Catch the UMass Amherst Spirit!
Athletics
If you like to sit in the stands and cheer, you won’t run out of opportunities here. Our varsity athletes compete in Division I, (football is in Division 1A) the NCAA’s highest level of intercollegiate athletic competition, and in the prestigious Atlantic 10 Conference. The Mullins Center, a state-of-the-art facility with 9,000 seats, is home to men’s hockey, and our men and women’s basketball teams. It provides a true home court advantage, with our athletes emerging victorious in almost 80% of home games played. In a typical year, about 200 varsity events are held on campus—and UMass Amherst students attend all home games free of charge. Proudly wearing UMass Amherst maroon, the campus community joins the Marching Band, the Maroon Platoon, our cheerleaders, and Sam the Minuteman (our mascot) in cheering, singing, and dancing.
If you are interested in competing as a student-athlete, go to the UMass Amherst Athletics website and choose your sport. Each page has a link for prospective student-athletes.
Maroon and White
There’s a good chance that your wardrobe will take on a decidedly maroonish hue in the next four years. The maroon and white of UMass Amherst dates back as far as the 1870s. Before that we were green and white, and even earlier, it was red and blue. By the time the college premiered its first football uniforms, maroon and white had been firmly established.
So when you put on your first maroon UMass Amherst sweatshirt, remember that you’re joining a long and honored tradition.
Sam the Minuteman Mascot
So, who’s that guy with the toothy grin, the dancing eyebrows, and the enormous head jazzing up the crowds at athletic events all over campus? It’s Sam the Minuteman, of course. Sam is UMass Amherst’s #1 fan. He holds the record for most athletic events attended in one year, showing up for all home football, hockey, men’s basketball and women’s basketball games and occasionally checking out our soccer, field hockey, lacrosse, baseball, and softball as well.
In his free time, Sam competes with the cheerleaders at national competitions and in 2005 came in 5th at the Mascot Nationals. He also loves the limelight, putting in appearances at ESPN events, the Basketball Hall of Fame, the Big E, and at local schools and events.
Minuteman Marching Band
If you want to know what UMass Amherst spirit is all about, watch the Minuteman Marching band in action. As the Daily Collegian raved a few years ago, “No one shows that they love our school like the band does.” The Minuteman Marching Band (www.umass.edu/band) has long been a source of pride for UMass Amherst and the surrounding region. At every home football game, the “Power and Class” performs its traditional Postgame Show for thousands of enthusiastic dedicated fans, who don’t leave the stadium until the last note.
In 1998, the Minuteman Marching Band received the Louis C. Sudler Trophy, the highest honor awarded to a collegiate marching band. They’ve performed for three Presidential Inaugural Ceremonies, raised the roof of Boston’s Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops as part of the inauguration of UMass President Jack Wilson, and they’re a regular highlight of UMass Amherst events.
"Fight Mass" Fight Song
Every great university has a great fight song – a song that generations of students immediately connect to college life, a song that gets stuck in your head whether you go to one football game or every sporting event. Our song is “Fight Mass,” and it’s been jazzing-up crowds for more than seventy years. The legendary band director, Captain Edwin Sumner, wrote the march in the Spring of 1930 and the current marching band brings it alive at events all over campus. If you want to get ahead of the game, start learning the words now.
Fight Massachusetts
Fight, fight Massachusetts,
Fight, fight every play,
Fight, fight for a touchdown,
Fight all your might today.
Fight down the field Massachusetts,
The stars and the stripes will gleam,
Fight, Fight for old Bay State,
Fight for the team, team, team.
Cheerleading and Dance Team
UMass Amherst’s cheerleaders are essential to the exhilaration of our athletic events. The co-ed squad and the all-women team help keep the fans pumped and watching them is half the fun. They are true student athletes who attend all football games, home and away, all home basketball games, and many of those at other campuses. They also bring glory to UMass Amherst, competing each year at the Cheerleading National Championships.
If the thrills of the cheerleading squads aren’t enough, UMass Amherst also boasts a dance team that rocks. The Dance Team brings a little funk to campus events, including athletic events, Midnight Madness and the First Week celebrations, and they put UMass Amherst in the national spotlight at national competitions.
