Name-a-Day Calendar, December 27: Clemson Tigers
Page 51 of 365
Chosen in: 1896
Chosen by: A student — last name Thompson, first name unknown
In 1892, Walter Merritt Riggs graduated from what is now Auburn University with a Bachelor of Science in engineering. He’d played in their very first football game on February 20 of that year and he loved the game of football, so when what is now Clemson University hired him as an assistant professor of mechanical and electrical engineering in 1896, he brought the game with him.
This is all a red herring. It’s all true, yes, but people often incorrectly read the above and assume that Riggs also brought Auburn’s “Tigers” nickname to Clemson. While Auburn had used the name since 1892 and the timeline checks out, this is merely a coincidence.
The true story is that a student, known in historical accounts by just his surname “Thompson”, suggested the name to Riggs as a hat tip to Princeton University, an early college football juggernaut that had already claimed 17 national titles and would claim its 18th that very season.
The name was approved, eventually leading to perhaps the scariest tiger mascot in sports.
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