Forty-six national championships, 116 Southeastern Conference championships, two Bowl Championship Series football titles and a Heisman Trophy winner just scratch the surface of LSU’s acclaimed    athletic program.Stretching back to the school’s first official sporting event, a baseball game against Tulane in 1893, LSU has become a perennial competitor in 14 sports — seven for women, five for men and co-ed sports swimming and diving and track and field.The NCAA recognizes 42 of LSU’s national championships,  tied for No. 5 all-time. The NCAA does not designate a yearly football national champion, leaving out the Tigers’ three titles in 1958, 2003 and 2007. The NCAA also does not include LSU’s 1935 men’s basketball championship, which was awarded before the NCAA tournament system was introduced.The women’s indoor and outdoor track and field teams lead all LSU sports with 25 national championships.Herb Vincent, senior associate athletic director, attributed the prestige of LSU athletics to the dedication of LSU fans.”The fans that turn out for events, the way they buy merchandise and the way they follow the teams is the engine that makes it all go,” Vincent said. “They create the atmosphere at the games. That’s the separator; it’s what makes LSU different from other schools.”Tiger Stadium, better known as Death Valley, was built in 1924 — 31 years after the football team’s first game, a 34-0 loss against Tulane in New Orleans on Nov. 25, 1893.Lights were added to the stadium in 1931, allowing games to be played at night and boosting attendance, Vincent said.”Over the course of 150 years, you can see certain times, particularly in football, where the sports have grown by leaps and bounds,” Vincent said. “It has all led to this point in time where we have sellout crowds in football and robust crowds in all our sports.”The LSU football program made its biggest splash in the college scene in the 1958 season, winning its first national championship against Clemson in a 7-0 Sugar Bowl. Billy Cannon accounted for the only scoring play, a touchdown pass to Mickey Mangham.Cannon would cement himself in LSU lore as the only Heisman Trophy winner at the University the following season. Cannon is perhaps most famous for his Halloween Night run in 1959, an 89-yard punt return for a touchdown that propelled LSU to a 7-3 victory at home against Ole Miss.LSU became the first team to win multiple BCS national championships when the Tigers beat Ohio State, 38-24, in New Orleans under the direction of coach Les Miles. LSU previously won the BCS national title in the 2003 season with a 21-14 victory against Oklahoma, also in the Superdome.Miles is tied for second among coaches in LSU history with five bowl appearances and four victories, trailing only Charles McClendon in both categories. McClendon coached the Tigers from 1962-79, the longest tenure in team history, and ended his career with seven bowl wins in 13 appearances.Vincent said fan attendance is what ultimately enables LSU sports to generate enough money to keep the programs flourishing.”Only three of the sports generate revenue, with football being by far the biggest one,” Vincent said. “When you have that kind of revenue coming in, you can invest in better facilities, good coaches, good sports staff and trainers and managers. But to get that revenue, you have to have that fan following. It all goes back to the fans coming to the game.”—-Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected].