MetryTyger

JUST in case any of you are still confused or uninformed or even, deluded.....:)

In 1893,
Dr. Charles Coates was recruited by LSU from the Ivy League to be the Director of the Department of Chemistry; as well as the school's first football coach, in the early 1890s.

HEEEEEEEEE chose the name "Tigers" , using the then current custom in the Northeast of naming schools' mascots after ferocious animals (Yale Bulldogs, Brown Bears, Princeton Tigers, etc.).
He even chose the initial Mascot Tiger Head and helped pick the school colors (the first game in 1893 vs Tulane was during Mardi Gras, and the only colors available in stores were purple, green and gold The original colors were blue and white.)

In addition, Coates felt that purple and gold (yellow) - being complementary colors on the Artist's Color Wheel - would lend themselves very well with the image he had in mind...rather than blue and white.

Over 75 years later, La. Author Dan Hardesty, in one of his sports history books, recalled a speech Dr. Coates made at a reunion banquet given in honor of his first 1893 Tiger team, decades later, in the 1930s.

In it, Coates put to rest the erroneous myths of his supposedly naming the team after the Louisiana Tigers - a Confederate regiment who had fought at Manassas three decades before he arrived in Baton Rouge.

"It was a myth," Coates related. "I had never even heard of that war outfit from thirty years in the past. I actually borrowed the team name from my Ivy League experience and tradition. But, rumors being what they were."

In other words, when Coates arrived on campus, he borrowed the moniker 'Tigers' from Princeton of the Ivy League. He had never heard of any war unit from 30 years prior. (They HAD in fact, existed of course, but Coates had no way of knowing about them when he came down to Louisiana in 1893, and so had nothing at all to do with his deciding on the name Tigers from his background in the Northeast.)

Another interesting fact is that the word "Fighting" was not added to the name until the 1950s, in honor of a brigade of World War Ii fighter pilots from Louisiana! - Major General Claire Lee Chennault - who led the Flying Tigers. :)

Actually, in 1893,
Dr. Charles Coates was recruited by LSU from the Ivy League to be the Director of the Department of Chemistry; as well as the school's first football coach, in the early 1890s.

HEEEEEEEEE chose the name "Tigers" , using the then current custom in the Northeast of naming schools' mascots after ferocious animals (Yale Bulldogs, Brown Bears, Princeton Tigers).
He even chose the initial Mascot Tiger Head and helped pick the school colors (the first game in 1883 vs Tulane was during Mardi Gras, and the only colors available in stores were purple, green and gold.)

In addition, Coates felt that purple and gold(yellow) - being complementary colors on the Artist's Color Wheel - would lend themselves very well with the image he had in mind...

Author Dan Hardesty, in a passage of one of his sports history books, related a speech Coates made at a reunion banquet given in honor of his first 1893 team, decades later.
In it, Coates put to rest the erroneous myths of his supposedly naming the team after the Louisiana Tigers - a Condederate regiment who had fought at Manassas three decades earlier.
"It was purely fiction." Coates related. "I had never even heard of that war outfit from thirty years in the past. I actually borrowed the team name from Princeton. But, rumors being what they are..."

In other words, when Coates arrived on campus, he borrowed the moniker 'Tigers' from the Ivy League. He had never heard of any war unit from 30 years prior.

Another interesting fact is that "Fighting" was not added to the name until the 1950s, in honor of a brigade of World War Ii fighter pilots from Louisiana!

I read in one of the 'Fighting Tigers' LSU history books that when Y.A. Tittle was in high school in Texas, he had committed to A&M and even moved into a dorm there. But the then LSU coach and AD knocked on his dorm room in the middle of the night and convinced him to get his stuff and come to Baton Rouge :) This would have been in the 40s.

Would have been nice if we both had made it that far.

'99% of LSU fans on this site.' ???? So, you took a poll and did marketing demographic research on every LSU fan on this site ??? My Gawd man where did you dream that up. Most of the LSU fans I have seen thought Auburn would make the Top 8, which they did. Does it MATTER who is the higher seed? Jeezum crickets. The sweep of LSU clearly helped y'all, though it was not the determining factor. LSU was helped more with their overall record, though they faltered a little towards the end of the season. Good luck to the PlainsDiamondMen....

Football should be there this fall :cheers:

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I remember the PMAC being called the DEAF DOME during the Chris Jackson days

JONBURRIS1981
Man, we somebody to bring back the magic on the Men's basketball program. Like Dinardo did for the football program.

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I was a student in the early-mid 80s and the Deaf Dome was PERPETUALLY standing room only for home games. Those were the times of Leonard Mitchell, Howard Carter, Rudy Macklin, Johnny Jones, Willie Sims and Ethan Martin.

I distinctly remember being the first one in line at 7 am for the March 1981 Ole Miss game for the chance to enter the half-court shot contest (I made the layup and free-throw but missed the 3 pointer).

LSU was ranked #2 and beat Arkansas and Wichita State in the Superdome to advance to its second Final Four in Philly.

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TigerZeke62
Jimmy Taylor, yeah.
This picture remains burned in my old brain:
Fall 1957, Tiger stadium, Georgia Tech vs LSU in a daytime game. LSU on offense going South to North, runs play with Jimmy Taylor carrying wide, breaks into the clear towards the West sideline where I am among the student section in the lower part near the rail. Unobstructed view. Taylor has only one obstacle blocking him from the end zone, a defensive back getting set to make a perfect open field tackle. The GT guy hit Taylor in perfect form, head on, mid thigh, and wound up flat on his back knocked out cold, as Jimmy completed his touchdown run. Quite a sight to witness for a freshman who had entered LSU about 2 months prior.

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Wow. Reminds me of when TWO Auburn Tigers bounced off of Fournette a few years ago in a couple of his long runs against them. :lol:

This should be sent to The Reveille, MA, and the LSU coaches and players...

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Only 3 programs made the top 10 "most wins" in all time intervals
captdalton
No school benefited from Nick Saban more than LSU.

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I beg to differ. saban came to Baton Rouge in 2000. Gerry Dinardo won 27 games at LSU from 1995-97. And even though Dinardo did have two losing seasons in 1998 and 1999, many of his players were drafted into the NFL.

saban inherited some of those Dinardo players.
Also, saban lost less than 3 games at LSU only once - 2003.