The Pepperdine Waves are the athletics teams of Pepperdine University, located outside the city ofMalibu, California. They compete at the Division I level of the NCAA. The school is a member of the West Coast Conference for the majority of its programs. Pepperdine University was recently ranked by the Sears Cup as having the most successful athletic program for non-football Division I schools. Pepperdine University sponsors seventeen NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics teams. There are also several intercollegiate sports clubs such as men's soccer, men's and women's lacrosse, surf team, Ultimate Frisbee and men's rugby. Pepperdine's chief athletic rival is the Loyola Marymount Lions, who are also in the WCC.
Nickname
Since the school's founding, the school's nickname has been the Waves. It was selected by president Batsell Baxter, as the general consensus among faculty and students was that there were too many animal names in college athletics at the time. Though the school was located in South Los Angeles at the time, the name has stuck, becoming more appropriate after the school's move to Malibu.
Sports sponsored
Baseball
Major league pitcher Jon Moscot pitched for the baseball team in 2011 and 12. Other Waves pitchers who went on to success in the majors include Dan Haren, Randy Wolf, and Noah Lowry.
The Pepperdine Waves women's beach volleyball team represents Pepperdine University in women's beach volleyball. Pepperdine launched its beach volleyball program in 2011.
In 1982 Brad Gilbert transferred to Pepperdine University, playing for Allen Fox. He became an All-American and reached the finals of the 1982 NCAA Championship. Gilbert is a 1999 inductee into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame. Andrew Sznajder played college tennis at Pepperdine, where he was a two-time All-American selection. In 1988, he won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association indoor individual championship. He turned pro in his sophomore year.
Water polo
, Olympic water polo player, played water polo for the Waves for four years.
Athletics Performance Center - training facilities
Helen Stone Performance Center - athletics training & offices
Traditions
Mascot
The school's first mascot was Roland the Wave. From 1945 to 1950 the school used a wave costume on the sidelines. In 1951, Joe the Pelican was introduced at a football game. The idea was quickly dropped, however, because of the expense of caring for a live pelican. In 1952, Willy the Wave made his debut. Willy has always had the head and "hair" of a wave, though he has gone through several costumes, including one with white hair representing the foam of a wave, and the early 1990s version which bore a strong resemblance to the Mac Tonight mascot of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese commercials at the time. In 1996, Willy was replaced with King Neptune as part of a re-branding effort. The nickname never took off, however, and was scrapped in 2003. It was not until 2006, however, that Willy made his final return to Pepperdine athletics, this time with a larger wave head and usually wearing boardshorts and an Aloha shirt.
School colors
Since the founding, the school's colors have been blue and orange. They were chosen by President Baxter over the final choice of blue and gold as at the time, no other Pacific school used the colors, which represented the blue of the Pacific Ocean and the oranges grown by the state of California.
