964

Men's Golf (4): 1971, 1977, 1981, 1992 (Co)

Men's Lacrosse (6): 1976, 1983, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993

Women's Lacrosse (1): 1981

Men's Swimming (5): 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993

Women's Swimming (14): 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993

Women's Tennis (2): 1981, 1983

Men's Track and Field (3): 1960, 1976, 1977

Wrestling (10): 1938, 1939, 1949, 1950, 1951 (Co), 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1976