NYU's athletic tradition dates to inaugural one-game "seasons" played by both the football and baseball teams in 1873. A general lack of interest and financial support for University athletics from students, faculty, alumni, and the administration during the 1870s, however, thwarted any significant growth in NYU's athletic programs in these early years. During the late 1870s and early 1880s, NYU added lacrosse and tennis to its athletics repertoire, but the University's "slumbering Athletic Association" prevented NYU's athletic programs from competing with those of comparable institutions. Before the 1890s, NYU participated in intercollegiate competition infrequently, and its athletic program reflected more a group of informal club-teams, rather than officially organized athletic teams. NYU's Washington Square Campus also lacked a proper gymnasium, further debilitating efforts to support a legitimate collegiate athletics program.

In January 1889, the Athletic Association renewed its interest in NYU Baseball, and established committees to secure practice grounds and recruit experienced players in order to support a new baseball team. NYU then reorganized its Athletic Association in the beginning of 1891, and the Association subsequently adopted a new constitution on February 2. Under the Association's new incarnation, four elected officers (President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer) served with a member from each NYU class, as well as with representatives from the Medical, Law, and Theological Departments, comprising the Association's Executive Committee. On February 28, NYU sent delegates to the annual meeting of the Intercollegiate Association at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, where a unanimous vote granted the University membership in the Association. NYU's admission to the Intercollegiate Association enabled the University to compete with other colleges and universities in the annual spring games held by the New York Athletic Club at Mott Haven.

NYU then opened its University Heights campus in 1894, where the newly prepared Ohio Field provided the opportunity to launch a full-fledged varsity athletic program. During the 1895-96 academic year, Commodore David Banks, president of the Athletic Association, enlisted Frank H. Cann to become the first director of the Gymnasium at the University Heights Campus. Under Cann's administration, NYU made physical education compulsory for freshman and sophomores and formally organized intercollegiate athletic teams. In March of 1897, the Athletic Association held the first dual gymnastic contest for prizes, and NYU defeated Lehigh University. Two years later, in 1899, NYU held the first intercollegiate gymnastic meet under the University's auspices, and nineteen colleges participated. NYU also used its new athletic home at Ohio Field to hold athletic events in its Founder's Day and Preparatory School Day and Interscholastic Games exercises, including the 100 yard dash, the mile and half-mile runs, shot put, pole vaulting, and hurdling. In 1906, NYU initiated its Basketball program, which quickly posted winning records.

Under David Banks and John P. Munn, the eventual President of the Athletic Association, Cann developed an enthusiastic athletic life at NYU and remained solely in charge of University athletics until the introduction of the Reserve Officers Training Corps after World War One interfered with the requirement of gymnastic training.

Sources:

The University Quarterly, Vol. 1 No. 1 (1878), 33.