The Fordham Rams are members of NCAA Division I and compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports.

Fordham University sports, though not part of the Ivy League, has nevertheless been credited with inspiring the term by comparison.

In an article that appeared in the New York Tribune on October 14, 1933, Woodward, referencing football, wrote A proportion of our eastern ivy colleges are meeting little fellows another Saturday before plunging into the strife and the turmoil.

[5]William Morris writes that Stanley Woodward actually took the term from fellow New York Tribune sportswriter Caswell Adams.

[6] Morris writes that during the 1930s, the Fordham University football team was running roughshod over all its opponents.

One day in the sports room at the Tribune, the merits of Fordham's football team was being compared to Princeton and Columbia.

As a primary member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, Fordham University sponsors varsity teams in eleven men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports.

There have been 56 major leaguers who have played for Fordham, including All-Star pitcher Pete Harnisch and Baseball Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch.

[8] Steve Bellán, first Latin American to play Major League Baseball, started his career as a player at St. John's College.

Coffey is the only player to play with both Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth in the same season (1918 Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox).

Fordham basketball teams (men and women) have been members of the MAAC (1981–82 through 1989–90), Patriot League (1990–91 through 1994–95), and the Atlantic 10 Conference (1995–96 through present).

On February 28, 1940, Fordham hosted the University of Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden in the first ever televised basketball game.

Fordham University enjoyed its best season in 1970–1971, when the squad went 26–3 under coach Digger Phelps and was ranked number nine in the nation in the AP poll.

With new coaches, winning records, and a rowdy student section, the men's basketball team has made its mark on the A-10 conference.

For the final 6 games of the regular season, it was a sold-out show, with students and Fordham fans filling every seat with energy and pride.

The trophy was dedicated after the attacks of September 11, 2001, forced the postponement of the first annual meeting between New York City's two Division I football programs.

This makes the Rams ineligible to compete for the Patriot League championship, but simultaneously allows them to schedule games with Football Bowl Subdivision teams such as the Army Black Knights and the Navy Midshipmen (which are members of the Patriot League outside football), both immediately scheduled.

[20] In 2013, the Rams had a record year in going 12-2 with wins over FBS Temple and ranked Villanova and Lehigh teams and went to the second round of the FCS playoffs.

Johnny Gibson, a 1928 graduate of Fordham, broke the 440 yd (400 m) Hurdles World Record while at the school and made the 1928 Olympic team in the same event.

[30] In the 2009 Outdoor Season the Rams defended their title, while the Women's squad captured second in the team scoring.

Fordham University alumnus Chris Judge (class of 1980) was inducted into the CWPA Hall of Fame in 2010.

For many years the university maintained the last remaining boathouse on "sculler's row" off the river in Manhattan, along Sherman Creek, until it was destroyed by suspected arson in 1978.

[34] The team was created in the 1967–68 season playing and winning one game versus cross-town rival Manhattan College.

The team has held the longest tenure in the Metropolitan Collegiate Hockey Conference (MCHC) after the MIHL changed its name during the 1974–75 season.

Sponenburg and fellow sophomore Connor Burke were voted to All-Atlantic teams, as was junior forward Zach Brenner.

The men's team won the Metropolitan New York Rugby Union (METNY) D-1 conference championship in 2003, 2004 and 2009 and made it to the first round of the national tournament in 2004.

In the spring of 2009 Fordham Rugby were crowned champions of the annual Cherry Blossoms Tournament held in Washington DC.

[36] The women's team is a three-time champion of the Big Apple Classic, which is hosted on Randalls Island, New York.

During the 2014-2015 College Sailing season, Fordham, a club team, was ranked as high as 6th nationally amongst varsity programs.

During a 1883 baseball game against the United States Military Academy, students began cheering "One-Dam, Two-Dam, Three-Dam, Fordham!".