EIGHT UNIQUE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON TRADITIONS

By Jessica Swenson

Every university has traditions that make them unique, and the University of Houston is no different. From rubbing paws to wearing red on Fridays, UH has a long standing history of Cougar pride. Here’s a few traditions that you may know, and a few you might not.

Every Friday is Cougar Red

Friday

Wearing red is always a way Cougars can show their UH spirit, but especially on Fridays.

Everyone in the campus community is encouraged to wear red on Fridays — so much so that we even give away free red t-shirts on the occasion!

Giving back to the community

The University of Houston is known for its long history of giving back through community service. To show off our commitment to volunteering on and off campus, the Student Service Center erected the Eternal Flame of Service monument after it was donated by the UH Alpha Phi Omega chapter in 1970. The monument is located in the middle of campus, and anyone who needs a moment to remember the world has a few good people in it can go see it anytime they’d like.

Graduation merch

We all want to graduate, and we all want to look great doing it, which leads us to two of the University of Houston’s long standing graduation traditions; the graduation ring and the Cougar Spirit Cord.

Getting a class ring has been a tradition for longer than any of us can remember, and it’s a standing symbol of our hard work and academic accomplishments. You can buy the ring ahead of graduation, but you have to receive them at the formal ring ceremony after they’ve been blessed by our live cougar mascot Shasta at the Houston Zoo. Tradition says that only alumni are allowed to have the ring face outward, so if you want to wear it before the big day, remember to wear it facing inward.

For more swag, graduating seniors can wear the Cougar Spirit Cord to symbolize their pride as students. Seniors are eligible to receive a Spirit cord after donating at least fifteen dollars to any UH college, scholarship or program.

Shasta, our Cougar mascot

Universities are famous for having animal mascots, and the University of Houston is no different. Between 1947 and 1989 UH had a total of five live cougars that we’d bring to games to serve as our mascots. While we have retired our live cougars to the Houston Zoo, we still carry on our mascot focused traditions like rallying around Shasta through costumed students.

Rub the lucky golden paws

If you’ve ever spent any time on campus, you’ve probably seen the two bronze cougar statues in front of E. Cullen Building in the Cullen Family Plaza. If you’ve ever looked at them and wondered why their paws are made of gold, you can thank the Cougar sports fans for that one. It’s believed to be good luck to rub the paws, and the more people rub them the better luck the Cougars will have on game days. The paws are especially rubbed up during Homecoming week — and sometimes finals week too.

So next time we need our team to win — which is always — or you have a test to study for, come rub a bit more gold onto our favorite cougars!

Three fingered salute

Ever wonder where we came up with our three finger salute? Turns out, it’s a tradition that spans back to 1953, when our presiding cougar mascot — a live cougar back in the day — lost a toe to a wayward cage door while being transported to a game. Our opposing team, the

University of Texas, thought it would be funny to imitate the injury during the game by putting up the three fingers. Cougar fans were quick to take the gesture and turn it into a symbol of pride and perseverance instead of mockery — no one makes fun of our mascots!

Feel the burn

If you ever feel like getting fit while joining in a weekly tradition, join our Cougar mascots while they do a push up for every point scored during a football game!

Cougars, sing your hearts out

If you really want bonus points for knowing our traditions, sing our traditional Alma Mater and Cougar Fight Songs during every game! The lyrics show up on the big screen before and after every game, but if you really want to show off your pride, memorize them and support our sports teams.