The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams of Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina. The university was founded in 1889 through a bequest from Thomas Green Clemson, and the institution became Clemson University in 1964.[1] Clemson’s athletic teams have been nicknamed the Tigers since 1896, when football coach Walter Merritt Riggs brought the name from his alma mater, Auburn University.[2] The Tigers were charter members of the Atlantic Coast Conference when they began play in the fall of 1953.[3]
Design and History
The Tiger Paw is Clemson’s primary athletic logo. It originated in 1970, when Clemson President Robert C. Edwards hired Henderson Advertising Company of Greenville, South Carolina, to upgrade the image of the university. For years, Clemson’s roaring tiger logo resembled those of more than 35 other college teams across the country, and the Paw was created to change that.[4]
Creative designer and artist John Antonio of Henderson Advertising began drafting the logo in June 1970. He contacted the Smithsonian Institution for a photo of a tiger’s paw and the National History Museum in Chicago for a cast of a tiger paw, using both items to form his final version.[5] The Museum of Natural History in Chicago provided a plaster of Paris cast of the imprint of a tiger’s paw, which was converted to a print and tilted about ten degrees to the right.[4]
Antonio presented the completed project to a group of athletic department personnel, who were largely receptive. The key to the presentation was Antonio showing the Tiger Paw on a football helmet, which convinced Athletic Director Frank Howard to support the idea.[5] The Paw was unveiled on July 21, 1970, with a blitz of press conferences around the state of South Carolina, plus trips to Charlotte and Atlanta.[6] The first game in which Clemson football wore a Tiger Paw on its helmet was a September 12, 1970 win over The Citadel inside Memorial Stadium.[6]
Clemson did not copyright the logo for many years, because the theory was to get the Paw as much exposure as possible. It was not copyrighted until after the 1981 national championship season, when Clemson merchandising exploded.[6] In June 1984, the Clemson Tiger Paw was officially trademarked by the federal government, along with several other monikers and secondary logos. Clemson became the third institution to use Collegiate Concepts, now known as the Collegiate Licensing Company, behind Alabama and Mississippi.[5]
Meaning and Symbolism
Some of the intricacies of the Paw were implemented by design at the behest of Antonio. The 30-degree angle at which the official Paw sits is there to designate a 1:00 kickoff time for football games, which was a normal occurrence in those days. The indentation at the bottom is due to a scar that the tiger chosen as the subject for the logo had received before the cast was made.[5]
According to the university’s official brand guidelines, the Paw should be tilted to one o’clock and reproduced in either Goal Line White or Clemson Orange.[7] The Tiger Paw is a federally protected Clemson trademark and must be reproduced only from approved artwork, in accordance with Clemson’s required orientation, color, proportions and registration-symbol requirements.[8]
Typography and Design
The primary university wordmark is a stylized version of CLEMSON with the Tiger Paw in the “O” position. Because of the increased brand equity of CLEMSON and the Tiger Paw, UNIVERSITY is not included in the primary version. Alternative versions include the word UNIVERSITY for audiences that may not have brand awareness of CLEMSON.[7]
Clemson Orange is the university’s hallmark color, with the official brand guidelines noting that “the heart of our brand bleeds Clemson Orange.”[9] The Clemson Orange hex code is #F56600.[10] Regalia, described as “Clemson’s purple,” is a primary color that “harkens to the academic history of our institution.”[9] The Regalia hex code is #522D80.[10]
The athletic department also uses a proprietary font called Paw Hammer, created as part of a 2013 rebranding initiative. It was used, for example, in the 2016 National Champions logo designed by Jeff Kallin, a 2007 Clemson graduate and Associate Director of Creative Media for Athletics.[11]
Logo Index is an independent educational archive covering logos, visual identities and graphic design history. All trademarks and brand assets remain the property of their respective owners.
