From the late 1890s to the early 1950s a few students attached to the cheerleading squad would attend football games dressed in the traditional garb of 18th and 19th century Quakers.

But in 1968, athletics department staffer John Lambeth called for a redesign and a "mean-looking" Quaker caricature was chosen among several hand drawn entries.

The new logo became controversial when some coaches modified “mean Quaker” to hold items such as a tennis racket or lacrosse stick, or when he was redrawn as crouched in a football lineman stance.

Owing to the lack of overall brand cohesiveness the primary logo for all sports teams eventually reverted to the school's crimson and gray initial “G.” However, use of the caricature “mean Quaker” logo continued on as a secondary brand-mark, and is still employed as a design element on various team uniforms and gear, college-branded apparel and accessories, and on official letterhead of the athletics booster organization, the Quaker Club.

Under the direction of third-year head coach Jack Jensen, the unseeded Quakers (29-5) completed an improbable run through the NAIA Tournament field with a 99–96 win over eighth-seeded Maryland-Eastern Shore in Kansas City, Mo.

Seven have been inducted into the Guilford College Athletics Hall of Fame, including Free, the 1973 Chuck Taylor NAIA Tournament MVP.

While Guilford lost the NAIA team title to Westmont College (Calif.), 28–25, freshman Tarja Koho finished the season with a perfect 31–0 record in singles competition.

Guilford placed three students among the top-five finishers and won the 22-team tournament by 25 strokes, the seventh-largest margin in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III history.