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The Other Tiger

The Untold Story of a Campus Icon

November 14, 2025 - Chase Hartsell

Battle of the Ravine Week is back in Arkadelphia, meaning Ouachita’s attention has once again turned to the Tiger statue in the middle of campus. The Tiger made its debut in 1934 and, ever since, has been guarded annually by Ouachita students in the days leading up to the football game against across-the-street rival Henderson State.

Mere feet away, however, there is another Tiger with almost as long a history on campus. This other Tiger has been around for approximately eight decades and had a front-row seat to home football games for nearly 50 years. Now, it greets students, faculty and staff every day, even serving as the centerpiece for musical performances on Fridays.

This is the story of the other Tiger: the Student Center Tiger.

The Student Center Tiger began its odyssey in the 1940s as a hand-painted welcome sign located at the north end of Sixth Street, near the current site of Flippen-Perrin Hall. It sat in front of a residential building named West Hall and featured letters spelling out “OUACHITA COLLEGE.” At night, neon lights illuminated those letters and the outline of the Tiger’s body.

By the early 1950s, the Tiger had found a new home above the entrance gate for the original A.U. Williams Field, which stood where Gosser and Tollett Halls are now. Over the decade, the neon lights were removed, and the original stripes faded. But the Tiger remained, welcoming fans into the football stadium through the venue’s final days.

Student Center Tiger

When the Ouachita football team moved to the new A.U. Williams Field (known today as Kluck-Benson Field at Cliff Harris Stadium) in 1960, the Tiger followed. Having received a fresh coat of paint that covered the letters written across its body, it claimed a new perch atop the stadium scoreboard. The stadium offered views of a host of activities, from traditional Saturday showdowns to intramural competitions. Much like its statue counterpart, the Tiger was also tarped during Battle of the Ravine Week to protect it from any Reddie mischief.

The Tiger became closely associated with Ouachita’s Buddy Benson era of football, having witnessed all 35 seasons of the coach’s record-setting career with the team (including 31 as head coach). On Sept. 4, 1999, the Tiger looked on as one of Benson’s former players, Todd Knight, began his own head coaching tenure at Ouachita with a 34-17 victory over Henderson.

In 2001, A.U. Williams Field underwent the first phase of renovations that would lead to its present-day form. A key addition was a new scoreboard at the top of a berm on the west side of the stadium, next to U.S. Highway 67. Unlike the previous scoreboard, this one did not have a place for the Tiger. It was relocated to Facilities Management (now Hatcher Wrestling Complex), where it was rested in a viewable spot against a fence.

Student Center Tiger

2025 Commencement

When Facilities Management moved to its current facility, the Tiger was uprooted yet again. This time, it was left in a set of woods near the Ouachita Hills neighborhood, facing the imminent danger of flooding from the nearby Ouachita River. For the first time since its arrival on campus, the Tiger did not have a proper home.

That began to change during the winter of 2011-2012, after Dr. Rebecca Jones – who serves as professor and the Dr. O.L. and Frances Bayless Chair of Christian Communication in the Rogers Department of Communications – went on a walk near her house in Ouachita Hills. Joining her were sons Anderson and Sullivan, now in their senior and sophomore years at Ouachita, respectively.

“As any parent of boys will know, they’re often curious and excited to be in the woods, seeing what they can discover,” Jones said. “We ran across the Tiger, and we all thought it was really cool. We didn’t really know where it came from, so I wound up mentioning it to Dr. Jeff Root. He immediately knew what I was talking about as I described it; he took it from there.”

Root, professor of communications and dean of the School of Humanities, started looking into the possibility of refurbishing the Tiger and placing it in the new student newsroom in remodeled Lile Hall, set to open during the Fall 2012 semester. At the same time, Evans Student Center was receiving its own major renovation ahead of the 2012-2013 academic year.

“As we were making plans, other folks redoing the Student Center heard about the Tiger,” Root said. “They were looking for something to decorate the far wall. We thought it’d be even better and seen by more people if it were in the Student Center.”

The decision was made: the Tiger would be displayed in Evans Student Center, with restoration taking place during the summer of 2012. John Hardman and his Facilities Management team sanded down rust that had accumulated on the metal, later priming the surface of the piece for painting. The responsibility of painting went to Donnie Copeland, professor and chair of the Rosemary Adams Department of Art & Design, who referenced archival resources to create his own take on the Tiger’s iconic stripes. More than a decade later, Copeland is still thrilled each time he sees his handiwork.

“It’s something that I’m very proud of,” he said. “I hope people get a kick out of it and enjoy taking pictures with it. I love telling my students, ‘You know the Tiger over there? Yeah, I got to work on that.’”

One detail visitors may notice is that Copeland’s signature is nowhere to be found. That was intentional.

“It’s not my artwork – it’s Ouachita’s artwork,” Copeland explained. “It’s our Tiger.”

Today, the Tiger hangs above the stage at Dr. Jack’s Coffeehouse in the Student Center. As the main visual feature of the space, it greets guests like it did for A.U. Williams Field and even the campus itself in the 1940s and 1950s. Though it no longer has a seat at Ouachita football games, the Tiger is still very much a spectator of campus life, watching over weekly live music, special events and even casual meals between friends.

This week, students are outside every night guarding the Tiger statue, with each class taking turns protecting the beloved 91-year-old landmark. Given the overnight nature of the watch shifts, some will inevitably have to take a break and head indoors during the event. Whether they need to warm up, study or simply find a change of scenery, they will make their way through the front doors of Evans Student Center.

As those students sit down, they may worry about missing out on guarding the Tiger. In reality, they have nothing to fear. As it turns out, there is another Tiger here they can keep an eye on. It’s the Student Center Tiger: one of the oldest icons in the university’s history. A Tiger that, after an improbable journey, has finally found the perfect home.