During the second half of that hard-fought football game, UC cheerleader Norman "Pat" Lyon, building on the efforts of fullback Leonard K. "Teddy" Baehr, created the chant: "They may be Wildcats, but we have a Baehr-cat on our side."

Cincinnati prevailed, 14–7, and the victory was memorialized in a cartoon published on the front page of the student newspaper, the weekly University News, on November 3.

The cartoon, by John "Paddy" Reece, depicted a bedraggled Kentucky Wildcat being chased by a creature labeled "Cincinnati Bear Cat".

The Cincinnati Enquirer writer Jack Ryder's dispatch on the game was the first time that the major media called UC's teams "Bearcats."

Lucy was a prominent figure at the University of Cincinnati often to be found on Sheakley Lawn before home football games.

[4] The University of Cincinnati sponsors teams in eight men's and 10 women's NCAA-sanctioned sports, all of which compete in the Big 12 Conference.

After a brief resurgence in the mid-1970s, the program fell on hard times in the 1980s, but was revitalized under head coach Bob Huggins following his hiring in 1989.

Under Huggins, the Bearcats compiled a 399–127 record in sixteen seasons, and posted fourteen straight NCAA tournament appearances.

In addition, Huggins was responsible for recruiting several future NBA players including Kenyon Martin, Corie Blount, Ruben Patterson, Nick Van Exel and DerMarr Johnson.

The University of Cincinnati Women's Rugby Football Club was founded in 2012 and competes in Division 2 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

[10] Charles Keating won the 1946 200m butterfly national title for UC as a member of the men's swimming team and most recently, Josh Schneider[11] did the same in the 50-yard (46 m) freestyle in 2010.

Cincinnati's oldest football rivalry, begun in 1888, is with Miami University, located in Oxford, Ohio about 40 miles to the northwest.

After a decade hiatus from 2011-2020, the Men's basketball teams faced each other in Oxford with the Bearcats winning by a narrow 59-58 score.

The men's basketball teams of both schools have also participated in a fierce rivalry historically, with Louisville leading the all time series 53–44.

The rivalry between these two schools dates to their first men's college football game in 1966, and has continued across all sports, with the basketball series gaining attention as well, having started in 1968.

Interest in the series was renewed with both teams reuniting in the American Athletic Conference and Memphis's basketball reemergence.

In 2013 the rivalry series went on a ten year hiatus due to Pittsburgh's exit from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Former Bearcat Terry Nelson began full time duties at the beginning of the 2017-18 season as analyst for basketball replacing Chuck Machock.

During the 2015-16 Basketball season, Machock decided to reduce his travel schedule and not attend every road game as in previous years; due to a leg injury,[15] Since the 2023-24 season former Bearcat Steve Logan handles radio color commentary when Nelson is on TV.