The original Shasta, cougar mascot at the University of Houston (public domain photo)
When the University of Houston was founded in 1927 as Houston Junior College, the first organized extracurricular activity was the student newspaper. John Bender, a physical education instructor, suggested “The Cougar” for the paper’s name. He thought the cougar symbolized strength and tenacity.
Students liked the name and when other student groups, including the first athletic teams, formed, they also took the cougar nickname.
The cougar serves as the university mascot. A naming contest was held when the first live cougar was brought to campus.
Student Joe Randol won with the colloquial phrase, “She has to.” Randol wrote:
Shasta have a cage
Shasta have a keeper
Shasta have a winning ball club
Shasta have the best
Fortunately, the runner-up didn’t win. The entry was “Raguoc,” which is cougar spelled backwards.
The Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity bought the first Shasta in 1947 from Manuel King, a wild animal rancher in Brownsville, Texas. The fraternity formed the Cougar Guard to take care of Shasta and her needs. The university constructed Shasta’s Den in the southeast corner of Lynn Eusan Park on the campus. Between 1947 and 1989, five Shastas were kept on campus. Shasta V was the last live cougar to be taken to UH games.
Shasta VI, an orphaned cougar from Washington state, has resided in the Houston Zoo since 2012. UH students have free admission to the zoo through a partnership between the university and the zoo.
Shasta isn’t the only cougar to represent UH. Tigger, a professional animal model, was pictured representing the university’s “Learning. Leading” campaign in the early 2000s.
Today, Shasta is represented at UH games by students dressed in cougar costumes. Shasta is now represented as a male cougar and has a female sidekick, named Sasha.
