From Huskies To Husbands

I graduated with my M.Ed. in Exercise Physiology from Auburn University a few years back.  OK, more than a few years back - 1997 to be precise.  While I was only there for one year completing my degree it made a life long impression on me.  Auburn University has a deep history of traditions.  I loved being there and learning about these traditions and participating in them whenever possible.

A few Auburn facts and figures.

• Auburn was chartered on February 1, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College.  Due to the Civil War Auburn was forced to close in 1862 and it reopened in 1866 following the end of the Civil War and has been open ever since.  In 1872 it became the state’s first public land-grant university under the Morrill Act and was renamed the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama.  In 1892 Auburn became the first four-year coeducational school in the state of Alabama.  In 1899 the college was renamed the Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API).  In 1960 the name was officially changed to Auburn University.  In 1967 the Auburn University Montgomery satellite campus was established.  Auburn is one of the few American universities designated as a land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research center.
• Athletic teams are known as the Auburn Tigers.
• Aubie is the athletic mascot. Aubie has been selected as the #1 collegiate mascot in the entire nation in 1991, 1995, 1996, 1999, and 2003 by the Universal Cheerleaders Association.  Aubie was among the first three college mascots inducted to the Mascot Hall of Fame, inducted on August 15, 2006.

• War Eagle! is Auburn’s battle cry.
• Tiger is Auburn’s flying golden eagle mascot.  About 10 minutes before each home football game she circles the stadium and lands in the center of the field.

• The official Auburn fight song is titled “War Eagle”.
• Auburn’s own Jimmy “Red” Phillips made an impressive 11 All-America teams.
• John Heisman coached at Auburn from 1895 - 1899.  Auburn is the only school where John Heisman coached to have a Heisman Trophy winner.  Pat Sullivan and Bo Jackson are the two Auburn Heisman Trophy winners.
• Tiger Walk is held two hours before the start of each home game.  It is where Auburn players walk from Sewell Hall to the football stadium and thousands of fans line Donahue Drive to wish them well.
• Auburn’s football stadium Jordan-Hare Stadium holds 87,451 people.
• Toomer’s Corner is the heart of Auburn.  It is the center of town, where the Auburn University campus meets the City of Auburn.  After any football win, and significant victories in other sports, Auburn students and citizens alike join forces to “roll” the trees (and anything else that doesn’t move) at Toomer’s Corner with toilet tissue.

• The chimes in the Samford Hall bell tower play the “War Eagle” fight song each day at twelve noon.

• When Auburn first opened its doors classes were held in “Old Main”, the original Samford Hall, until the college was closed due to the Civil War, when most of the students and faculty left to enlist. The campus was used as a training ground for the Confederate Army, and “Old Main” served as a hospital for Confederate wounded.  This building burned down in 1887 and was rebuilt in 1888.

I think that my feelings about Auburn can best be summed up with this quote, “Unless you have experienced it, you will never know what it is; you will never understand it. Once you have experienced it, you will never be the same. A part of you will, forevermore, be an Auburn man or an Auburn woman.”

I hope that you enjoyed my little walk down memory lane…