Name-a-Day Calendar, March 12: Jackson State Tigers
Page 126 of 365
Chosen in: Sometime after 1920
Chosen by: Unknown
The early history of many historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) can be incredibly difficult to unearth, and Jackson State University is no different. When I’ve run into this issue in the past, I’ve reached out to the school for more information, and Jackson State University is no different here either. What is different is that the people I reached out to did not respond to my inquiries, leaving me with next to no information on the history of Jackson State’s “Tigers” nickname.
What I do know is that the nickname almost certainly came after 1920. The school began playing football in 1911 and had very few resources in its infancy. In 1920, they were basically just 13 dudes with no true head coach, recruiting a French teacher to serve as a supervisor of sorts but calling all of their plays themselves. They won the Mississippi-Louisiana Conference that year and became immortalized as “The Iron Thirteen”. Accounts of this team universally do not refer to them as the Tigers, making me believe the nickname was not in effect at that time. Otherwise, I legitimately have no idea. Sorry!
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