San Jose State Spartans The San Jose State Spartans is the name of the athletic teams representing San Jose State University . SJSU sports teams compete in the Western Athletic Conference ( WAC ) at the NCAA Division I level . ( Football Bowl Subdivision formally known as Division 1 - A for football . ) The university has participated in athletics since it first fielded a baseball team in 1890 . San Jose State University sports teams have won NCAA titles in track and field , cross country , golf , and boxing . As of 2010 , SJSU has won 10 NCAA team championships and produced 52 NCAA Division 1 individual champions . SJSU also has achieved an international reputation for its judo program , winning 45 collegiate judo national championships in 51 years ( as of 2012 ) . SJSU alumni have won 19 Olympic medals ( including seven gold medals ) dating back to the first gold medal won by Willie Steel in track and field in the 1948 Olympics . Alumni also have won medals in swimming , judo and boxing . The legendary track team coached by " Bud " Winter earned San Jose the nickname " Speed City , " and produced Olympic medalists and social activists Lee Evans , John Carlos and Tommie Smith . Smith and Carlos are perhaps best remembered for giving the raised fist salute from the medalist ' s podium during the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City . As of 2010 , current head coaches from the women ’ s golf , women ’ s gymnastics , men ' s soccer , and women ' s soccer programs had all received conference “ Coach of the Year ” honors . Current athletics programs . As of 2012 , San Jose State University competes at the Division 1 level in each of the following sports : On April 6 , 2012 , the school announced it will field its first women ' s track and field team starting with the 2013 - 2014 season . Nickname and mascot history . Due to the school ' s original designation as a teachers ' college , SJSU ' s mascot changed many times before the school finally adopted the Spartans as the official mascot and nickname in 1925 . Mascots and nicknames prior to 1925 included the Daniels , the Teachers , the Pedagogues , the Normals , and the Normalites . After 1887 , the official name of the San Jose campus was the State Normal School at San José . The school ' s athletic teams initially played under the " Normal " identity , but they gradually shifted to the State Normal School identity , as evidenced by images of the SNS football and basketball squads from this era . Despite the SNS identity , the school continued to be referred to as the California State Normal School , San José in official publications . A recent historical exhibit in the Martin Luther King Library on the San José State campus featured a number of pieces of State Normal School memorabilia , including a SNS pennant . Football . San Jose State first fielded a football team in 1893 and has won 16 conference championships dating back to 1932 . During the 1930s and 1940s , the Spartan football program was considered a powerhouse , winning eight conference championships over an 18 - year span . The 1932 team finished 7 - 0 - 2 and the 1939 team finished 13 - 0 , marking the only undefeated seasons in school history . San Jose State shares football rivalries with Stanford and Fresno State . The annual game played between Stanford and San Jose State is titled the Bill Walsh Legacy Game , after distinguished SJSU alumnus , the late Mr . Bill Walsh . The Fresno State and San Jose State game is simply known as the Valley Rivalry game . Additional Football Facts Judo . The San Jose State judo program was established in 1937 for the Police Studies Department . In 1940 , sophomore biology major Yosh Uchida was hired as the student - coach . The program was disbanded during World War II , and reestablished in 1946 upon Uchida ' s return to the college . In the late 1940s and early 1950s , Uchida and University of California , Berkeley coach Henry Stone established rules to allow their students to compete with each other , including a weight class system . Uchida and Stone convinced the Amateur Athletic Union to sanction judo as a sport , and San José State hosted the first AAU national championship in 1953 . In 1962 , the Spartans won the first National Collegiate Judo Championship . They would continue to dominate the event to the present day , winning their 45th national championship in 2012 . In 2005 , alumnus and coach Mike Swain announced the establishment of the Swain Scholarship , the first full athletic scholarship in judo at an American university . In 2008 , the SJSU judo program was named one of six National Training Sites by USA Judo . Notable SJSU Judoka