Intramural Sports
UNC students began participating in organized intramural sports in the 1920s. These casual but competitive activities have been popular with students ever since, though the games have changed over the years. Some sports, like tennis, basketball, and softball, have been popular for decades, but other sports have come and gone depending on the interests of the students. In the 1920s and 1930s indoor track, water polo, boxing, and horseshoes were among the sports offered. Whiffle ball and ultimate Frisbee were popular in the 1970s. More recent intramural sports have included inner tube water basketball, kickball, and street hockey. Dorms and fraternities have traditionally been the most active in fielding teams, though the programs at UNC—Chapel Hill have drawn interest from a wide variety of campus organizations. In 2018 UNC Campus Recreation reported that on average two out of three students participate in intramural sports during their time at Carolina.
Date Established: 1920
Date Range: 1920 – Present
Team from the coed intramural bowling league, 1973. The campus bowling alley was on the ground floor of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. UNC Photo Lab Collection, North Carolina Collection Photo Archives, Wilson Library.