St. John's Red Storm

From Hoopedia

St. John's University is a private Roman Catholic university in New York City. The primary campus is located in Jamaica, Queens, a neighborhood in the NYC borough of Queens. It is known for its programs in the liberal arts, business, pharmacy, and law. St. John's has over 140,000 alumni, many of whom reside in the Greater New York Metropolitian Area. As of 2006, the university had a total undergraduate and graduate enrollment of 20,346 students, making St. John's University one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States.

St. John's 17 NCAA Division I teams compete in the Big East Conference, with the exception of the fencing and lacrosse teams, which compete in the ECAC. In the 1920s St. John's teams earned the nickname "Red Men," because of the football team's red uniforms. In the 1990s the nickname was changed to "Red Storm".

St. John's is the 5th most successful program in college basketball history (1673 wins), and has the 7th best winning percentage (.680) in the NCAA. St. John's boasts the 7th most NCAA tournament appearances (27), two Wooden National Player of the Year Award Winners, 11 consensus All-Americans, 6 members of the Hall of Fame and has sent 59 players to the NBA. The Red Storm play most of their home games at Madison Square Garden,"The World's Most Famous Arena", while their early non-conference games are held at Carnesseca Arena (named after beloved long-time coach Lou Carnesseca) on the St. John's campus in Queens.

Traditions

For nearly 100 years, St. John’s University has carried a proud tradition in intercollegiate athletics.

St. John’s started its intercollegiate program in 1907 with its men’s basketball program. In the early days, the “Wonder Five” led that program to prominence.

It was in the 1920s that then-director of athletics and football coach Ray Lynch had his players wear red uniforms in games. The local media picked up on it, and dubbed the St. John’s athletic teams, the Red Men.

James “Buck” Freeman graduated from St. John’s in 1927, and was named men’s basketball coach, guiding that team for nine years and compiling a 177-31 record. During his time, he guided the famed St. John’s “Wonder Five” to an 88-8 record in his first four seasons and brought the University to national prominence.

St. John’s added a women’s program in the 1974–75 academic year, with women’s basketball, fencing, swimming and tennis being offered.

The program continued to develop and change—including a new nickname, the Red Storm, in the early ‘90s—to this day.