The concept of college athletics has been around for over 150 years or so (Siegel). From the beginning, college athletics was destined to become an integral part of higher education in its own right. Their importance and significance from the beginning until today is undeniable. College athletics plays a valuable role and benefits institutions, including fostering the development of positive character among athletes, building unity from a surplus of people, and supporting college experiences and traditions. These are just a few of their contributions to higher education. While there are various controversies surrounding these points, these are just some of the reasons why athletics will remain ingrained in college life for decades to come. In August 1852, the prestigious Harvard and Yale Universities competed in a boat race in New Hampshire, marking the first beginnings of intercollegiate athletic competition ("College Athletic Programs"). Only 44 years later, "the first women's intercollegiate competitions took place in basketball and took place in 1896 between the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford, and the University of Washington and the Ellensburg Normal School" ( Siegel). Many other sports have followed suit, including baseball, football, rugby, tennis and many more. These sports are just a few of those that still reign supreme in sports programs today. Athletics within universities continued to rise to the top and become more and more popular in education. This exponential increase in admiration for college athletics has led to it being “integrated into the mission of universities” (“College Athletic Programs”). Soon enough, the creation of an organization to help maintain athletics was necessary to...... middle of paper ...... maintain the importance of collegiate athletics. The benefits that collegiate athletics bring to the metaphorical table of a university are numerous. Promoting positive character development, creating and endorsing unity, and supporting academic experiences and traditions only scratch the surface of the profound impact athletics has had and continues to have on higher education. The significant influences that college athletics exert are undeniable, even to opponents of college sports. Critics will always have their views, their facts, their statistics, and reasons why college athletics should be removed from the positive pedestal, if not banned altogether. No system or organization is perfect and will always have a few hiccups along the way. But despite this, college athletics will always remain an integral and valuable part of their role in higher education..