Basketball was played on an outdoor dirt court and homemade bats and balls were used in baseball games as sports emerged at Morehead Normal School, then a private institution, sometime between 1900 and 1920.

MSU became a public institution in 1922 and official intercollegiate competition began two years later with a baseball team led by part-time coach Warren Lappin. However, no records were kept until the 1927 season. That was the same year that football made its debut under George D. Downing, the institution's first coach and athletic director and the namesake of Downing Hall.

Indoor basketball came to MSU in 1929 with the opening of Button Auditorium and Gymnasium.
Button Gym gave away to Wetherby Gymnasium in 1956 and to Ellis T. Johnson Arena in 1981.

The Eagles made their first NCAA tournament appearance in 1956 under Head Coach Bobby Laughlin, who 10 years earlier had coached MSU's laboratory school, the Breckinridge Eaglets, to the Kentucky high school basketball championship.  Laughlin took three MSU squads to the NCAA's "big dance" and Wayne Martin coached two Eagle teams into the tournament, the most recent in 1984.

MSU's early athletic squads played under various nicknames until "Bald Eagles" was chosen in a public contest in 1926. However, it was shortened to "Eagles" for convenience in 1935 and the school colors of blue and gold were officially adopted about the same time.

The University has had four conference affiliations in athletics, starting with the SIAA (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) and the Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Association (KIAC). Under the leadership of athletic director and football and basketball coach Ellis T. Johnson, MSU became a charter member of the Ohio Valley Conference in 1948. Johnson also led MSU into the NCAA in 1953. The Eagles also compete in the Pioneer Football League.

The Eagles have won OVC championships in football, basketball, baseball, golf, cross country, volleyball, indoor tennis and track. Perhaps more importantly, MSU annually finishes among the leaders in the nation and conference in academic excellence. MSU has won the prestigious OVC Academic Achievement Banner six times since its inception in 1986.

MSU has produced seven All-Americans in basketball 10 in football and one in track and field. Former Eagle quarterback Phil Simms, now a CBS pro football commentator, was the OVC's player of the year in 1977.

Less than 10 years later, he became the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXI as he completed 22 of 25 passes in leading the New York Giants to a 39-20 victory over the Denver Broncos.

When Simms completed his first touchdown pass for the Giants in his rookie season, his receiver was former Eagle tight end Gary Shirk, who had a seven-year career in the league.Today, the first round NFL draft pick still holds six passing records for the Giants and the Super Bowl record for highest passing completion percentage. Before retiring in 1993 after 14 seasons in the NFL, Simms financed construction of MSU's weight training facility. Through the 2000 season, a total of seven Eagles had played in the National Football League.

Another former Eagle QB on national television is ESPN college football analyst Mike Gottfried, former head coach at Murray State, Kansas and Pitt. Former Eagle basketball and baseball standout Steve Hamilton is one of only two players to play in a World Series and an NBA championship game. He spent 11 years as a big league pitcher, mainly for the New York Yankees. The stylish lefthander was serving as MSU's athletics director at the time of his death a few years ago. He earlier had a successful tenure as the Eagle baseball coach.

MSU's school fight song is "Fight, Fight, Fight for Morehead" and it was written in 1936 by history professor Earl K. Senff, nephew of the namesake of Senff Natatorium, MSU's first indoor swimming pool and now a historic landmark. The fight song was sung publicly for the first time that same year in a 19-7 football victory over the EKU Colonels.

The Eagle cheerleading squads have won 24 national championships, under the leadership of former coach Myron Doan and current coach Tony Nash.

Football's first facility was Jayne Memorial Stadium, now part of the site of the Laughlin Health Building. That stadium was replaced in 1964 with a new, larger Jayne Stadium. Artificial turf was installed in 1985 and replaced in 2001 with a new product called AstroPlay.

Baseball first was played on land now occupied by Cartmell Hall before John (Sonny) Allen Field opened in 1972 as the OVC's first baseball stadium. Lights were added in 2000 through the generosity of major league pitcher Willie Blair, an Eagle alumnus.

Today, MSU proudly sponsors eight intercollegiate sports for men, eight for women and one coeducational sport, rifle. All teams compete in Division I of the NCAA.  Football plays under the I-AA classification.

Directors of Athletics at Morehead State University

* George D. Downing, 1924-36
* Ellis T. Johnson, 1936-53
* Robert G. Laughlin, 1953-73
* Dr. Gene Scholes, 1973-74
* G. E. (Sonny) Moran, 1974-87
* Steve A. Hamilton, 1987-1997
* D. Michael Mincey, 1997-2002
* Joseph (Chip) Smith, 2002-2004
* Brian A. Hutchinson 2004-