Founded in Spokane, Washington by a Jesuit missionary in 1887, Gonzaga University is named after the Jesuit saint Aloysius Gonzaga. Known as the “Fighting Irish” for a short time in the early 1900s, they soon adopted the bulldog as their official mascot. By the late 1950s, Gonzaga athletic teams were part of the NCAA. Basketball has become their most successful and popular sport, with the Bulldogs having made the NCAA tournament every year since their Cinderella run to the Elite Eight in 1999.

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