a whole 15 years later), UH tied UT 20-20. The next time the two teams faced off (1968. The cougar faithful, still mindful of the stinging defeat suffered 15 years earlier, never forgot the taunting that they received. The Cougars would go on to lose the game 28-7. This gesture implied that the Cougars were invalids. As the University of Texas partisans and players caught wind of the accident, they mimicked the animal by bending their thumb over the ring finger against their palm. During her transport from Houston to Austin, one of the fingers on Shasta's paw was severed when the cage door was closed. However, it also led to the adoption of another Cougar Hand Sign. The inaugural football game between University of Houston and University of Texas during the 1953 campaign witnessed the birth of a blood rivalry between the state's two largest universities at that time. Although the original hand sign was the "V" for Victory until 1965, events conspired and a new hand sign was adopted. "In Texas, all of the major universities have adopted a hand sign which signifies to all other Texans where your loyalties lie. The official story is related to an injury to one of our early live cougar Shasta mascots. It seems odd to call it the Cougar Paw though if it is supposed to be a UH. Personally I think that's lame and a stretch to see, but it may be true. Some people say that the fingers form a "U" and an "H". I've seen great debate on the origins of the Cougar Paw hand sign. I thought it was a joke, there was an old couple in front of me throwing up the sign. I first saw it when UH played Kansas at the Fort Worth Bowl.
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