Right after Luther College opened, principal Rex Schneider set up an athletic association to raise money for equipment and facilities. Hockey was the top priority, and a rink was built on the west side of the campus near Dewdney Avenue. By the winter of 1927, the school had its first team competing in Regina’s collegiate hockey league.

Baseball soon followed, with students building two diamonds and forming both senior and junior teams; the senior team joined intercollegiate play in spring 1927. A girls’ softball team began competing at the intercollegiate level in the spring of 1929.

Since the college didn’t yet have a gymnasium, it rented space at the downtown YMCA every Saturday for athletic activities. During one of these visits, students were introduced to basketball, leading to a team entering intercollegiate competition in 1929, followed by a girls’ team in 1931.

Other sports such as rugby, track and field, football, tennis, and boxing were added over time. After a gymnasium was built in 1955, badminton, volleyball, gymnastics, and cheerleading were introduced. In later years, the school expanded its program further to include curling, water polo, soccer, tae kwon do, golf, skiing, and ultimate frisbee.

Although an early baseball team was called “Prof. Schneider’s Battling Lions,” it took many years before the school’s squad name officially became the Luther Lions. Other team names used along the way included the Huskies (for rugby), the Pandas (for girls’ basketball), and the Luther Lassies (for girls’ softball).