University of Southern Mississippi Mascot

The University of Southern Mississippi is located in the medium sized city of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The university is commonly referred to as the Southern Miss Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles is the current mascot and nickname of the University, but this was not always the case.

The school, founded in 1910, has a history of many different nicknames throughout its rich history. The first nickname was the Tigers. The Tigers is a common nickname in the southern part of the United States where neighboring schools Auburn (located in Alabama) and LSU (located in Louisiana) also have the common nickname and mascot of the Tigers.

Following the initial Tigers nickname the University of Southern Mississippi switched to the very unique nickname Normalites (derived from the early name for the university – Mississippi Normal College). From there the nickname changed several times as the school was represented with the names Yellow Jackets, Confederates, and Southerners in that order. It was an alumni/student vote in 1972 that selected the Golden Eagles name that is still used to this day.

The students and faculty at the university have gone as far as to give the golden eagle mascot a proper first and last name. It is not uncommon for colleges to give their mascots names, examples include: the University of Florida with Albert the Alligator and Michigan State with their Spartan mascot named Sparty. In the case of Southern Miss the full name of their mascot is Seymour d’Campus. The name Seymour d’Campus is a play on words intended to be read as “see more of the campus.” The modern name was influenced by the 1984 World’s Fair mascot by a similar name: Seymour d’Fair. The resourceful students and faculty of Southern Miss adapted the World’s Fair mascot name to suit their own agenda.

It should come as no surprise that Seymour attends Southern Mississippi sporting events year round and frequently makes appearances at university and community events. In addition to public appearances Seymour the Golden Eagle can often be found partaking in television promotions for local businesses. Over the last ten years Seymour has competed in numerous national mascot competitions that are designed to select America’s favorite collegiate mascots. During the first ten years of the twenty first century Seymour the Golden Eagle made numerous appearances in the top twenty results and even occasionally finished in the top ten with his best showing being a 7th place finish in the 2002 UCA Mascot National competition.

The most famous athlete that Seymour the Golden Eagle cheered on is the long time quarterback of the Green Bay Packers and current Minnesota Viking Brett Favre.