In the heart of Occidental’s vibrant community, where students, faculty and staff share nods and open doors as a testament to their unity, one figure stands out among them all: Oswald, our beloved tiger mascot. For more than 70 years, Oswald has been an embodiment of school spirit, his iconic orange and black stripes adorning merchandise and his occasional campus appearances sparking joy. Oswald is an icon, according to Stapley Curwen (senior), who said she embraces his occasional appearances on campus.
“He is like a token that we all look to,” Curwen said.
Lacrosse player Sydney Acol (sophomore) said despite fearing mascots since she was a child, her first interaction with Oswald was something she will never forget.
“When I met my best friend and teammate on the Quad during move-in day, our parents were like, ‘You guys should go take a picture with Oswald,’ so we did,” Acol said. “Every time I see him, I think of that, and I am not that scared of mascots anymore.”
Appreciation for Oswald was historicized in a 2013 article by Dick Anderson for The Occidental Magazine, which he said gets thousands of views each year. Since joining the college as the magazine’s editor in February 2000, Anderson said he had always been curious about the origins of Oswald. Twelve years later, Anderson encountered the mascot by chance, he said.
“Around 2012, while driving in Atlanta, I saw a car with the Oxy Tiger on its rear windshield—only with an A where the OXY would be,” Anderson said via email. “I started Googling, and before long I realized that the very same Tiger was also the cartoon mascot for Auburn University, Louisiana State University, the University of the Pacific and countless others.”
After tracking down two books on college mascots, Anderson said he interviewed Tim Waddell, president of Angelus Pacific Co. in Fullerton and the grandson of the company’s founder Hugh G. Waddell. According to Anderson, Arthur Evans, a late employee at Angelus Pacific Co., was responsible for creating the Oswald graphic.
“I am all but certain that Occidental was the first client to license the ‘classic’ Oswald logo—because of Oxy’s geographic proximity to Angelus’ Fullerton headquarters,” Anderson said via email.
While Anderson said that Auburn fan bloggers agree with him, there remains a unique charm to Occidental’s Oswald logo.
“Even if the logo is decidedly old-fashioned by modern college and university standards, to me, this image of Oswald will always be synonymous with Oxy,” Anderson said via email.
However, according to the article, the mascot was once nameless and was represented as a papier-mâché tiger used at athletic events, until it was later destroyed in February 1948 during a student melee. The article said that the following year, the parents of Alzada Carlisle ‘45 presented an 80-pound tiger statue entitled ‘Oswald’ at a nearby ceremony attended by student leaders and former college president Arthur G. Coons ‘1920.
When the Tiger costume was introduced in the 1950s, donning Oswald’s attire became a beloved tradition among students according to the article. This includes Senior Associate Dean of Admission Courtney Stricklin Burgan ‘03, who said she had to audition for the role and eventually shared it with a cohort of students.
“We had a preset schedule, and sometimes we would learn dances or meet and practice with the cheerleaders, but we mostly did our own thing as a fun camaraderie,” Stricklin Burgan said.
Stricklin Burgan said she never got to be a mascot in high school, so college was a perfect opportunity to excel in it.
“I became the captain [of the cohort] my sophomore year, and we initiated a new plan with everyone on the team to create a more cohesive personality for Oswald where each one of us could communicate the same character, which was a really fun goal, so we brainstormed,” Stricklin Burgan said. “Ultimately, what we landed on was like trying to be as mischievous as possible so we would pick on like other teams cheerleaders or mess around with the fans.”
According to Stricklin Burgan, her time as Oswald ended when she was fired for stealing a Pomona College football helmet during a homecoming game.
“I got tackled by some Pomona fans who jumped onto the track, so then, of course, the Oxy fans tackled the Pomona fans, and the game had to get stopped, and Campus Safety had to come to separate everybody.” Stricklin Burgan said.
With less controversy, Allison Wilson ’23 said she first wore the Oswald costume as an orientation leader in 2019. According to Wilson, the Admissions office would ask her to wear the costume for events.
“They just needed someone to do it, and because I am a dancer, I thought it would be really fun to be able to dance around in the costume and not really have anybody know who I was,” Wilson said. “Every time that they needed someone, I would always jump on the opportunity.”
While her stint as Oswald was interrupted by the pandemic, Wilson said becoming a tour guide once returning to campus gave her more chances to be the mascot. At the beginning of her senior year, Wilson said that the athletics department hired her as the official Oswald, a paid position. From there, Wilson said she developed a hallmark personality when wearing the costume.
“I would sometimes like to steal people’s hats and jump around behind them,” Wilson said. “It was just a really cool feeling like, ‘Oh, people don’t actually know who I am,’ so I could act super funny and weird as opposed to how I would normally interact with people.”
Reflecting on her time as Oswald, Wilson said she enjoyed using the campus as her stage on which she cheerfully engaged with the community.
“I think compared to bigger schools, Oswald is not really like the face of Oxy, he is kind of like an addition,” Wilson said. “But it is still such an honor to say I was the person who was representing that, and I made up little expressions that Oswald would always do and that people kind of let me have that freedom.”
Stricklin Burgan said she is familiar with seeing Oswald front and center on promotional items and at prospective student events as part of the admissions staff.
“We are really intentional about having Oswald at our big admissions events, and I love people to take pictures with him,” Stricklin Burgan said. “We try to use the Oswald logo as often as possible.”
According to Jasmine Teran, senior manager of digital communications, featuring Oswald in costume is an effective social media strategy. Teran said her favorite Oswald pastimes include making him wear a vampire cape for a Halloween video.
“A lot of times, I want to feature students, so Oswald is very much an entryway to talk to them and get them to open up more and be a little more spirited than normal,” Teran said.
Echoing Teran, Allie Gordon said she loves incorporating Oswald into her work as director of advancement communications and considers him a unifying figure of the college.
“Unlike Thorne [Hall], you can hug Oswald,” Gordon said.
Contact Olivia Fishman ofishman@oxy.edu
