Clemson Tigers
The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for football). Clemson competes for and has won multiple NCAA Division I national championships in football, men's soccer, and men's golf. The Clemson Tigers field twenty-one athletic teams, nine men's and twelve women's, across thirteen sports. Clemson was a founding member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), where it has competed since the 1953–54 season. Previously, they were a founding member of the Southern Conference from 1921 through 1953, and a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association from 1896 through 1921. Traditions Mascot Clemson's teams have been known as the Tigers since 1896, when a member of the first football team named Thompson chose the name based on the then-dominant Princeton Tigers football team. Clemson's costumed mascot, The Tiger, first appeared in 1954, with his companion, "The Cub" debuting in 1993. At football games, The Tiger does pushups equal to the total score Clemson has in the game, a tradition that began in 1980. Tiger Band Tiger Band evolved from regimental bands from Clemson's days as a military school. Tiger Band took its current form in 1955 after the school became coeducational. A smaller pep band performs at basketball games. Fight song Clemson's fight song is a rendition of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band's Tiger Rag. In 1941, cadet band leader Robert Dean Ross bought the sheet music from an Atlanta music shop, and the band played the song after every touchdown beginning with the 1942 football season. Tiger Paw logo The Tiger Paw logo was introduced at a press conference on July 21, 1970. It was created by John Antonio and developed by Helen Weaver of Henderson Advertising in Greenville, South Carolina, from a mold of a Bengal tiger sent to the agency by the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. The telltale hook at the bottom of the paw is due to a scar that the tiger had and the hook at the bottom is also a sign that this is the official licensed trademark for the university. Athletic directors Sports sponsored Clemson sponsors teams in nine men's and twelve women's NCAA sanctioned sports. The first intercollegiate match in Clemson history was a baseball game on April 24, 1896, against Furman. The school's first football team followed that fall. Five women's sports were introduced in 1975 after the passage of Title IX. Women's diving was the most recent sport to be dropped, following the 2017–18 season, while three sports have been added in recent years: softball (2020), women's lacrosse (2023), and gymnastics (2024). Timeline Team national championships marked with red lines. Baseball , the Tiger baseball team has posted a combined 32 ACC regular season and tournament championships (the most in the conference), 43 NCAA Tournament appearances, 17 NCAA Regional Titles, 4 NCAA Super Regional Titles, and 12 College World Series