Story on the history of Mike (the LSU mascot)

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Chances are, adults roaming the spaces between the LSU Museum of Natural Science's dioramas began making Mike roar when they were kids. That's as in Mike I, the first live tiger that served as LSU's mascot between 1936 and 1956. The Bengal cub originally was called Sheik at his birth in 1934.

A fundraising campaign was organized in 1935 when Athletic Department trainer Chellis “Mike” Chambers, athletic director T.P. Heard, swimming pool manager and intramural swimming coach William G. “Hickey” Higginbotham and LSU law student Ed Laborde decided to bring a real tiger to LSU, then known as the “Ole War Skule.”

They raised $750 by collecting 25 cents from each student, using the funds to purchase 1-year-old, 200-pound Sheik from the Little Rock Zoo in Arkansas.

He was renamed Mike in honor of Chambers.

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"My kids were pushing the button to make Mike roar, and I started wondering about the other deceased Mikes," Smith said. "Mike I is in the museum, but where are the others?"

The answer is easy in some cases.

"Mike IV, Mike V and Mike VI were all cremated, and the urns containing their ashes are on display in the Andonie Museum on campus," Ginger Guttner, communications manager for the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine, said in September.

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"Legend has it that less than a month after his arrival at LSU, Mike II died of pneumonia at only eight months of age," mikethetiger.com states. "Reportedly, Mike II was then secretly buried under a willow tree along the Mississippi River by newly appointed athletic director Jim Corbett, campus Police Chief C.R. 'Dick' Anderson and LSU Athletic Department business manager Jack Gilmore."

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"Another cub of the right age was located at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, according to Gilmore," the website said. "In addition to Gilmore’s testimony, several pieces of evidence support the legend that the original Mike II died and was replaced by another young tiger. Photographs of Mike II taken before and after his convalescence are clearly of two different tigers (facial markings of tigers are as unique as fingerprints), and he seemed to have grown at a tremendous rate. All rumors of the death and replacement of Mike II were denied."

The second Mike II reigned at LSU for only one season and died at Audubon Zoo on May 15, 1958, of complications associated with multiple fractures to his left rear leg. There are no reports as to how the leg was injured.

And there are no reports as to the whereabouts of this Mike's remains.

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Finally, there's Mike III. Before telling his story, it's probably best to jump to the end and reveal that the whereabouts of his remains are unknown.

Mike III was born Nov. 26, 1957, at the Seattle Zoo and was introduced at the LSU vs. Hardin-Simmons game on Oct. 4, 1958, in time for LSU's 1958 national champion football year. After that, Mike III became a bigger celebrity than his predecessors as he made appearances at LSU's postseason bowl games.

Mike III reigned 18 years as LSU's live mascot.

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