Auburn’s offense has averaged four more passing yards per game this season than rushing yards. But don’t let the stats fool you – the Tigers prefer to stick with the ground, at least when it comes to their mascot.
Auburn University has maintained that its mascot is the terrestrial “Tigers,” not the aerial “War Eagles.” Auburn’s football media guide explicitly states the difference between the two.
“Auburn’s nickname is the TIGERS,” the guide states. “Auburn’s battle cry is ‘WAR EAGLE!'”
Auburn officials have compared their War Eagle chant to Alabama’s “Roll Tide” cheer or Arkansas’ “Sooie Pig” chant.
The media guide says this cherished Auburn chant is not to be confused with the University’s lone mascot.
While this chant has grown famous in Jordan-Hare Stadium, the War Eagle phrase is not limited solely to the stadium setting.
Dave Rosenblatt, the archivist of Auburn’s Lovelace Athletic Museum, said the War Eagle has morphed into a cultural phenomenon in the city of Auburn, Ala.
“[War Eagle is] sort of an identification where you don’t have to say, ‘I’m an Auburn Tiger football fan,'” Rosenblatt said. “If you say ‘War Eagle,’ that means sort of like ‘Hello. I’m from Auburn, and you probably are too.'”
This eagle still holds a special place in the stadium. Auburn does have an actual live eagle involved in pregame festivities, which adds to the confusion of Auburn’s official mascot. Shortly before kickoff at home games, the War Eagle can be seen flying above the field at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
While Auburn has been dogged in its pursuit to debunk rumors of multiple mascots, many fans have failed to make this distinction.
Even past Auburn athletes have trouble noticing this difference, including former Auburn quarterback Sam Nader.
Nader, an Auburn student from 1963-1967 and now LSU’s assistant athletic director for football operations, said Auburn has two mascots – War Eagle and the Tigers.
“Officially, they would be listed as the Auburn Tigers, but that War Eagle thing is such a tradition that they have adopted the eagle as an actual physical mascot,” Nader said.
Nader said when he attended Auburn, players and students embraced both animals as representatives of the university.
“We called ourselves the Auburn Tigers, but we certainly had an appreciation for War Eagle being a unique mascot and a unique battle cry for Auburn.”
This unique battle cry originated in the late 1800s after the Civil War, according to Auburn’s media guide.
Legend has it that after the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864, the Union and Confederate armies retreated, leaving behind the remnants of a brutal battle.
A Confederate soldier and former Auburn student, who was thought to be dead, regained his consciousness and spotted a wounded eagle on the battlefield. The soldier decided to take care of the eagle at home in Auburn.
After the war, the soldier became an Auburn faculty member and attended the first Auburn-Georgia football game Feb. 20, 1892, with his aged eagle.
After Auburn scored the game’s first and only touchdown, the eagle left its master and flew above the field. The Auburn fans who had spotted this eagle in the sky shouted “War Eagle.”
At the end of Auburn’s 10-0 victory, the eagle collapsed and died, thus giving birth to one of the many legends about the War Eagle.
Auburn’s media guide cautioned the story may not be entirely factual.
“The facts of this legend cannot be authenticated, but it makes a good story and is the one most used to describe how the War Eagle battle cry became associated with Auburn teams,” the media guide states.
Rosenblatt said this story about the War Eagle has some truths but cannot be confirmed entirely.
“No one can say, ‘I remember exactly when and how this came about. I was there and I saw it,'” Rosenblatt said. “There’s nobody who would swear on a Bible, or almost on anything else, that this story’s true.”
Rosenblatt said War Eagle was most likely developed for Auburn to distinguish itself from countless other schools with the “Tigers” moniker. He said War Eagle is used as a rallying point and a source of unity for the Auburn faithful.
“[War Eagle is] just a friendly thing that indeed is a fight song, no doubt about it, but it goes beyond a fight song,” Rosenblatt said. “It’s a universal greeting of one Auburn person to another no matter where they are.”
Nader believes that cries such as War Eagle have provided much of the thrills surrounding Southeastern Conference football.
“[Auburn has] a good spirit there like LSU does,” Nader said. “SEC football is the same everywhere – it’s good, it’s exciting, and it’s important to people. It’s part of the culture throughout the Southeast.”
—Contact Jonathan Finney at [email protected]