APU Traditions
What is the Alma Mater of APU?
How does the APU Fight Song go?
Why is the cougar the mascot?
How were the school colors selected?
A place to learn, a place to build; a place where hopes can be fulfilled. Beneath the palms and mountain range where friendships form and lives are changed. These things are in our hearts to stay no matter where we are today. And so we sing our thanks to you, Our Alma Mater APU.
How does the APU Fight Song go?
For His honor, APU.
Always faithful, ever true.
In every challenge, every test, offer your very best.
Fight the good fight, persevere.
Onward, upward, victory is near.
Let every day bring faith anew.
Honor Him, APU.
Why is the cougar the mascot?
In 1965, when Azusa College and Los Angeles Pacific College joined together and settled into their new campus, the newly formed Associated Student Body was charged with the task of picking a mascot for the school. It was said that cougars were known to roam the San Gabriel Mountains, so it was only natural that ASB decided to pay tribute to the rumored mountainside dwellers. The mascot today, known amongst students as Coug, is an active participant in athletic and campus-life events.
How were the school colors selected?
If for no other reason, changing APU’s colors from orange and black to brick and black ten years ago made it so that President Jon Wallace would never have to be called a “pumpkin head” again—at least not by his rivals at Westmont.
It is not surprising that the nickname was coined though, considering the football team’s helmets matched the bright orange shade of their pants. Recent students and graduates at the university may not be aware of Azusa’s strong tangerine history. In fact, many may think we have been brick and black since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, APU’s motto of God First, did not transpose into our color choices. When the new brick and black colors were first introduced by the former president, Richard Felix, APU athletic teams were foaming with Westmont rivalry, and after a couple fierce tackles in the end zone, that brick was looking a little too similar to Westmont’s red.
Needless to say, not everyone was happy with the new color choices. Deana Porterfield, APU alumna and current chief of staff, went to Wallace with the assistant director to discuss the issue. Afterward, Porterfield began to engage in something she called “silent protest,” encouraging students to wear their traditional orange APU shirts, instead of the brick and black colors, to Homecoming that year.
“We got in trouble,” Porterfield said. “But they were my colors, the colors I graduated with. I have strong feelings about the change.” Although Porterfield currently agrees that the new colors are great for where APU is at right now, she still finds subtle ways to showcase her orange spirit like when she “accidentally” ordered a hood with an orange interior for the graduation ceremony.
Like Porterfield, former basketball player and ’79 alum, Rick Dillon, is a big advocate of tradition, but not in this case. “I would normally consider myself a traditionalist, but I didn’t like the colors,” Dillon said. “I was glad for the change.”
Associate director of athletics and sports information, Gary Pine, agreed. Also a former alum, Pine was in the university cafeteria when Felix first approached a few students about the change. “No way!” Pine said. “We are black and orange; that’s all we are.” His primary concern for the change was its similarity to the colors of long-time rival Westmont. “I thought we were just going to look like Westmont now,” Pine said.
In the end, Pine believes the change was a useful move. “It was a good business decision,” Pine said. “Orange is not bought and was a difficult color to market as a university.” President Wallace also agreed that the switch was a good move made by his predecessor. Felix first considered the change when a former marketing director approached him regarding orange’s marketability. When Azusa College and Los Angeles Pacific College first combined in 1965, orange was accepted as a compromise from each university’s former colors. Instead of choosing to be blue and white or green, orange offered the combined schools the opportunity to start over and move forward together as a new school with a new identity. In 1998, the school’s colors were changed again but for a different reason.
Although the change made ten years ago was initially met with resistance, the new brick and black colors brought with it great success for the university. In the fall of that year, the football and women’s soccer teams won their first-ever NAIA championships. The teams may not have won because of the color change, but they were certainly winning wearing the new brick and black colors. At the same time, the infamous Cougar claw mark and athletic logo were introduced.
“All of it made it a little more palpable for people to accept,” Pine said. Besides, Westmont would have to find a new name to call the APU football players, especially after the new brick and black “pumpkin heads” left the Warriors in the dust.
