You know the words to the school song, your closet is peppered with University of Houston red, and you automatically respond, "Coogs house," when someone asks, "Whose house?" But there's a good chance you're wrong about one of the school's most prominent symbols.
A University of Houston Redditor discovered that the Wikipedia page for the school's mascot, Shasta, says the beloved live cougar's name is pronounced, "Sh-as-ta." It came as a surprise to the Redditor, who had always heard the name pronounced "Shawsta."
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Marisa Ramirez, media relations specialist with the University of Houston, says the confusion has been around for years.
"Even people in our offices say it differently," Ramirez said. "But the name has morphed into how it's pronounced today, which is Shas-tuh."
According to University archives, the name was chosen during Alpha Phi Omega's 1947 "Name the Mascot" competition. A student named Joe Randol won the contest with the following submission:
"Shasta (She has to). Shasta have a cage, Shasta have a keeper, Shasta have a winning ball club, Shasta have the best."
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A cougar has been the school's mascot since 1927, when a football coach from Washington State University, who loved the WSU cougar, joined the faculty. The school's first live cougar, Shasta I, was purchased in 1947 from a wild animal rancher in Brownsville. Shasta I was a 75-pound, 15-month-old Mexican puma.
Shasta VI is the school's first male live cougar and has lived at the Houston Zoo since 2011. Shasta VI, along with his two brothers, were orphaned at 5 weeks old when their mother was killed by a hunter in Washington state.
