Furman competes in NCAA Division I athletics and is one of the smallest NCAA Division I schools in the nation. Furman fields 18 men’s and women’s teams, as well as 16 club sports and many intramural teams. The team nickname, the Paladins, was first used by a Greenville, South Carolina, sportswriter in the 1930s. For many years the name “Paladins” just referred to Furman’s basketball team. Until 1963 the school’s baseball teams were known as the "Hornets" and the football teams as the "Hurricanes". On September 15 of that year, the student body voted to make "Paladins" the official nickname of all of the university's intercollegiate athletic teams. The university is a member of the Southern Conference.