The University of Evansville athletics department was built upon a foundation of success in men's basketball. In the early years of the men's basketball program the Purple Aces appeared in the NAIA national tournament. The Purple Aces appeared 4 times in the NAIA Tournament (1941, 1942, 1951, and 1955). The Purple Aces had a NAIA tournament record of 3–4. The furthest distance Evansville got in the NAIA tournaments was in third round (NAIA Quarterfinals) in 1951, only to lose to Regis University (Colo.) 70–68.[5]
Shortly after the 1955 season the Purple Aces would move up to the NCAA College Division, now called NCAA Division II. The Evansville Purple Aces won five national championships in the NCAA College Division: 1959, 1960, 1964, 1965 (29–0 record) and 1971. This ranks second all-time.
In 1977 UE began playing in NCAA Division I athletics. That same year on December 13, a chartered DC-3 carrying the entire UE basketball team crashed in a field near the Evansville Regional Airport en route to a game against Middle Tennessee State. Every member of the team and coaching staff on the plane was killed. Legendary Aces coach Arad McCutchan, had retired after the previous season and was not on the plane. McCutchan was the first NCAA College Division coach selected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.[6] One player was not able to attend the game and thus was not on the plane; not long after the plane crash, however, the player who was not on the plane was killed in a car accident along with his younger brother.
Tremendous community support brought back the basketball program the next year. Brad Leaf played for the Evansville Purple Aces from 1979 to 1982, and was a co-captain in his last year.[7][8][9] As a sophomore, he set the then-Evansville season free throw percentage record at 81.1%.[10] In 1981–82, he led the school to its first NCAA Division I tournament.[11][12][9] He was the school's first All-American in NCAA Division I.[13][11] Leaf was 5th in school history in field goals (621), 6th in field goal percentage (52.2%), 7th in points (1,605), and 9th in free throws (363).[13]
Evansville was a charter member of the Midwest Collegiate Conference, now known as the Horizon League. The Aces won or shared the MCC regular season title in 1982, 1987, 1989, 1992, and 1993. They also won the conference tournament title in 1982, 1992, and 1993. The Aces are now a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, and won the 1999 regular season title.
The University of Evansville women's basketball team (historically the Lady Aces, though now also known as Purple Aces) have made two trips to the NCAA basketball tournament (1999, 2009).[18]
Football
The University of Evansville first fielded a football team in 1898. Known early on as the 49ers, Evansville played in the NCAA College Division through 1975, after which they played as an NCAA Division III non-scholarship program. They were champions of the Ohio Valley Conference in 1948 (shared with Morehead State) with a 6–3 (3–1 OVC) record and 1949 with an 8–2–1 (3–1–1 OVC) mark.
Following new NCAA regulations requiring university football and basketball teams to compete at the same division, Evansville became a charter member of the Pioneer Football League (PFL), an NCAA Division I non-scholarship league. They remained PFL members until their shut down following the 1997 season. Citing financial difficulties and a belief that the PFL was not sustainable, the Purple Aces closed the doors on their football program after almost a century on the gridiron. Evansville's all-time record stands at 268–381–26.
Talk has existed since about 2007 about upgrading football again to a fully funded NCAA Division I team, but, after a year of investigation, the board of trustees voted against this in October 2012 as being too expensive.[19]
