Historic Sporting Events

A logo for the 100th anniversary of women's sports at Penn shows women athletes from various decades.

Penn Athletics to celebrate 100 years of women’s sports

Starting this month, Penn Athletics will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the official start of women’s athletics at the University. This will include content on their website and social media accounts.

Penn Today Staff ・

LeBron James dribbles the ball up the court while wearing a green Irish jersey with number 23 while in high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary

The Palestra featuring LeBron James

While a senior in high school in 2002, the NBA great played at the Palestra in a showdown pitting Akron, Ohio’s St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish against Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion Knights.

Greg Johnson ・

Two teams face off at the Penn Ice Rink circa 1972.

Penn Ice Rink celebrates 50 years

The Class of 1923 Ice Skating Rink is celebrating a half-century of service to the Penn community. Penn Today reflects on the facility’s origins, and how it has grown and transformed over the years.

Greg Johnson ・



In the News


Philadelphia Inquirer

Peggy Kowalski, who may have spent more hours in the Palestra than anybody ever, retires

For many of the last 38 years, as Penn Athletic’s director of special events, Kowalski  has to be on the short list, maybe even at the top of it, for people who spent the most combined lifetime time at the Palestra and Franklin Field. Her earliest work days were as an undergrad selling tickets and answering to her boss who was also her father, and in honor of the two, the front lobby box office will be named the Donohue-Kowalski Box Office.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Memories of Kobe Bryant: He was a star even among the biggest stars

The Lower Merion High graduate looms large in the Philly community and around the world, as fans share memories from the Palestra to Beijing. 

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Olympic champion Greg Bell returned to Penn Relays with plenty of memories

88-year-old Greg Bell was one of the top athletes of his era. Competing for Indiana, he broke a Penn Relays record and captured four individual titles—three in his specialty, the long jump—from 1956 through 1958. Returning to Franklin Field in 2019, he carried his Olympic gold medal from the 1956 Melbourne Games, which he won seven months after his first Relay record. 

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Usain Bolt remembers his historic 2010 Penn Relays performance: ‘There was a great atmosphere’

No matter where his life and his pursuits take him, the Jamaican icon always will remember his performances at the Penn Relays and what the carnival has done to help young Jamaican athletes get noticed by U.S. colleges.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Forty years after his memorable race, Renaldo Nehemiah to return to Penn Relays

It has been 40 years since Renaldo Nehemiah created one of the most indelible memories in the history of the Penn Relays with his history-making 44.3-second anchor leg for Maryland.

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ESPN

The Ivy's last stand: Penn's 1979 Final Four run marked end of an era

An Ivy League team in the Final Four? Yep. Coach Bob Weinhauer’s basketball team didn’t seem to belong— the Quakers came from a bookworm conference that didn’t, and still technically doesn’t, allow athletic scholarships. Somehow, they found a way to accomplish a ludicrous goal and advance to the Final Four. It’s a feat no Ivy team has accomplished since.

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