WHY DOES UHD HAVE AN ALLIGATOR AS A MASCOT INSTEAD OF A COUGAR?
VISITORS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON-DOWNTOWN ARE GREETED BY A SCULPTURE OF AN ALLIGATOR.
Anyone who has driven by the University of Houston-Downtown campus has likely noticed the absence of cougar iconography in the area. Which is odd, considering UH proper has its feline mascot all over the campus. But there is a curious backstory to this that many students don’t know.
It’s because UHD students aren’t cougars. They are gators, and the reason why dates to the mid-’70s.
According to the school’s archives, after the former South Texas Junior College was bought by the University of Houston in the spring 1974, there was a call by grumbling UH faculty to differentiate the new school from the one off Cullen.
The issue was that the junior college’s faculty was moved into faculty positions, and the professors at UH proper weren’t fully behind this. The solution was that the new University of Houston Downtown College would become its own administrative entity and would change its mascot and colors, with the school
soon being represented by a jaunty alligator that walked upright. Before UH came along, the STJC’s mascot was a sea hawk.
The proximity to Buffalo Bayou likely had a hand in the mascot change.
Dr. Michael Dressman, an English professor at the school, said it was faculty members who decided on the gator as the mascot. He said there was even a dance called the “Gator Snap” to go along with it at the time.
The mascot was nicknamed the “Ed-U-Gator,” but these days, he’s also known as “Allen” when he makes his rounds at student functions. There is even a gator statue on campus which, to the untrained eye at night, might just make someone jump from fright.
After the 1974 transition, the school colors were changed from red and white to green and white. In 1979, the school switched from a junior college to a four-year school, becoming a separate institution from UH. In 1983, the name was changed to the University of HoustonDowntown, with “college” being dropped from the moniker.
The colors were changed to a patriotic blue and red in the mid-’90s, and the UHD logo, as most know it today, was designed by Houston native and UH alum Joe Wynne.
UHD continues to be a separate entity from UH, although it is a part of the UH system, which also includes the Clear Lake and Victoria campuses. They are represented by hawks and jaguars, respectively.
Some former UHD students weren’t aware why they were gators and not cougars. While actual cougars (thankfully) aren’t common near the campus, gators actually are.
“I spent many days along White Oak and Buffalo bayous, and on more than one occasion, walking along the bayou in various places, I heard large splashes in the water near me,” Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Kelly Norrid, a UHD alum, said. “I have seen evidence of them, areas of compacted vegetation where they ‘slide’ back into the water.”
Another Houstonian, Olivia Johnson, graduated from UHD in May 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in rhetorical public communication. She spent time at both the downtown campus and the main UH campus during her collegiate career.
Does she consider herself a true Houston Cougar or some sort of half-gator, half-cougar mutation?
“I’d consider myself half and half. I spent an equal amount of time at each school, and I had very different specific experiences that defined me as a student and as a person,” Johnson said.
So, who would win in a true fight? A gator or cougar?
“Chuck Norris,” Johnson joked. “But probably a gator.”