Clemson University, located in South Carolina, is known for its strong athletic program and spirited fan base. One of the most recognizable symbols of the university is its mascot, the Clemson Tiger. But have you ever wondered why Clemson picked a tiger as their mascot? The history of the Clemson Tiger dates back to the early 20th century. In 1902, a Clemson student named Walter Merritt Riggs suggested the idea of adopting a tiger as the university's mascot. His proposal was met with enthusiasm, and the tiger quickly became a beloved symbol of the university. There are a few reasons why Clemson chose a tiger as their mascot.
The Last Word – Tiger Paw Turns 50
When Hootie Ingram succeeded Frank Howard as head coach in 1970, he believed the program needed some changes to its image. Therefore, he set up a meeting with Sports Information Director Bob Bradley and other administrators.
One of the items on the agenda was the logo for athletics, which had been an image of a real Tiger or a block “C” for many years. The discussion went up the food chain and eventually reached the desk of President R.C. Edwards, who fully supported Clemson athletics to the point he actually ran down the Hill with the team prior to a game his last fall as president in 1978.
Edwards was good friends with Clemson graduate Jim Henderson, who had an advertising firm in Greenville, S.C., so he asked him to come up with some proposals.
Henderson delegated the design of a new logo for athletics to John Antonio, who had spent most of his career with the company working with corporations. He was a part of the team that came up with the United Airlines slogan, “Fly the friendly skies.”
Antonio started the project by contacting 32 different schools that had a tiger as their mascot.
“All of them had some drawing or picture of a live tiger,” said Antonio in an interview years ago.
Antonio wanted something that would make Clemson stand out.
One day, Antonio brainstormed an idea to create a logo in the image of a tiger’s foot. He contacted the Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Ill. and asked for a plaster-of-paris cast of the imprint of a tiger’s paw.
In June 1970, Henderson invited Clemson officials, including Howard, who was still the athletic director, to a meeting in which they would unveil this unique logo. Antonio brought some tangible uses of the paw to the meeting. He affixed it to blazers, schedule cards, a mock up of Death Valley with a tiger paw at midfield and made a similar picture of the floor of Littlejohn Coliseum.
There was tension in the room as Howard basically showed no reaction. However, that all changed when Antonio pulled out an orange Clemson helmet from under the table. He had affixed a white tiger paw to it. It was unusual in those times to have any logo on a college helmet.
“That helmet made a big impact on Coach Howard,” recalled Bradley years later. “He was so impressed that he wanted to bring that helmet back to Clemson and show everyone.”
It did not take long for the Tiger Paw to be approved by the Clemson administration, including Edwards.
Clemson unveiled the Tiger Paw on July 21, 1970 with a blitz of press conferences around the state (Florence, Charleston, Columbia and Greenville), plus trips to Charlotte and Atlanta. The caravan included new football Coach Hootie Ingram, new basketball Coach Tates Locke, All-ACC running back Ray Yauger and Wright Bryan, then the vice president for development. The group left Greenville-Spartanburg Airport at 7:15 a.m. and returned to Greenville for the final press conference of the day at 5 p.m.
Soon after its release, the Tiger Paw was everywhere. That included on all highways headed into Clemson.
It did not take long for the Tiger Paw to grow in popularity, especially among other schools with a feline mascot. Clemson did not copyright the logo for many years, because the theory was to get the “Paw” as much exposure as possible. It was not copyrighted until after the 1981 national championship season, when Clemson merchandising exploded.
This year, we celebrate 50 years of the Tiger Paw, as it is one of the most recognizable logos in the nation. It is synonymous with Clemson University and is a tangible source of pride for all Tiger fans.
“Last summer (after winning the 2018 national championship), I traveled to Europe and all over the United States,” said Head Coach Dabo Swinney. “Everywhere I went, I ran into people proudly wearing the Paw!”
A tale of two Tigers: How Clemson and LSU got their mascots
In this newfangled tradition called the College Football Playoff, the two remaining teams have mascots a bit more ancient. And Clemson and LSU, which will face off Monday night in the national championship game in New Orleans, share the same nickname: Both are the Tigers.
Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight
Reigning national champion Clemson took on the mascot in 1896, borrowing it from Princeton, a national power at the time. The Princeton players wore orange and black stripes on their socks to contrast with rivals Harvard, which wore crimson, and Yale, which wore blue.
Apparently seeking to match Princeton’s success, Clemson adopted the moniker, too, at the suggestion of a student whom historians know only as “Thompson,” according to research by the school’s historian, Paul Anderson.
(Some Clemson fans incorrectly suggest that the inspiration came from the Auburn Tigers, but the school’s official account cites Thompson.)
The story of LSU’s adoption of the Tigers is a longer tale. When 11 states seceded from the Union in 1860 and 1861, local governments organized volunteer companies of men to march north and join Gen. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. One such company consisted of a few hundred Irish and German immigrants who worked on the New Orleans docks. They processed and shipped cotton that came down from plantations along the Mississippi River, said Patrick Lewis, the scholar in residence at Filson Historical Society in Louisville.
AdvertisementWhen the shipments dried up with war on the horizon, the men joined the Confederate ranks and journeyed north. They wore Zouave uniforms, in the style of the French army in Africa, to distinguish themselves at camp in Virginia, where they drank, swore and boasted that they fight like tigers in battle. The name stuck, and others from Louisiana were referred to as Tigers as well.
“By the end of the war, everyone wants to claim they were as wild and successful as those guys,” Lewis said.
Share this article ShareMilitary regiments from throughout the country also took on nicknames, some of which gained similar levels of renown.
“There’s a real folklore element to it,” Aaron Astor, an associate professor of history at Maryville College, said of the regimental nicknames. Civil War soldiers “want to preserve their own cultural elements. Part of it is that they’re just bored. They want a level of trust in each other, especially if a battle is going badly. They want something to think about and lean back on. But then people remember them, and they have reunions, and they’re photographed together, and they become part of local legend.”
The South’s economic recovery from the Civil War coincided with the expansion of the American university system and the arrival of football on college campuses. When teams formed, they often looked to their local histories for fearsome nicknames. More than a few chose mascots that commemorated their Civil War past: the Mississippi Rebels, the North Carolina Tar Heels, the Kansas Jayhawks, the Missouri Tigers.
Advertisement- Troops from North Carolina were sometimes known as Tar Heels, a reference some link to the Carolinians digging in their heels during battle as if they were stuck to the ground with tar (or to troops from other states failing to do so).
- Abolitionists in Kansas were known to raid plantations in neighboring Missouri and free enslaved people by spiriting them back across the border. They called themselves Jayhawks or Jayhawkers, although the term also had other uses.
- In Columbia, Mo., a company of Union supporters assigned to guard the local courthouse called themselves Tigers, too. But the guards never saw battle. “The company might with propriety have been called the ‘Snow-White Lambs,’ so harmless were they, and so gentle,” one historian wrote.
- Before Southern Mississippi changed its nickname to the Golden Eagles in 1972, the school was briefly known as the Confederates before becoming the Southerners, and for a time its mascot was General Nat, after Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Charles E. Coates Jr., an LSU administrator at the turn of the 20th century and the school’s first football coach, said by the end of the war that he knew of one company of 200-some Louisianans known as “tigers,” of which only 28 men returned. The “Louisiana Tigers,” according to Coates, “seemed to have the faculty of getting into the hardest part of the fighting and staying there, most of them permanently.” And so LSU’s athletic teams became the Tigers.
“This inescapable nostalgia goes back to the Civil War and is tied to defeat,” Lewis said. “And sports, especially for white Southerners [soon after the war], is a safe place to have state pride and regional pride and to experience victory.”
Many generations later, few fans root on a team named the Tigers with Civil War-era military units in mind. Instead, they might think of a team’s fearsome defense, Lewis said, or admirable character traits associated with the mascot.
“This is about degrees of separation from the war itself,” said Matthew E. Stanley, assistant professor of history at Albany State University.
What to know about the college football national championship game
Top-ranked LSU beat No. 3 Clemson on Monday night in the College Football Playoff national championship game in New Orleans.
How they got here: LSU routed No. 4 Oklahoma, 63-28, in the Peach Bowl to make its first appearance in the title game since 2008. Clemson defeated No. 2 Ohio State, 29-23, in the Fiesta Bowl to reach its fourth national championship game in five years.
Who were the stars? LSU quarterback Joe Burrow is a graduate transfer with two degrees and the Heisman Trophy winner. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence is Clemson’s golden boy who led his Tigers to the national title as a freshman last season.
Where Did The Clemson Tiger Paw Come From?
Clemson University, located in South Carolina, is home to a thriving football tradition that ignites passion among students and fans. The Clemson Tigers football team showcases excellence on the field, backed by a history of remarkable achievements. From thrilling victories to fierce rivalries, their games are integral to the university's culture.
The team's iconic orange and purple colors and their formidable presence in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) embody the spirit of Clemson's sportsmanship and dedication. Adding to this vibrant atmosphere, the Clemson Tiger, their fierce and beloved Clemson mascot, rallies fans and symbolizes the team's strength.
There are a few reasons why Clemson chose a tiger as their mascot. Firstly, tigers are often associated with strength, power, and ferocity. These traits reflected the competitive spirit of Clemson's athletic teams.
Contents
- Clemson Mascot
- Origins of the Clemson Tiger Paw
- The Creative Journey
- What Does The Clemson Tiger Paw Mean?
- FAQs
By adopting a tiger as their mascot, Clemson wanted to convey their dedication to excellence and their desire to dominate their opponents on the field. Additionally, tigers are native to the region in which Clemson is located. South Carolina was once home to the eastern cougar, a subspecies of mountain lion. Although the eastern cougar is now extinct, the tiger serves as a reminder of the rich natural heritage of the area. Furthermore, tigers hold a special place in Clemson's history. The university was initially founded as an agricultural college, and its first football team was formed in 1896. The team was nicknamed the "Clemson College Farmers" at the time. However, in 1904, Clemson played against the Atlanta-based Tigers team and emerged victorious. This victory led to Clemson being referred to as the "Tigers" from then on. Over the years, the Clemson Tiger has become more than just a mascot. It has come to symbolize the university's values, traditions, and pride. The Clemson Tiger can be seen throughout campus, at sporting events, and on clothing and merchandise worn by students and fans. In conclusion, Clemson University picked a tiger as their mascot for several reasons. The tiger represented strength and ferocity, reflecting the competitive spirit of Clemson's athletic teams. It also symbolized the rich natural heritage of the region and has a historical connection to the university's football team. The Clemson Tiger has become an integral part of the university's identity and is a beloved symbol among students, alumni, and fans alike..
Reviews for "The Tiger as a Symbol of Pride and Resilience at Clemson University"
1. John - 2 stars
I was really disappointed with "Why did Clemson pick a tiger as their mascot". The book promised to delve into the historical significance and reasoning behind the selection of a tiger as their mascot, but it fell short. Instead, it provided very basic and surface-level information that I, as a Clemson fan, was already aware of. The book lacked depth and failed to provide any new or interesting insights. Overall, I was left unsatisfied and wanting more.
2. Sarah - 3 stars
I expected "Why did Clemson pick a tiger as their mascot" to be a comprehensive examination of Clemson University's mascot choice, but sadly it didn't meet my expectations. The book briefly mentions a few possible reasons for the selection of a tiger, but the explanations were not well-supported with evidence or historical context. I was hoping for a more detailed exploration of the decision-making process and the cultural significance behind it. While it provided some basic information, it lacked the depth that I was looking for.
3. Michael - 2 stars
As a passionate fan of college sports and mascots, I had high hopes for "Why did Clemson pick a tiger as their mascot". However, the book failed to deliver an in-depth analysis that would satisfy my curiosity. It barely scratched the surface of the topic and left me wanting more. The author could have explored the symbolism and cultural connections associated with tigers, but it felt like a missed opportunity. The book may be suitable for someone with a casual interest in Clemson University, but for me, it fell short of providing a meaningful exploration of the mascot choice.
4. Emily - 2 stars
I found "Why did Clemson pick a tiger as their mascot" to be extremely disappointing. The book was poorly researched and lacked a coherent narrative. It jumped from one random fact to another, providing no real insight into the mascot choice. I expected a more engaging and informative read but instead found myself skimming through vague explanations and repetitive statements. The book failed to answer the question it posed in its title and left me feeling frustrated and unsatisfied. I would not recommend it to anyone looking for an in-depth exploration of Clemson's mascot selection.