No major league professional teams are based in West Virginia, but there are minor league baseball teams in Charleston, Bluefield, and Princeton, and there is minor league hockey in Wheeling. West Virginia University's basketball team won a National Invitation Tournament championship in 1942 and was NCAA Division 1 runner-up in 1959. In football, West Virginia produced a string of national contenders in the late 1980s and early 1990s. West Virginia won the Peach Bowl in 1981 and played for the national championship in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl, which they lost to Notre Dame. Marshall University has also risen to the elite among college football teams, having secured a string of several Mid-American Conference champions and having won five straight bowl game appearances from 1998 to 2002.
Horse-racing tracks operate in Chester and Charles Town. Greyhound races are run in Wheeling and Charleston. Other popular sports are skiing and white-water rafting.
Professional athletes who were born in West Virginia include George Brett, Mary Lou Retton, and Jerry West.