"Home of Champions." Those are the bywords for the Stanford University Athletic Department.

And for good reason. No athletic department in the country can boast of the kind of success that Stanford has accomplished since the 1980's. NCAA team champions. NCAA individual champions. Olympic medalists. Stanford University athletes have been all over the world capturing championships.

The statistics speak for themselves: Stanford University has won 76 NCAA team championships since 1980, the most in the nation; Cardinal athletes have won 53 NCAA championships since 1990 - again the most in the nation. Stanford has brought home 32 NCAA championship trophies the past eight-plus years, including an unprecedented six NCAA team titles in 1996-97. In 1991-92, Stanford athletes took home 29 individual NCAA titles - an NCAA record. Cardinal athletes won 21 individual championships during the 1992-93 season, the second most in history.

Stanford's most recent NCAA team title came in the Fall of 2006 when the women's cross country team was crowned as national champions for the fourth time.

Even more impressive is Stanford's string of 12 consecutive Directors' Cup titles (1995-2006). The award honors the nation's top overall athletic program and with 12 straight victories in the competition, it is no wonder Stanford is considered the dominant athletic program in the nation.

Stanford captured its 12th straight Directors' Cup in 2005-06. The Cardinal won a total of three national team crowns (two NCAA) in synchronized swimming (U.S. Collegiate), women's tennis and women's cross country. Stanford had a total of 20 Top 10 finishes with men's water polo, women's basketball, men's swimming, women's swimming, men's gymnastics, women's indoor track, men's crew, women's sailing, men's tennis and women's water polo joining the national champions in the Top Five. The Cardinal also picked up six individual national titles (two NCAA) and 13 team conference championships.

Stanford has now won at least one NCAA team championship for 31 straight years. Cardinal teams have also won four or more NCAA team titles in a single year nine times, an NCAA best.

All totaled, Stanford has won 105 collegiate team titles (93 NCAA championships) and 395 NCAA individual titles. Cardinal women have won an NCAA-best 36 team championships while men's teams have captured 57 NCAA team titles, third-best in the nation. Overall, Stanford's 93 NCAA team championships rank second in the nation.

In the last 10 years (since 1996-97), Stanford has claimed 33 national team championships and 29 NCAA team titles - the best in the country.

The best athletic year in school history arguably came in 1996-97 when Cardinal teams set an NCAA record by winning six NCAA team championships in a single academic year: men's and women's cross country; men's and women's volleyball; and men's and women's tennis. Nine other teams finished in the Top Four nationally, including second-place finishes in women's swimming, men's swimming, men's water polo and women's synchronized swimming. Stanford also posted third-place finishes in women's basketball, baseball and fencing, as well as fourth place finishes in women's golf and women's water polo. In addition, the Stanford co-ed sailing team added a ICYRA national championship.

The 1996-97 school year also saw the Cardinal football team advance to the Sun Bowl, the women's basketball team return to the Final Four, the baseball team qualify for the College World Series and the men's basketball team advance to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since it won the 1942 NCAA title.

Not only has the Cardinal won an NCAA record six NCAA team championships in a single season (1996-97), but it has also won five NCAA titles in a single year on three occasions: 1991-92, '94-95 and '97-98. Cardinal teams have won four championships in a single academic year on five occasions: 1985-86, '86-87, '92-93, '93-94 and 2001-02.

Stanford has won 186 conference or regional titles since 1991 , again the best in the country. Cardinal teams won a record 18 conference or regional championships in 1998-99 - by far the best performance of any school in the nation.

Another memorable moment came in 1999-2000 when the Cardinal football, men's basketball and baseball teams won at least a share of their respective Pac-10 titles for the first time in school history.

Stanford has simply dominated in several sports. The Cardinal men's tennis team has won 17 NCAA titles while the women's squad has hauled in 16 national titles. Other programs to have brought in at least five national titles include men's water polo (11), women's swimming (9), men's swimming (8), men's golf (7) and women's volleyball (6).

Stanford has also enjoyed unequaled success in Olympic competition. Stanford was represented by 43 affiliates at the most recent Olympic Games that took place in 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Cardinal totaled 17 medals (three gold, seven silver, seven bronze).

At the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, Stanford was represented by a total of 34 athletes and coaches. The Cardinal contingent won a total of 10 medals - four gold, three silver and three bronze.

At the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Stanford placed 49 coaches and athletes on Olympic teams, including three head United States Olympic coaches (Tara VanDerveer, women's basketball; Richard Quick, women's swimming; Skip Kenney, men's swimming). Stanford athletes accounted for 16 gold medals, one silver and one bronze in Atlanta.

At the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Cardinal athletes earned 19 medals - 10 gold, four silver and five bronze. If Stanford were a country, it would've placed 13th in the world with its 19 medals and ninth with 10 golds. Thirty-eight Stanford-affiliated athletes and coaches participated in Barcelona while 41 members of the Cardinal family took part in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.

Olympic gold medalists are numerous on The Farm. Former Cardinal standout Bob Mathias won back-to-back Olympic decathlon gold medals in 1948 and '52, while swimmers Pablo Morales, Jenny Thompson, Summer Sanders, Janet Evans and Misty Hyman have become household names in the swimming world.

Morales, who helped Stanford win three straight NCAA team championships (1985-87), won three medals at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles (one gold, two silver) and two more gold medals at the 1992 Games in Barcelona. Evans won three golds in the 1988 Games in Seoul, and one gold and one silver in Barcelona, while Sanders won four medals in Barcelona; two gold, one silver and one bronze. Thompson is the most decorated athlete in Olympic history with 12 medals (eight gold, three silver, one bronze). Hyman added her name to the list of Stanford swimming greats by winning the 2000 Olympic gold medal in the 200 meter butterfly to pull off one of the biggest upsets of the Sydney Olympiad.

A list of the great student-athletes in the history of Stanford Athletics would be difficult to even come close to compiling but a few of the great names in the amazing history of Stanford Athletics include Tom Watson and Tiger Woods (golf); Tim Mayotte, John McEnroe and Roscoe Tanner (men's tennis); Keri Walsh, Ogonna Nnamani, Kim Oden and Logan Tom (women's volleyball); Kristin Folkl (women's basketball/volleyball); Jack McDowell and Mike Mussina (baseball); Julie Foudy (women's soccer); Hank Luisetti, Brevin Knight and Mark Madsen (men's basketball); Jennifer Azzi, Nicole Powell and Kate Starbird (women's basketball); Tony Azevedo (men's water polo); Jim Plunkett, John Elway and Troy Walters (football); Debi Thomas (figure skating); Eric Heiden (speed skating) and the great Ernie Nevers (football); just to name a few.

It's no wonder Stanford University is often referred to as the "NCAA's Champion of Champions."

Last Updated: November 22, 2006

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