Drake Bulldogs

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Griffith was later instrumental in another major component of Drake athletics when he organized the first Drake Relays in 1910. The Relays moved to Drake Stadium when it opened in 1925.

Drake played the first-ever night game at Soldier Field in 1930, falling to Oregon 14-7.

Drake won the national championships for cross country in 1944, 1945, and 1946, with Fred Feiler winning the individual titles in 1944 and 1945. Feiler became the second Bulldog to win an individual national championship, joining 1935 high jump champion Linn Philson; Drake would later see Jim Ford (1952, 200 meters) and Rick Wanamaker (decathlon, 1970) win individual track titles.

On October 20, 1951, Drake's African American football star Johnny Bright was assaulted in a game at Oklahoma A&M (now known as Oklahoma State). As a result of the incident and the failure of the Missouri Valley Conference to take action against Oklahoma A&M or the offending player, Drake and fellow conference member Bradley Braves both withdrew from the conference. Bright would finish 5th in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy. Drake rejoined the Missouri Valley Conference for non-football sports in 1956.

In 1969, the men’s basketball team advanced to the national semifinals, losing narrowly to UCLA. Legend Dolph Pulliam becomes the first athlete to be selected in both the NBA and NFL drafts. Pulliam was drafted by the Boston Celtics and Dallas Cowboys in 1969.

Football returned to the MVC in 1971, 20 years after the Bright incident. Baseball was dropped in 1974. Following changes in NCAA regulation in 1985, football was briefly dropped before returning as a non-scholarship Division III sport; it later returned to Division I but remains non-scholarship.

Alumnus Zach Johnson has won two major championships, the 2007 Masters and the 2015 Open Championship.

• Johnny Bright – football player
• Billy Cundiff – football player
• Adam Emmenecker – basketball player
• Eric Saubert - football player
• York Hentschel – football player
• Zach Johnson – professional golfer
• Karl Kassulke – football player
• Lewis Lloyd – basketball player
• Al McCoy – sports broadcaster
• McCoy McLemore – basketball player
• Bob Netolicky – basketball player
• Dolph Pulliam – basketball player
• Lee Stange – baseball player
• Bill Stevenson – football player
• Danielle Tyler - softball player
• Willie Wise – basketball player
• Felix Wright – football player
• Wanda Ford – basketball player
• Lorri Bauman – basketball player
• Willie McCarter - basketball player