RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Manhattan College celebrates 100 years at its current location in Riverdale. It has been a higher education institution since before the Civil War and has had athletics since shortly after being founded.
On the heels of the College's inception, The Jaspers began its baseball program in 1864, men's basketball in 1904, and cross country/track in 1912. Manhattan also sponsored boxing and football as varsity sports prior to World War II. In between the two World Wars, the Jaspers also started men's golf and swimming programs. Later additions to the men's side were soccer in 1967 and men's lacrosse in 1996.
Title IX spurred the College to expand sports opportunities for women. Women's sports at Manhattan started in 1978. The first women's team that played at the varsity level was the 1978 women's basketball team. A team that current director of athletics Marianne Reilly was a member of.
Volleyball became a varsity sport in 1979, and softball followed in 1981. Women's cross country and track and field moved up to the varsity level in 1984. Women's swimming wasn't far behind, starting in 1989. Women's soccer became a varsity sport in the early 1990s (1991), and lacrosse played its first varsity season in 1997.
The Jaspers, pursuing a desire to increase athletic opportunities for both men and women, have continued to add programs in both categories. The Jaspers currently sponsor 19 sports at the Division I level in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Manhattan is one of four founding members of the MAAC that remain in the league.
