Commandant Philip W. Corbusier, then head of the military department at old State University, told a group of students in a chapel service following the game that the Kentucky football team had "fought like Wildcats."

Originally, however, UK students had decided on blue and light yellow prior to the Kentucky-Centre College football game on December 19, 1887.

UK was also crowned an NCAA co-champion, after knocking off #1 Oklahoma in the 1951 Sugar Bowl to win the 1950 National Championship in college football.

[3] The basketball program began on campus in 1902, originally as a women's sport;[3] a men's team was added one year later.

[7] Led by UK all-time leading scorer Valerie Still, Patty Jo Hedges, and Lea Wise, the Lady Kats won the SEC Tournament in 1982.

Under later coach Kyra Elzy, the Wildcats upset top-ranked South Carolina in the 2022 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament finals.

[9] The current head coach, Kenny Brooks, was hired away from Virginia Tech shortly after Elzy's firing.

Under coach Guy Morriss the Wildcats posted a 7–5 record in 2002 but were not eligible for postseason play due to NCAA sanctions.

Coach Rich Brooks led the team to an 8–5 regular season record in 2006, including a memorable upset over the defending SEC champion Georgia, snapping a nine-game losing streak to the Bulldogs.

After the loss to South Carolina, Kentucky bounced back on October 13 to defeat #1 LSU in an historic triple overtime game.

The 2007 Kentucky Wildcats football defeated the Florida State Seminoles 35–28 in the 2007 Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 31, 2007.

After a bad start in the Liberty Bowl, Kentucky made a comeback from a 16–3 deficit at halftime to beat East Carolina 25–19.

After a fumble by the East Carolina running back, UK Defensive Tackle Ventrell Jenkins returned the ball over 50 yards for the score that gave Kentucky their first lead of the game.

[12] Phillips took Kentucky to the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama in his first season as a head coach, losing to Big East Conference co-champion Pittsburgh 27–10.

In 2018, Stoops and Kentucky had arguably the best season in program history going 10–3 and beating Penn State 27–24 in the 2019 Citrus Bowl which was led by 2019 7th overall pick Josh Hines-Allen and all-time leading rusher Benny Snell.

The baseball program, partly hampered by being the northernmost school in the heavily warm-weather SEC[citation needed], has historically achieved only modest success at best.

They literally went from worst to first in the SEC, winning a regular-season conference title for the first time in three decades, and being ranked as high as fourth in the country by one major baseball poll during the season[citation needed].

Henderson directed the Wildcats to a school-record 45-win season, with UK completing its best finishes in the SEC and NCAA tournaments in school annals.

During the regular season Reed was 11–2 with a 2.10 earned-run average on the mound and at the plate led the nation in home runs (23)—more than 193 entire Division I teams[citation needed] — slugging percentage (.768) and OPS (1.259).

She has also guided UK to six NCAA Super Regionals since 2011 including an appearance in the 2014 College World Series, the program's first.

Now sitting at 361–232 in her eleven seasons at Kentucky, Lawson is the winningest head coach in school history and already has more wins in SEC play than UK had total as a program when she took over in 2007.

Notable alumni of the golf team include 1967 Masters tournament winner Gay Brewer, current PGA Tour golfers J.

B. Holmes and Steve Flesch, current Champions Tour golfer Russ Cochran, and former Kentucky governor John Y.

[20] The following national team titles were not bestowed by the NCAA: UK has a men's hockey team that competes at club level, which means that it is student-operated without university assistance, and they compete in the American Collegiate Hockey Association's Division II level.

[21] The club was organized by an engineering professor Dr. Roy Elmore and two of his students Larry Sonnifield and Rick Wunderlich.

[23] In 2010 Gary Anderson became an assistant to then Head Coach Tony Vince and began to recruit high school players from Ohio and Indiana.

Following their 2017 conference championship, the Wildcats advanced to the USA Rugby D1-AA National Semifinal, falling to eventual champions Mary Washington.

The SCRC had joined the NCR D1-AA competition, but UK had stayed with USA Rugby, thus they were ineligible for postseason play within the conference.

[25] In the NCR D1-AA Quarterfinal, Kentucky hosted Southern Conference champions North Carolina State and won 32–12.

This includes a charity golf tournament held in the fall in honor of alumnus Rob Shelton and is capped off each spring with an Alumni Game where the old boys play against the present UK squad.