Williams Ephs


The Williams Ephs are the varsity intercollegiate athletic programs of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
The school sponsors 32 varsity sports, most of which compete in the NCAA Division III as members of the New England Small College Athletic Conference. The school's men's and women's ski teams and men's and women's squash teams compete in Division I. The Ephs' nickname is a shortened form of the name of Ephraim Williams, the college's founder. The Ephs' mascot is a purple cow, and their colors are purple and gold. The school's athletic director is Lisa Melendy.
Williams, along with fellow NESCAC members Amherst and Wesleyan, is part of the Little Three rivalry, one of the oldest continually contested rivalries in college athletics. It dates to 1899, when the three schools formed the Triangular League for athletic competitions. Today, the majority of the three schools' sports contest the Little Three championship, in which the school with the best record in games among the three is awarded the Little Three title for its sport. Williams's rivalry with Amherst is particularly heated, dating back to 1821, when then-Williams president Zephaniah Swift Moore abandoned Williams to found Amherst College. The football game played between the two is known as "The Biggest Little Game in America" and hosted College GameDay in 2007.
Williams has consistently won the NACDA Directors' Cup, an annual award for the most successful athletic program in each NCAA division. Since 1996, the year of the award's inception, Williams has won the Division III Directors' Cup 22 out of 24 years. For sixteen of the past seventeen years, the college has held a dual #1 ranking in both athletics and academics by winning the Directors' Cup and placing first in the U.S. News & World Report liberal arts college rankings. Alumni of the athletic program include two Nobel Prize winners, 33 Olympians, 19 Rhodes Scholars, four Marshall Scholars, and 44 Fulbright Scholars.

History

Varsity intercollegiate sports began at the school on July 1, 1859, when Williams was defeated by Amherst 73-32 in the first-ever college baseball game. On May 3, 2009, Williams's baseball team played Amherst at Wahconah Park in Pittsfield, Massachusetts to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the 1859 game. Williams won the game, 8-5, which was televised live on ESPN 360 and on tape delay on ESPNU.
Williams was one of the 39 institutions that founded the National Collegiate Athletic Association in 1905. Three other NESCAC schools, Amherst, Tufts, and Wesleyan, were also part of the founding group.
Women's varsity athletics began at Williams after the college became coeducational in the 1970–1971 school year. As a result, most of the college's 16 women's sports programs began varsity play during the 1970s, with three exceptions.

Varsity sports

Men's

Baseball

The baseball team is coached by Bill Barrale, who has held the position since the start of the 2007 season. The team plays at Bobby Coombs Field on campus. The program has had four players selected to the Division III All-America Team since 1971. In rivalry play against Amherst, the team holds a 139–217–2 record, as of the end of the 2018 season. In games against Wesleyan, the team holds a 158–134–1 record, as of the end of the 2018 season.
On July 1, 1859, the team played in the first-ever college baseball game, losing to Amherst 73–32 in a game that lasted 25 innings. The two teams played a game on May 3, 2009, to celebrate the first game's 150th anniversary. Williams won the game 8-5.
Six Williams alumni who played baseball for the program went on to play in the major leagues: Artie Clarke, Edward M. Lewis, Jack Mills, Bill Otis, Iron Davis, and Mark Filley. Three others who played for the program but did not graduate from Williams also played in the major leagues: Henry Clarke, Alex Burr, and Charlie Perkins.
The team has won the following honors:
  • Little Three Titles : 1997, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010
  • NESCAC Championships: 2001, 2007
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1999, 2001, 2007

    Basketball

The men's basketball team is coached by Kevin App, who has held the position since the start of the 2014–15 season. The team plays at Chandler Gymnasium on campus. The program holds the record for the longest home win streak in men's Division III history, having won 64 consecutive games at Chandler Gymnasium from January 16, 2001, to January 4, 2005. The team has had 14 players named to the Division III All-America Team since 1971, including three two-time and two three-time selections. The individual honorees include Harry Sheehy III, Garcia Major, Rob Bice, Noah Clarke, Geoff Chapin, Michael Nogelo, Matt Hunt, Ben Coffin, Michael Crotty, Blake Schultz, Troy Whittington, James Wang, Michael Mayer, Duncan Robinson, and James Heskett. The team has also had two players named National Players of the Year, Michael Nogelo in 1998 and Blake Schultz in 2010.
Basketball was first recognized as a varsity sport in the 1900–01 season. Williams was retroactively named as the top team for the 1906–07 and 1909–10 seasons by the Premo-Porretta Power Poll. In rivalry play against Amherst, the team holds a 120–102 record, as of the end of the 2017–18 season. In games against Wesleyan, the team holds a 141–86 record, as of the end of the 2017–18 season. In 2003, the team won the Division III National Championship.
The team reached the quarterfinals of the 1961 College Division Tournament, where it lost to Wittenberg 64-51. As a result of Wittenberg students' unruly celebrations after the game, Williams administrators decided to ban teams from participating in national tournaments. The ban was lifted for the 1993–94 academic year.
For the 2012–13 season, the team ranked 26th in Division III in average game attendance, averaging 825 spectators per home game.
The team has won the following honors:
  • Little Three Titles : 1990, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2009, 2010, 2020, 2023 ; 1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002–2004, 2011, 2022, 2024
  • NESCAC Championships: 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2018
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1994–1998, 2000, 2002–2004, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017–2019, 2022–2024
  • Final Fours: 1997, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2017
  • National Runners-up: 2004, 2010, 2014
  • National Championships: 2003

    Crew

The men's crew team is coached by Marc Mandel, who has held the position since the start of the 2017–18 season. The team rows on Lake Onota in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, approximately 30 minutes from campus. The program began varsity competition in 1869 but withdrew in 1879. It was brought back for a short time in the 1930s until the start of World War II. In 1968, Williams alumnus John A. Shaw revived the team, which has competed continually since then. The program has had one alumnus go on to compete in the Olympics.
The team has won the following honors:
  • Little Three Titles : 1992, 1994–1998, 2000–2006, 2008–2016, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025
  • NESCAC Championships: 2004, 2009–2014, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2023
  • ECAC National Invitational Championships: 2010, 2012–2014
  • Head of the Charles Collegiate Eights Championships: 1997, 2008, 2009, 2011
  • New England Championships: 1994–1996, 2009–2012, 2014, 2022
  • IRA Division 3 National Championship: 2022, 2023

    Cross country

The men's cross country team is coached by Peter Farwell, who has held the position since the start of the 1979 season. The team's home course is located near Mount Greylock High School in Williamstown, approximately five minutes from campus. The team has had numerous runners named to the Division III All-America Team and two individual national champions since beginning varsity competition in 1912.
The team has won the following honors:
  • Little Three Titles : 1988–2016, 2019-2021
  • NESCAC Championships: 1992, 1994–2000, 2006–2009, 2011, 2013–2016, 2019
  • NCAA Tournament Appearances: 1975, 1977, 1993–2004, 2006–2018
  • NCAA Tournament 5th Place: 1996, 2000, 2013
  • NCAA Tournament 4th Place: 1993
  • NCAA Tournament 3rd Place: 1998, 2008, 2019
  • National Runners-up: 2009, 2015
  • National Champions: 1994, 1995

    Football

The football team is coached by Mark Raymond, who has held the position since the start of the 2016 season. The team plays at Weston Field on campus. The team has had 16 players named to the Division III All-America Team since 1974. The program began varsity play in 1881. As a NESCAC football team, the program is not permitted to play non-conference games or to participate in the NCAA Tournament.
The team's annual rivalry game against Amherst is known as the Biggest Little Game In America. It is traditionally the final game of each season. The 2007 game between Williams and Amherst, won by Williams 20–0, hosted College GameDay at Weston Field. As of the end of the 2013 season, Williams leads the all-time series 71–52–5.
The team has won the following honors:
  • Little Three Titles : 1990–1994, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005–2008, 2010, 2021 ; 1995, 1997, 1999, 2017
  • NESCAC Championships : 2001, 2006, 2010, 2021 ; 2002
  • Perfect seasons: 1989, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2006, 2010, 2021

    Golf

The men's golf team is currently coached by Josh Hillman, who has held the position since the start of the start of the 2013 spring season. The team plays at the Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown, located next to campus. The program has had eight players, including one two-time selection, named to the Division III All-America Team since varsity competition began in 1903.
The team has won the following honors:
  • Little Three Titles : 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998–2011, 2013–2016
  • NESCAC Championships: 1984, 1986, 1994, 1996, 2000–2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2013–2016
  • NCAA Tournament appearances: 1996–2003, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2017
  • NCAA Tournament individual champion: Sam Goldenring