What’s it like to be a legacy Tiger mascot?
Thomas Lowry knows all about that.
Lowry — a senior construction science and management major from Lawrence, South Carolina — has continued a tradition that started when his father, Martin Lowry, was the Tiger mascot during his time as a student.
Thomas, the 2025 Tiger mascot, said his father pushed him to try out for the mascot gig.
“‘Just go try out, see if you like it, and if you hate it, don’t do it,’” Thomas recalled his dad telling him. “So I went. We’re trying out and everything, and I remember calling him back and I remember telling him I didn’t think I got it. And I remember getting a phone call two days later, saying, ‘Hey, do you want to be the Tiger?’
“I called him and I remember telling him that, and he was just so excited and so happy that we were going to be the first legacy mascots and I was going to get to be a part of something that made his Clemson experience.”
Martin, who graduated from Clemson in 1988 in mechanical engineering and in 1992 with an MBA, is certainly one proud dad.
“He’s represented our family very well, he’s represented Clemson extremely well, and I couldn’t be more proud of that,” Martin said. “I don’t know that I could’ve scripted it any better.”
“In other words, he got what he wanted,” Thomas joked. “He got his vision.”
As the Tiger, Thomas hopes to leave behind a legacy of bringing people together.
“I hope that I made people smile and that people that have nothing in common with each other found common ground through the Tiger and me, and maybe just having a laugh at me on the basketball court or the football stadium or wherever I am,” he said. “Maybe just having a laugh really opened your eyes to Clemson, and I really hope the legacy I left was somebody that brought people here.”
In the following video from Clemson University, Thomas and Martin compared their time serving as the Clemson Tiger, the bond it brought them, and bragging rights from their time in the suit.
Check out the cool video below:
Photo Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports