The Alabama Crimson Tide will take on the Missouri Tigers this Saturday, and on each team’s sidelines, fans can expect to see a mascot representative. Saturday’s matchup will feature Alabama’s elephant and Missouri’s tiger.
It’s not very often that elephants are seen as mascots, but it is quite common for a team to be represented by a tiger. Tigers, while widely used, can be just as unique as the elephant depending on the university’s stories for the mascot.
Elephants
Alabama remains the only major university that has an elephant mascot. While the sports teams are not called “the elephants,” fans can expect to see the beloved Big Al at athletic events.
Elephants at the University have a long history, but the pathway to having an elephant mascot was started by the fans at a football game.
According to Atlantic Journal sports writer Everett Strupper in 1930, at the end of the first quarter of that year’s Alabama vs. Ole Miss game, fans could be heard shouting, “Hold your horses, the elephants are coming!”
According to sophomore marine science and geology student Andrew Leopold, fans think Big Al is a favorite mascot due to his uniqueness.
“At games Big Al feels more like a fellow fan than a strict performer of the University,” Leopold said. “A unique mascot is awesome in and of itself, [and] having a mascot as expressive as Big Al makes him an all time favorite.”
Tigers
Tigers are the second most common mascot in college athletics, after Eagles. Missouri, with Truman the Tiger, is one of three schools in the SEC with a tiger mascot, the other two being LSU and Auburn.
However, several other notable universities have this mascot, such as Clemson and Princeton.
According to the International Mascot Corporation, a tiger mascot represents strength and leadership. Many institutions use the tiger to establish toughness, as tigers are fierce animals.
Some schools even have live tigers on campus, like LSU’s Mike, who used to attend football games.
Mascots are important for schools and school spirit, as they resonate with the school and mean something more than just being a mascot to the university. They are a symbol for different legends and histories at each university. The tiger was chosen for Missouri in honor of the Civil War defenders, the Fighting Tigers of Columbia, who defended Missouri from a guerilla band that threatened to invade Columbia.
When it comes to the wow factors of mascots, Leopold said uniqueness matters.
“I love big cats, but when half the schools in the country share your mascot, it loses the wow factor,” Leopold said. “Our school mascot is unique because it doesn’t lean heavily into an elephant, like the tiger schools tend to do.”
