George Mason University
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40 free George Mason University trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
George Mason University grew from a small extension program for commuters into the largest public university in its state in barely half a century. Along the way it picked up Nobel laureates, a law school with national pull, campuses on two continents and one of the great underdog stories in college basketball. This quiz covers the whole story: the Founding Father behind the name, the early years, statues and superstitions on the main campus, well-known graduates in television, sport and business, and the professors and donors who shaped the school's reputation. The Patriots get their due as well, from March Madness to national titles in less famous sports. It is written for students, alumni, staff and anyone around Washington, D.C. who wants to test what they know about GMU. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will leave with a few stories to retell at homecoming or the next game.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01George Mason, the Founding Father GMU is named for, refused to sign which document in 1787?
The Constitution
The Constitution had no bill of rights, so Mason became one of just three delegates at the Philadelphia convention who would not sign.
Q 02Which top-seeded team did 11th-seeded George Mason beat in overtime to reach the 2006 Final Four?
UConn
UConn fell 86–84 in the regional final, making the Patriots the first Colonial Athletic Association team ever to reach a Final Four.
Q 03George Mason graduate Rhea Seehorn played attorney Kim Wexler for six seasons in which AMC drama?
Better Call Saul
Better Call Saul came long after her student days at George Mason, where she studied art and was first introduced to theater.
Q 04Students rub which part of the George Mason statue on GMU's main campus for good luck before exams?
His left toe
His left toe gets rubbed so often that the bronze has been reinforced to withstand the constant contact.
Q 05George Mason engineering graduate Anousheh Ansari was the first woman to pay her own way to where?
The space station
The space station seat opened up in 2006 when the man she was backing up failed a medical, and the X Prize for private spaceflight carries her family's name.
Q 06Which late Supreme Court justice has George Mason's law school been named for since a 2016 gift?
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia had died only weeks earlier, and the renaming came with $30 million in gifts to the school.
Q 07Which US national team star's parents, Mark and Kelley, both played college soccer at George Mason?
Christian Pulisic
Christian Pulisic's father Mark played for the Patriots from 1986 to 1989 and was voted into the program's Hall of Fame in 2012.
Q 08Which former vice president was announced in 2025 as a professor at GMU's Schar School of Policy?
Mike Pence
Mike Pence, a former Indiana governor and congressman, was due to start teaching in the spring 2026 semester.
Q 09Which major American college sport has George Mason never played at NCAA varsity level, only as a club?
Football
Football was studied seriously, but cost and compliance worries steered the Board of Visitors away, and a club team has played since 1993.
Q 10In which country did George Mason open a campus in 2014, in the planned city of Songdo?
South Korea
South Korea hosts Mason Korea in Incheon, where classes are taught in English and graduates earn the same diploma as students at home.
Q 11George Mason began in 1949 as a northern branch of which older school, gaining independence in 1972?
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia opened it as an evening extension center for working adults, and one of the first for-credit courses taught lip reading.
Q 12Which city bought 150 acres and donated the land for George Mason's permanent main campus?
Fairfax
Fairfax gave a site just beyond its city limits, and the campus opened in 1964 with four buildings and 356 students.
Q 13Which two colors do George Mason's teams wear, the main colors of the Patriot mascot's colonial outfit?
Green and gold
Q 21Michael Hayden, a retired general who taught at GMU's Schar School, directed the NSA and which other agency?
The CIA
The CIA job followed six years running the NSA, and Hayden later joined George Mason as a visiting professor of policy.
Q 22George Mason won its first NCAA team title in 1985 by beating which women's soccer dynasty 2–0?
North Carolina
North Carolina had beaten the Patriots 4–0 in the 1983 final; this time a record crowd of 4,500 watched the upset on Mason's own field.
Q 23George Mason's furry former mascot took its name from which estate, the Founding Father's Potomac home?
Gunston Hall
Gunston Hall, finished in 1759, is now a museum, and the mascot that borrowed its name was retired in 2008 for a colonial Patriot.
Green and gold fan gear even dressed the campus statue of George Mason during the 2006 Final Four run.
Q 14George Mason professors James Buchanan and Vernon Smith each won a Nobel Prize in which field?
Economics
Economics brought the prize to Buchanan in 1986 for his public choice theory and to Smith in 2002 for testing markets in the laboratory.
Q 15George Mason's school for conflict analysis and resolution was renamed in 2020 for which former president?
Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter shares the honor with his wife Rosalynn; the school began in 1981 as a small center for conflict analysis.
Q 16Which eventual national champion ended George Mason's Cinderella run in the 2006 Final Four?
Florida Gators
The Florida Gators won 73–58 and went on to take back-to-back national titles with the same starting five.
Q 17Which coach led George Mason to the 2006 Final Four, then took Miami there in 2023?
Jim Larrañaga
Jim Larrañaga coached the Patriots from 1997 to 2011 and had 13 straight winning seasons in the job.
Q 18George Mason graduate Hala Gorani joined which news network in 1998 and anchored from London?
CNN
CNN hired her after a spell at Bloomberg Television; as a student she had written for George Mason's campus newspaper.
Q 19George Mason runs a conservation school near Front Royal in partnership with which famous organization?
The Smithsonian
The Smithsonian runs its conservation biology institute on the site, a former Army horse depot, and Mason students moved in during 2012.
Q 20What do George Mason student groups compete to paint on the Quad outside Fenwick Library?
Benches
Benches line the walkways there, and with hundreds of student groups on campus the competition for one is stiff.
Q 24George Mason's first 17 freshmen met in 1957 in what kind of renovated building at Bailey's Crossroads?
An elementary school
An elementary school building housed what was then called University College, two years before the George Mason name was made permanent.
Q 25Why did George Mason reorder the words in its law school's new name soon after announcing it in 2016?
The acronym was crude
The acronym was crude enough to draw instant public attention, so School of Law became Law School and the awkward initials disappeared.
Q 26Which Supreme Court justice's 2019 hiring as a visiting GMU law professor prompted a student petition?
Brett Kavanaugh
Brett Kavanaugh's appointment drew a petition with 10,000 signatures, and the university responded by funding two more Title IX coordinators.
Q 27Anne Holton, a governor's daughter who served as George Mason's interim president, married which senator?
Tim Kaine
Tim Kaine met her at Harvard Law School, and she led the university between presidents from 2019 to 2020.
Q 28Which bank's name has George Mason's 10,000-seat arena, opened as the Patriot Center, carried since 2015?
EagleBank
EagleBank took over the naming rights in July 2015, three decades after the arena opened for Patriots basketball.
Q 29Which conference did George Mason join in 2013, becoming league rivals of VCU and George Washington?
Atlantic 10
The Atlantic 10 move ended more than three decades in the Colonial Athletic Association, which the Patriots had helped to found.
Q 30George Evans, George Mason's three-time conference Player of the Year, was a veteran of which conflict?
The Gulf War
The Gulf War came first for Evans, an Army reservist; only David Robinson has matched his three conference player of the year awards.