Player Tony Price led the Quakers, who stunned the nation with victories over Iona, North Carolina, Syracuse, and St. John's to advance to the Final Four.

The Quakers faced Earvin "Magic" Johnson and Michigan State in the national semifinals in Salt Lake City, Utah, but were met with defeat, 101–67.

The university currently hosts both heavyweight and lightweight men's teams, which compete as part of the Eastern Sprints League.

[5] During course of Ward's coaching career at Penn his "... Red and Blue crews won 65 races, in about 150 starts.

Members of Penn crew team, rowers Sidney Jellinek, Eddie Mitchell, and coxswain, John G. Kennedy won the bronze medal for the United States at 1924 Olympics.

In addition to the varsity squad, the Penn Quakers are a charter member of the Collegiate Sprint Football League, having played the sport since 1934.

Penn's swim team practices and competes at Sheerr Pool in the Pottruck fitness facility.

Princeton, Yale and Columbia joined Penn in founding the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA).

As University Archivist Francis James Dallett pointed out in 1983: "Eighteenth-century American academic institutions simply did not have colors."