Cal Lutheran competes in 22 NCAA-sanctioned intercollegiate varsity sports:[1] Men's sports (Kingsmen) include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, football, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball and water polo; while women's teams (Regals) include basketball, cross country, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track and field, volleyball, and water polo.

[4] CLU joined the NCAA in 1991 and began playing at the Division II level as a member of the Western Football Conference.

[7][8] Notable players include Brian Kelley and Sam Cvijanovich, who were drafted for professional football teams after the 1971 NAIA Championship win.

Other notable players include Hank Bauer, who retired from the San Diego Chargers in 1982, and Jerry Palmquist who played for the Denver Broncos.

[9] Other notable football players and coaches of CLU include Tom Herman, Rod Marinelli, Eric Rogers, Cory Undlin, Phil Frye, Pete Alamar, and Dave Aranda.

Schwich selected Shoup to start the team, a recruiter who had garnered fame at University of California, Santa Barbara, in the mid-1950s.

In 1968, punter Gary Loyd was named an NAIA All-America and the college appeared for the first time in the national rankings, coming in 9th.

Robbie Robinson's seventeen field goals in 1969 ("Year of the Warriors") set an NAIA record and the team moved up to 7th place.

From its 8–1 record in 1970, the team moved into its greatest season to date in 1971, and captured the NAIA Division II National Championship, winning against Montana Tech and Westminster College in the playoffs.

Following the championship, numerous players were drafted by professional teams, including Brian Kelley by the New York Giants and Sam Cvijanovich who played in the Canadian Football League.

Another key performer in the championship game was Mike Sheppard, who later became a professional player at various NFL teams and head coach at California State University Long Beach.

[14] In 1995, Cal Lutheran’s football had three players from Sweden: tailback Fredrik Nanhed, wide receiver John Tynell, and defensive back Mattias Wikstrom.

Already in the early 1960s, the team played schools such as UC Santa Barbara, Westmont College and Cal State-Northridge.

[26][27] Notable players include Joyce Parkel, who was the captain of the volleyball team when it became a runner-up in Southern California in the late 1960s.

Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Patty Kempner was the team captain when they qualified for the AIAW Regionals in 1976.

Notable individual contributions to the sport have included Al Kempfert in the 1960s, who held a 1967 record that stood for years before being toppled by Steve Jasper during the 1972–73 season.

Don Bielke, a former professional NBA player from the San Francisco Bay Area and a standout at Valparaiso, joined the staff as an instructor and coach in the 1970s.

Coach Don Garrison had a group of nineteen wrestlers who in 1969 won 12 and lost 3 matches and thereby capturing the NAIA District III championship.

Cal Lutheran defeated Washington & Jefferson College 12–4 and 7–3 in the final two games of a best-of-three series, marking the team's sixth appearance in the championship round.

The team has earned seven Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) titles during his tenure and has never placed lower than fourth in the league standings.

Anderson, the only manager in history to have won World Series championships in both the American and National Leagues, was approached by the team's coach in 1979 and came up with the idea of golf tournaments to raise money for scholarships.

[50] A local baseball team, Conejo Oaks, which competes in the California Collegiate League (CCL), play their home games at the university's Ullman Stadium (George Lee "Sparky" Anderson Field).

In 1981, the team won the NAIA District III championship, and the track runners annually competed in nationwide events.

1984 was one of the college's best years in the national championship: Matt Carney finished sixth in the decathlon and earned an All American honor with 6,269 points.

[55] Under the guidance of three different head coaches from 2000–2010, Kingsmen track and field has sent multiple representatives to compete at the NCAA national championships.

Over that decade, five athletes have earned individual SCIAC titles and sixteen have made All-SCIAC with a top-six finish at conference finals.

During the next season, Coach Bob Shoup sent Greg Osbourne to compete in the national competition in Michigan, where he ultimately finished fourth.

[59] Osbourne captured the NAIA District III individual championship in 1984 and picked up All-America honors, and raised the bar for the program.

Another standout in track and field was Beth Rockliffe who in 1981 won several school records, including in the high jump and javelin.

With over sixty athletes attending, it was the fourth such tryout organized by the sport's governing body and saw the biggest turnout.