Pepperdine Waves football

The program began in 1946. The school then called itself George Pepperdine College. In their first season the team went 8-1-0, including a 38-13 victory over the Nebraska Wesleyan Plainsmen in the Will Rogers Bowl. The Pepperdine Board of Trustees ended the football program after the 1961 season, judging the cost of fielding a competitive team too high.^[2] Although Pepperdine played basketball in the West Coast Athletic Conference, the football program competed as an independent.^[3] Between 1949–1954 the football program competed in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.^[4]

Pepperdine called multiple stadiums home during the short tenure of its program.^[4] From 1946–1947, 1949, and 1959–1961 the Waves played at Sentinel Field in Inglewood, California.^[5] For 1948 they played at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, a baseball stadium and the home of the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League.^[6] In 1950 Pepperdine moved to Gilmore Stadium for a season, but that facility's imminent demolition required yet another change.^[7] From 1951–1958 Pepperdine played at El Camino Stadium in Torrance, California.^[8]