 The Bulldogs have made appearances in NCAA National Championship Tournaments in men's and women's basketball, men's soccer, volleyball, men's cross country, lacrosse, and baseball.Butler won the James J. McCafferty trophy, awarded annually by the conference for all-sports excellence based on conference championship points, five times, including three-straight from 1996–97 to 1998–99 and back-to-back years in 2001–02 and 2002–03.Butler University was originally founded as North Western Christian University by Ovid Butler in 1855.