Trinity Before the Tigers
Trinity has not always been known as the Tigers; when the university was located at the Waxahachie campus the mascot was a bulldog. Though there is not much information on the mascot at this time, in his book R. Douglas Brackenridge explains how Trinity’s athletic teams were referred to as the “Presbyterians” or the “Trinitonians” by local press, and a student’s bulldog served as the mascot, attending the games dressed in maroon and white (Brackenridge, 2004). They would only become the Tigers after a professional baseball team visited the university.
In 1916, the Detroit Tigers had their spring training in Waxahachie. The ensuing relationship between the university and the MLB team led to Trinity students referring to themselves as “Tigers” in the team’s honor. The name stuck, and Trinity’s original mascot was replaced by the jungle cat. In September 1916, the first official mention of the Trinity Tigers was made in the Waxahachie Daily Light (Trinity University, 2019). The university remained at the Waxahachie campus until 1942, when Trinity accepted an invitation from the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and moved to the Woodlawn campus.