Auburn Tigers

File:Auburn university logo.gif

The Auburn Tigers is the name given to several sports teams of Auburn University. The university is a member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 18 varsity teams in 13 sports. Men's varsity sports at Auburn include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, swimming and diving, tennis, and track and field. Women's varsity sports include basketball, cross country, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.

Football

As of 2005, Auburn has won six Southeastern Conference football championships, winning the western division six times since the conference was split in 1992. They were crowned national champions by the Associated Press in 1957. The 2004 Auburn Tigers also went undefeated, but were left out of the championship game under the Bowl Championship Series formula.

Auburn was one of the first colleges to field a football team. Their 1892 game against Georgia Tech in Atlanta was the first intercollegiate football game in the South. In 1895, Legendary coach John Heisman arrived for a successful four-year span. The Tigers' first bowl appearance was in 1937 in the sixth Bacardi Bowl played in Havana, Cuba. Two Auburn players, Bo Jackson in 1985 and Pat Sullivan in 1971, have won the Heisman Trophy.

Auburn's long-running series against archrival Alabama is known as the "Iron Bowl". Alabama leads the series over Auburn 38-32-1, but Auburn has won the last five meetings.

The current head football coach is Tommy Tuberville, who started in 1999. Auburn plays its home games on campus in Jordan-Hare Stadium, which has a capacity of 87,451.

Swimming and diving

Auburn's swimming teams have won numerous national titles in the last decade under coach David Marsh. The men's team was national champions in 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. The women's team won championships in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006.

Many Auburn swimmers have competed for their respective home countries in the Olympic Games. Notable medalists include Rowdy Gaines (1984) and Kirsty Coventry (2004).

Men's basketball

The Auburn men's basketball team has enjoyed off-and-on success over the years. The best known players that came through the program are Charles Barkley, Chuck Person, Wesley Person, Chris Porter, Marquis Daniels, Moochie Norris, and Pat Burke.

Women's basketball

Though the Auburn women's basketball competes in a premiere league featuring powerhouse Tennessee, the Lady Tigers have won four regular season SEC championships and four SEC Tournament championships. Auburn has made 16 appearances in the NCAA women's basketball tournament and have made it past the first round 15 times. Auburn played in three consecutive National Championship games from 1988–1990 and won the Women's NIT in 2003. Nell Fortner replaced retiring long-time head coach Joe Ciampi in 2005. Notable former players include Ruthie Bolton, Vickie Orr, Carolyn Jones, Chantel Tremitiere and Monique Morehouse.

Baseball

Auburn Baseball has won six SEC championships, three SEC Tournament championships, appeared in sixteen NCAA Regionals and reached the College World Series (CWS) four times. Tom Slater, promoted in 2005, is the head coach. The Tigers play their home games at 4,096-seat Samford Stadium in Plainsman Park. Notable former players include Bo Jackson, Frank Thomas, Gregg Olson, Tim Hudson, Mark Bellhorn and Gabe Gross.

Women's Golf

The Auburn's Women's Golf team holds a 854-167-13 (.826) record since 1999. The program has a total of six SEC Championships (1989, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2005, and 2006), and has played in five NCAA finals, finishing 2nd in 2002 and 3rd in 2005. The program has also had 8 individual All-Americans in the same span. Head coach Kim Evans was named national coach of the year in 2003.

Women's Soccer

Started in 1993, the Auburn women's soccer team won five straight SEC western division titles between 2001 and 2006.

Equestrian

Auburn is one of 21 colleges currently competing in equestrian events, which are not yet recognized by the NCAA. The team won an unofficial national championship in 2006.

Women's Track and Field

Auburn's Women's Track and Field won the 2006 National NCAA Outdoor title over USC by a score of 57 to 38.5.

Traditions

Tiger Walk

Before each home football game the football team walks for one block down Donohue Avenue toward Jordan-Hare Stadium. Thousands of fans line both sides of the street to cheer the team. This tradition started informally in the 1960s, and was encouraged by football coach Doug Barfield, in the 1970s. The largest crowd for a Tiger Walk was reportedly in excess of 20,000 prior to the 1989 Iron Bowl, the first to be played in Auburn.

Toomer's Corner

In a tradition dating to the 1950s, Auburn fans roll the oak trees in front of Toomer's Drugs in downtown Auburn with toilet paper after any significant victory for the school.

War Eagle

"War Eagle" is the battle cry for Auburn's athletic teams, and also a greeting used by fans to show their support. Its origin is uncertain, but a story written in 1960 by Auburn Plainsman editor Jim Phillips has it that an injured eagle was found and kept as a pet by a Civil War veteran who attended the 1892 Auburn-Georgia game. The eagle left its perch and soared over the field as Auburn took control of the game, inspiring the crowd to chant "War Eagle".

Since 1930, Auburn has kept a Golden Eagle as a mascot. War Eagle VII is the seventh (including the apocryphal 1892 eagle), and current animal mascot. In 1955 Auburn debuted a new fight song, entitled War Eagle.

Wreck Tech Pajama Parade

The Wreck Tech Pajama Parade originated in 1896, when a group of mischievous Auburn ROTC cadets, determined to show up the more well-known engineers from Georgia Tech, snuck out of their dorms the night before the football game between Auburn and Tech and greased the railroad tracks. According to the story, the train carrying the Georgia Tech team slid through town and didn't stop until it was halfway to the neighboring town of Loachapoka. The Georgia Tech team was forced to walk the five miles back to Auburn and, not surprisingly, were rather weary at the end of their journey. This likely contributed to their 45–0 loss. While the railroad long ago ceased to be the way teams traveled to Auburn and students never greased the tracks again, the tradition continues in the form of a parade through downtown Auburn. Students parade through the streets in their pajamas and organizations build floats. This tradition has recently been renewed with Georgia Tech returning to Auburn's schedule after nearly two decades of absence.

Rivals

Auburn has two primary rivals, Alabama and Georgia. The football rivalry between Auburn and Alabama is considered to be the most intense rivalry in the country. It is known as the Iron Bowl. Alabama holds the all-time edge at 38-32-1.

Georgia and Auburn's football teams compete in the "Deep South's Oldest Rivalry", dating back to 1892. The game was played in Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia. The series is extremely close, with Auburn holding a 53-48-8 record. Auburn has only outscored Georgia by two points in the 109 game history of the series. It is one of the longest running and most played series in the NCAA.

Auburn also has a very competitive football rivalry with the LSU Tigers. The two share more than just a nickname, as they have both enjoyed success in the SEC's Western Division. Auburn or LSU have won at least a share of the SEC Western Division championship for the last six years. Auburn won it outright in 2000 and 2004, LSU tied Auburn and then went on to the SEC Title Game in 2001 and 2005. LSU also won the tiebreaker over Ole Miss in 2003 to go to the SEC Title game. The only time Auburn or LSU did not go to Atlanta in the last six years was 2002 when Arkansas won the three-way tie breaker with the two Tiger teams.

References

• Auburn Tigers. (2007, February 11). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:51, February 13, 2007 [1]

External links

• Auburn Tigers