Lee Roy Arrives on Campus
Beginning in 1950, Trinity looked for ways to boost fans’ morale and the reputation of the university and began a campaign to collect funds from the faculty and student body for the purchase of a live tiger (Trinitonian, 1950). This campaign never gained traction, however, and two years later Trinity was still without its tiger. In 1952, the Student Council began conversations with Mysore University in South India to acquire a tiger in exchange for a microscope. This project was a rejuvenation of the 1950 effort by the Lancers, which only netted $250 of their $1500 goal. Also involved in the plan was Fred Stark of the San Antonio Zoo, who agreed to “provide permanent quarter and care for Trinity’s tiger when it was not in use as a mascot” (Trinitonian, 1952). The project never came to fruition, however, and while the tiger may not have come from the South Indian University, Trinity finally was in possession of their mascot at the beginning of the 1953 academic year.