Tufts Jumbos


The Tufts Jumbos are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs of Tufts University, in Medford, Massachusetts. The Jumbos compete at the NCAA Division III level as a member of the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Like all Division III schools, Tufts does not offer athletic scholarships. Coed and women's sailing are the only Division I sports at the school.
Tufts won the NACDA Directors' Cup in 2021–22 with the most successful athletic programs in NCAA Division III that year.
The University mascot is named for Jumbo the elephant. P.T. Barnum donated this famous circus animal's stuffed hide to Tufts University, where it was displayed at the P.T. Barnum Hall for many years. The hide was destroyed in a fire in April 1975. The salvaged ashes of Jumbo were placed in a peanut butter jar, which continues to serve as a good luck charm for Tufts athletics teams.

Sports sponsored

Football

The Tufts football program is the oldest in the country. Its first game was played on June 4, 1875 against Harvard which was won by Tufts 1-0. The 1,000th game in team history was played during the 2006 season. Historians point to this Tufts versus Harvard game as the first game of college football using American football rules. The team plays at the Ellis Oval, located on the southwest corner of the campus.

Sailing

The Jumbos particularly stand out in sailing. The team competes in the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association, and has won the Leonard M. Fowle Trophy eight times. The Jumbos also won the 2001 Dinghy National Championship, and won more championships in the 1990s than any other team. Several world and Olympic champions have been a part of the Tufts Sailing Team; among them is Tomas Hornos, who was world champion in 2007, and Kaitlin Storck, who was awarded the ICSA Women's College Sailor of the Year trophy in 2008. Others include Roger Altreuter in 1975, R. Stuart Johnstone in 1980, Paul Dickey in 1981, and Senet Bischoff in 1996, who all won the ICSA College Sailor of the Year trophy.

Other sports

Men's Squash maintains a top 20 Division I national ranking. Tufts University won its first NCAA-sanctioned national team championship when the men's lacrosse team defeated Salisbury in the NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship|2010 Division III men's lacrosse final]. Since then, Tufts has captured NCAA Division III National Championships in women's field hockey, women's softball, men's lacrosse again, and men's soccer. Tufts teams also reached the 2008 championship game in women's field hockey and the 2011 championship game in men's lacrosse.

Facilities

VenueSportOpen.Capac.Ref.
Ellis OvalFootball
Track and field
18944,400
Bello FieldSoccer
Lacrosse
2004n/a
Sol Gittleman ParkBaseball2023n/a
Cousens GymnasiumBasketball19321,600
Ounjian FieldField hockey2016n/a
Spicer FieldSoftball1959n/a
Malden Valley ForumIce hockey2001n/a
Tufts Squash CenterSquash1999n/a

National championships

All the championships won in NCAA D-III.