Western Illinois Leathernecks Tickets

About The Western Illinois Leathernecks

WIU’s men’s sports teams are called The Fighting Leathernecks and the women’s teams are called The Westerwinds, although the school’s president Al Goldfarb is going over a proposal to call all sports teams Leathernecks as of December 10, 2007. The teams compete in the NCAA’s Division and are members of the Summit League, except football. The football team competes in the Football Championship Subdivision in the Missouri Valley Football Conference. WIU is the only non-military institution in the country that was granted permission from the Department of the Navy to use the US Marine Corps’ official seal and mascot: the Bulldog. Their mascot’s name is Colonel Rock or Rocky, who was named for Ray “Rock” Hanson, who was a former athletic director and an ex-Marine.

The football team plays their home games at Hanson Field. It’s a multipurpose stadium that can seat 17,168 spectators and opened in 1950. It was home to the NFL’s St. Louis Rams’ training camp from 1996 through 2004. It’s named after former WIU football coach Ray Hanson; a statue of former track and field coach Lee Calhoun, who was also a 2-time Olympic gold medalist, can be found outside the stadium. The team has made numerous NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoff appearances. The team has been ranked #2 several times. Their 2 best chances to win an FCS championship were in 1997; they lost to the runner-up McNeese State and defeated the eventual FCS champion Youngstown State in the regular season.