Athletics sponsored by Missouri State Normal School, 3rd District (Southeast Missouri State University) began in November, 1897, as a football team representing the Normal School competed in a game against the Jackson (Missouri) Military Academy. Though no start date exists, a Normal School baseball team competed against a team representing Carbondale (Illinois) College (Southern Illinois University-Carbondale) in 1900. A men’s and a women’s basketball team from the Normal School would also play its first games against Carbondale in 1907. Teams from the Normal School were known as the “Indians.”

Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) was a founding member of the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) in 1912. The conference was comprised of Missouri colleges with similar student populations to SEMO. The MIAA and SEMO ended its affiliation with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and joined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) College Division (renamed Division II) in 1957. SEMO reclassified from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I and joined the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) in 1992.

The 1943 men’s basketball team was the first Southeast Missouri State University team (or individual) to win a national championship. The men’s team would also finish the season as National Runners- Up in 1961, 1986, and 1989. The women’s basketball team was National Runners-Up in 1992. The 1984 men’s cross country team was the first to win a NCAA national team title in 1984. The men’s indoor track team won the national championship in1985 and both men’s and women’s track teams (indoor and outdoor) placed second at the national championship meet on multiple occasions while competing in NCAA Division II. The Gymnastics team is the only intercollegiate team from SEMO to win multiple national championships, winning the United States Gymnastics Federation Women’s Division II Championship in 1987 and 1989.

Southeast Missouri State University changed the athletic team mascot from Indians and Otahkians to “Redhawks,” in January, 2005. Though the mascot change was mandated by the NCAA to recognize Native Americans as a valuable and respected ethnic group in American society, there had been internal discussions about changing mascots since the mid-1990s. This decision furthered the endeavor of the University to become more inclusive of diverse groups.

As of 2014, the Southeast Missouri State University Athletic Department sponsors five men’s and eight women’s sports. Men’s teams are Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Football, Track and Field. Basketball; Cross Country, Gymnastics, Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Track and Field, and Volleyball are the women’s sports that the University sponsors. Cheerleading and the SEMO competitive dance team, the Sundancers, are also a part of the department.

The University operated a training school on campus from 1897 to 1986. The school sponsored high school athletic teams in boys’ basketball, boys’ track and field, and girls’ volleyball; their mascot was the “Preps.”