This is the origin story of how Waco High got its Tiger mascot and how the mascot, Regit, got his name.
This story comes from a discovered newspaper article. However, the origin of that article, the paper it came from, and the date have not yet been determined. What follows is the transcript of that article (the image of the original article is included below). Also below is an image of an article identifying the young ladies credited with coming up with the tiger’s name, Regit. They are not from our class.
WHY TIGERS?
No one sat down and said Waco High needs a mascot and no one at school voted on the matter.
The name came through one man’s description of Paul Tyson’s 1921 Waco High State Championship Football Team. This man, Mr. H. H. (Jinx) Tucker, immortal sports writer for the Waco News Tribune, came to work in Waco that year and coined the popular phrase “Tyson’s Tigers.” Reasons for the phrase are not certain but the following facts should have had some influence on Mr. Tucker. In 1921 Waco High’s football scores were as follows:
[See photo below for scores…Waco High mercilessly skunked every opponent in the season! ]
No opposing team, that year, got any closer to the goal than the 25 yard line. Therefore the phrase “Tyson’s Tigers” stuck. Mr. Jinx Tucker had started a legend at Waco High in 1921, and Tiger history was born.
Regit, Waco High’s next addition to Tiger Tradition, traveled to Waco in the fall of 1953. Coaches Mr, Johnie Riola, Mr. Wayne Gardner, Mr. Jack Price and Mr. Dick Lindsey had traveled down to Houston to scout the Lamar football team. Waco High and Lamar were playing each other in the state football playoffs. While in Houston, Mr. Lindsey spotted these life size animals in Foley’s Department Store. After inquiry, the coaches learned that a stuffed tiger would cost about $200. The coaches returned to Waco and announced to the student body on a Monday morning about their finding a tiger and the cost. It was now up to the student body to decide on whether they wanted a tiger. That was a Monday morning, by Wednesday morning the $200 had been given to the coaches by the students for the purchase of the tiger. Next week the coaches returned to Houston and bought the tiger which was made in Germany.
The nameless tiger came to Waco. It had a cage, costing between $50 and $100, made for it with the aid of Mr. Fritz Linnstaedter, Mr. Pop Werner and Mr. Wilbur Hall. Now came the task of naming the tiger which was to represent Waco High. After a contest was held, the student body voted on Regit, which is tiger spelled backwards, as the official name of the tiger.
Waco High School’s Tiger history goes far back. It started with Mr Tucker and is embedded today in the feeling “Spirit of Waco.”
