In 2009, Stephen Strasburg was a dominant force on the San Diego State University baseball team, going 13-1 with a 1.32 ERA, throwing a no-hitter, leading his club to the NCAA Regionals and setting himself up to be the No.1 overall pick in that summer’s Draft. That fall, Kawhi Leonard

In 2009, Stephen Strasburg was a dominant force on the San Diego State University baseball team, going 13-1 with a 1.32 ERA, throwing a no-hitter, leading his club to the NCAA Regionals and setting himself up to be the No.1 overall pick in that summer’s Draft.

That fall, Kawhi Leonard began his own athletic career with the Aztecs. As a freshman, he led the basketball team in both points and rebounds per game, and to a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Ten years later, Strasburg and Leonard are both representing the school brilliantly in the professional ranks. With Leonard taking NBA Finals MVP honors for the Toronto Raptors back in June, and Strasburg being named World Series MVP for the Nationals after Wednesday night’s Game 7 victory in Houston, San Diego State is the first university to have multiple athletes named MVP of one of the four major sports’ championships in the same year.

For the first time in history, out of the four major professional leagues, Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Strasburg are the first players from the same university to be named postseason MVP in the same season. #GoAztecs pic.twitter.com/EyOT7blwDi — GoAztecs (@GoAztecs) October 31, 2019

Leonard, who was previously a Finals MVP with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014, helped the Raptors defeat the Golden State Warriors in six games, averaging 28.5 points and 9.8 rebounds. Strasburg, in his first trip to the World Series, started and won Games 2 and 6 on the road, posting a 2.51 ERA in 14 1/3 innings.

Even having two players reach those heights in separate years is nearly unprecedented. According to YES Network researcher James Smyth, prior to Strasburg and Leonard, only one college had produced both an NBA Finals MVP and World Series MVP in their histories.

That was UCLA, which had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar win in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks in 1971 and the Los Angeles Lakers in ‘85, and Bill Walton with the Portland Trail Blazers in ‘77. As for baseball, former Bruin Troy Glaus was the World Series MVP with the Angels in 2002.