Auburn Traditions | Tiger Walk

The Tiger Walk at Auburn University is one of the most imitated traditions in all of college sports.

Each gameday, the Tigers walk from the Athletics Complex down Donahue Drive to Jordan-Hare Stadium. But the team doesn't make the walk alone; instead, they are cheered on by the thousands of Auburn fans who line the street and, in the process, create one of the great scenes in college football. The walk begins two hours before each game.

The tradition began in the 1960s when groups of kids would walk up the street to greet the team and get autographs. It has grown to become one of the most treasured of Auburn traditions.

The most famous Tiger Walk took place on December 2, 1989, the day Auburn welcomed Alabama to campus for the first time ever. Previously, the Auburn-Alabama series had only been played at Legion Field in Birmingham.

Auburn officials estimate that 20,000 fans lined Donahue Drive for the Tiger Walk that day. ESPN.com college football writer Ivan Maisel, who was there that day, later wrote that "the height of emotion [the Tiger Walk] reached in 1989 will be a watermark for years to come."