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By sticking with its Tiger logo, Trinity University is listening to alumni and honoring its unique history, our guest columnist writes.<\/p>\n
Betsy Gerhardt Pasley <\/p>\n
Credit where it is due, Trinity University listened to its alumni after introducing a new logo that was less than popular, our guest columnist writes.<\/p>\n
Billy Calzada\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
I see Trinity University, my beloved alma mater, has made the front page of the Express-News again (\u201cTrinity backs off new logo after backlash,\u201d Aug. 6).<\/a>\u00a0One writer even included a fleeting reference to the logo controversy in his letter to the editor\u00a0<\/a>that same day.<\/p>\n After more than 30 years in corporate life, I\u2019ve experienced and been involved in multiple logo and branding updates. Few were widely applauded, and many stakeholders took time to adapt. In this case, I\u2019m proud of the alumni passion in their feedback and appreciate that the school listened.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n As someone who has tracked more than 150 years of Trinity sports, I\u2019m comforted the university is keeping the Trinity Tiger logo intact.<\/p>\n This brings me to the all-important subject of team names. My favorites have always been those that are geographically or historically relevant, like Roadrunners (University of Texas at San Antonio), Buckeyes (Ohio State University), or Sooners (University of Oklahoma). Minor league baseball is rife with memorable nicknames, like Amarillo\u2019s Sod Poodles and our own San Antonio Missions.<\/p>\n During the past few years, I\u2019ve stumbled over some fun mascot backstories. For example, I discovered that Libby Johnson, my Trinity coach in the 1970s, played tennis for the\u00a0 Pied Pipers in Hamlin in West Texas. Only later did I learn the name came from the 1284 story of a pied piper who led rats out of the German town of Hamelin.<\/p>\n Also, my research into the rise of women\u2019s intercollegiate sports right after Title IX unearthed awkward naming attempts as schools stood up their new women\u2019s varsity teams. Some early examples were Tigerettes (Trinity), Bearettes (Baylor University), Ladyjacks (Stephen F. Austin State University)\u00a0 and Bruinettes (University of California, Los Angeles).<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Not all of the players approved of these nicknames.<\/p>\n In 1978, Trinity volleyball player Suzy Gray wrote to the student newspaper, \u201cWe are not a drill team or a pep squad. \u2026 We are an athletic team representing Trinity University. The Trinity mascot is the Tiger, not the Tigerette.\u201d She added, \u201cP.S. If you met up with a female tiger while in a deep, dark jungle, would you take the time to call her a tigerette?\u201d<\/p>\n The most cringeworthy attempt was when Southwest Texas State experimented with \u201cBobkittens.\u201d Now called Texas State, the school has joined others in merely adding \u201cLady\u201d in front of the mascot \u2014\u00a0Lady Bobcats.<\/p>\n But one interesting historic fact changed my mind about Trinity\u2019s Tiger, which I always felt was a lazy generic name, like all of the Panthers, Cougars, Pumas and Lions out there.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Instead, events in 1916 in Waxahachie put that nickname into historic context. Trinity was on its second campus 47 years after its founding but didn\u2019t have its own baseball field. Instead, the team competed on the town\u2019s municipal diamond.<\/p>\n When the major league Detroit Tigers held its spring training at the same site, city leaders and Trinity players eagerly engaged with the big leaguers.<\/p>\n The city expressed its appreciation by renaming the facility \u201cTiger Field,\u201d and Trinity players began referring to themselves as the Tigers\u00a0\u2014 thankfully replacing the monikers of the \u201cPresbyterians\u201d or \u201cTrinitonians\u201d previously bestowed on them by local media.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n As a fan of baseball and Trinity, this historic tidbit makes me smile. Maybe there will be a happy ending to this logo thing after all.<\/p>\n Betsy\u00a0Gerhardt Pasley is a retired corporate communicator from San Antonio. She was one of the first female athletes to earn a varsity letter at Trinity University and was the first female sportswriter at the San Antonio Light.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n