Name-a-Day Calendar, August 22: Temple Owls
Page 289 of 365
Chosen in: The mid- to late 1880s
Chosen by: University founder Russell Conwell
Baptist minister Russell Conwell of Massachusetts came to Philadelphia in 1882 to lead what is now known as the Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia but was then known as the Baptist Temple. He also began tutoring adults in the basement of the Temple during his spare time on weeknights. Two years later, Conwell and a slapdash Board of Trustees founded The Temple College, but it didn’t receive a charter from the City of Philadelphia until 1888, and even then it wasn’t given the power to grant degrees.
Despite this, the school grew a fair amount in its early days, and intercollegiate athletics—both football and men’s basketball—began in 1894. By then, Temple already had a well established symbol: the owl. Shortly after the school’s founding, Conwell selected the owl himself as a nod to his own (and thus the college’s) beginnings as a night tutor. According to Temple, Conwell was known to say that “the owl of the night makes the eagle of the day”. The school’s own account also lists itself as the first college in the United States to adopt the owl as its mascot.
Temple continued to expand and was allowed to incorporate as Temple University in 1907. It’s only gone up from there. Today, they’re represented by a live great horned owl named Stella and a costumed owl named Hooter.
Previous page: TCU Horned Frogs
Next page: Tennessee Volunteers
Find every page at the Name-a-Day Calendar hub!