About Auburn

The Auburn Tigers compete at the highest level of intercollegiate athletics as a charter member of the Southeastern Conference. Auburn fields 21 varsity teams with approximately 500 student-athletes supported by more than 200 full-time staff on the campus of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.

College sports fans would be hard-pressed to find a program more steeped in tradition than Auburn. Since the University first fielded a football team in 1892, the legends associated with the Tigers have passed down through generations of fans. The Auburn Family throughout Alabama, across the nation and around the world rallies to the battle cry "War Eagle!".

Auburn Athletics

The Auburn Athletics Department will be the nation's preeminent Athletics Department. We have a two-fold purpose:

1. To enable our student-athletes to be successful in all areas of their lives, athletics, academics and personal endeavors, both now and in their future careers, by providing them with the best resources available in academics, facilities and coaching;
2. While meeting the needs of our student-athletes, to represent and promote Auburn University in a positive manner in all that we do.

The absolute values of the Auburn Athletics Department are to always tell the truth and to treat others as we would like to be treated.

We will also adhere to the timeless values of the Auburn Creed. We will lead the way in integrity, diversity, communications, both internally and externally, compliance, and customer service.

We will function as a team, helping each other to be successful, rather than focusing on personal success. We will work for the benefit of others and for Auburn, not for personal gain. We will have an attitude of constructive discontent; always striving to be better.

Nicknames

Auburn's only nickname is the Tigers. We're the Auburn Tigers. Auburn has been known as the Tigers since the University first fielded a football team against Georgia in Atlanta in 1892.

The official mascot of Auburn is Aubie the Tiger and all Auburn athletics teams (men's and women's) are nicknamed the Tigers. The nickname "Tigers" comes from a line in Oliver Goldsmith's poem, "The Deserted Village," published in May 1770, "where crouching tigers await their hapless prey..."

"War Eagle" is Auburn's battle cry. Auburn has never referred to any of its teams as "Eagles" or "War Eagles". To the Auburn Family, it's very simple. We are the Tigers who yell War Eagle!

Our Mission

The Athletics Department, in keeping with the mission of the University, and in a spirit of inclusion, encouraging diversity and equitable treatment for all, will seek to abide by the rules, to manage its fiscal affairs in a responsible manner, to educate its student-athletes, and to win championships, thereby bringing credit to Auburn and its people.

Colors

Auburn's official colors are burnt orange and navy blue. Theories abound concerning the origin of Auburn's school colors. One claims "Miss Allie" sewed an orange "A" on a navy blue letterman's sweater and used it to convince coach George Petrie to use the colors of his alma mater (Virginia) for Auburn's first football game against Georgia in 1892.

Another says Petrie was asked by a reporter for the team's colors before the game and he decided there on the spot. No matter how it started, a visit to any Auburn game will feature a sea of orange and blue.

Auburn Athletics Hex
Orange: #F26522 | Blue: #0C2340

Official PMS
Orange PMS 172 | Blue PMS 289

Fight Song

Auburn's fight song, War Eagle, was introduced at the beginning of the 1955 football season and has served as the official fight song ever since. The Auburn University Marching Band plays the fight song throughout games and immediately following scores. The song also rings from the Samford Hall clock tower every day at noon:

War Eagle, fly down the field,
Ever to conquer, never to yield.
War Eagle, fearless and true.
Fight on you orange and blue.
Go! Go! Go!
On to vict'ry, strike up the band.
Give 'em hell, give 'em hell,
Stand up and yell, hey!
War Eagle, win for Auburn,
Power of Dixieland!

The Auburn Band had been playing the Auburn Victory March as a fight song for decades. But in 1954, Auburn supporter Roy B. Sewell thought that the old tune was outdated and something new was in order. After several failed attempts from students and fans, Sewell commissioned two New York songwriters named Robert Allen and Al Stillman to write the words and music for a new fight song.

Thus War Eagle was born as the new Auburn fight song. Roy Sewell wrote, "Boy, we have a peach of a song," and the new tune was premiered at the Auburn football season-opener on September 24, 1955.

The Auburn Alma Mater was composed by Bill Wood in 1942 with word revision in 1960:

On the rolling plains of Dixie 'neath the sun-kissed sky,
Proudly stands our Alma Mater, banners high.
To thy name we'll sing the praise, from hearts that love so true,
And pledge to thee our loyalty the ages through.
We hail thee, Auburn, and we vow to work for thy just fame,
And hold in memory as we do now thy cherished name.

Auburn Creed

George Petrie's handwritten Auburn Creed
Nov. 12, 1943.

At the heart of the Auburn Family is the Auburn Creed. George Petrie wrote what he felt all Auburn students, faculty and staff stood for. Today, the Auburn Creed is the most beloved Auburn doctrine.

I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.

I believe in education, which gives me the knowledge to work wisely and trains my mind and my hands to work skillfully.

I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men.

I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in clean sports that develop these qualities.

I believe in obedience to law because it protects the rights of all.

I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.

I believe in my Country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by "doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God".

And because Auburn men and women believe in these things, I believe in Auburn and love it.

November 12, 1943

George Petrie

George Petrie (1866-1947) was a historian, college professor and coach of Auburn's first football team. In addition to introducing football to what was then the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama, Petrie brought innovative methods of teaching history to the university and mentored students who went on to become renowned historians.

Born in Montgomery on April 10, 1866, George Petrie was the descendant of prominent families from South Carolina and Georgia.

Petrie entered the University of Virginia in 1883 and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1886, then received a master of arts degree there in 1887. Most of his studies focused on languages, especially Latin, Greek, French, and German, and moral and natural philosophy. He likely saw his first college football game while at Virginia.

Petrie completed his Ph.D. in the spring of 1891, a year short of the usual time requirement at Johns Hopkins University. By June 1891, he had accepted a position as a professor of History and Latin at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama and returned to Auburn.

While a graduate student at Johns Hopkins, Petrie had grown to love the new sport of football that was sweeping the northern part of the nation in the late nineteenth century. Shortly after he returned to Auburn, in 1891, Petrie organized and coached the college's first football team. The school played its first game, held in Atlanta, against the University of Georgia on February 20, 1892, defeating Georgia 10-0.

The Agricultural and Mechanical College played a total of four football games that first season and amassed a record of two wins and two loses. In December 1892, before the college's second football season began in the winter of 1893, Petrie resigned as coach, citing his teaching and professorial duties as the reason.

George Petrie served as a professor and administrator at Auburn for 53 years, until poor health forced him to retire in August 1942. His wife, Mary, died on July 13, 1942, soon after Petrie's retirement. In November 1943, he wrote"The Auburn Creed,"in which he encapsulated the college's spirit. George Petrie died on September 5, 1947, at age 81. He is buried beside his wife in Pine Hill Cemetery in Auburn.

View complete information on George Petrie.