Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman, the University of Kentucky, located in Lexington, Kentucky, is the largest university in Kentucky in terms of enrollment, boasting over 33,000 total students.

Kentucky’s colors were chosen in 1892. While blue and light yellow were initially used in 1891, royal blue and white were officially adopted the following year and have served as Kentucky’s proud school colors ever since. 

The backstory behind the “Wildcats” mascot selection comes from a victory in football over Illinois on Oct. 9, 1909. Then without a mascot, the chief of the military department said that the football team “fought like wildcats.” The slogan was quickly adopted by the university and they’ve been known as the Wildcats ever since.

The university has owned a live wildcat named “Blue” since 1998. However, due to the extremely shy nature of wildcats, Blue never attends any sports games because the animal doesn’t react well to large crowds. Instead, he lives in the state-operated Salato Wildlife Education Center near Frankfort, Kentucky. 

Kentucky is known for having one of the catchier and most original fight songs in the entire country. Known as “On, On, U of K,” the melody of the song was written by music professor Carl Lampert, while the lyrics were written by student Troy Perkins. It was first published in 1925. 

Kentucky is known for its plethora of varsity sports teams, hosting 23 varsity programs in total. There are nine men’s sports, 12 women’s sports and co-ed rifle and cheerleading teams. 

The Wildcats have won 14 national championships in total, the most recent of which came in 2012 from its famous men’s basketball program. With men’s basketball accounting for eight of the 14 national championships, riflery boasts three (2011, 2018, 2021, 2022), women’s volleyball boasts one (2020) and women’s cross country boasts one (1988). The final national championship comes from football, when the Wildcats knocked off No. 1 Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl to be crowned as NCAA co-champions in 1950.

It would be remiss to do a deep dive into Kentucky’s athletics without mentioning their most prolific sport by far: men’s basketball.

Unequivocally regarded as their most famous sport, the University of Kentucky has a serious case to make for the “best men’s basketball program of all time.” With eight national championships, 52 regular season conference championships and an all-time win percentage of .760, there is no doubt that Kentucky is (at least historically) the force to be reckoned with in the SEC when it comes to men’s basketball. 

The Wildcats finished 32nd in the 2024 Learfield Directors’ Cup, awarded to the best overall athletic program in the country. Texas captured this year’s cup, just ahead of runner-up Stanford.