On August 31, 2000, War Eagle VI, or Tiger, became the first golden eagle to soar through Auburn University's Jordan-Hare Stadium as part of the pre-game football festivities.
Tiger, who retired from stadium flights after the University of Georgia football game in 2006, died June 18, at the age of 34.
Jamie Bellah, director of the Southeastern Raptor Center since 2004, said Tiger was an icon for nearly 30 years.
"Tiger was beautiful, powerful, and she contributed so much to Auburn," Bellah said.
Bellah's first experience with Tiger was prior to the 2004 football game versus UGA.
"It's a different experience when you watch the eagles practice in the stadium," Bellah said.
There are few people in the stadium then, and Bellah described the sight as beautiful.
"It was my first experience seeing her fly," Bellah said. "You don't forget that."
Bellah grew up out West where golden eagles live naturally, but are not often seen. Bellah said it is special to be in Auburn where the eagles participate in educational programs for children.
"It's hard to imagine how much impact she made over the years in educating kids," Bellah said.
Alpha Phi Omega is the coeducational national service fraternity that has cared for Auburn's eagles for 40 years.
Mark Bransby, one of Tiger's last caretakers before the Raptor Center took over care of the eagles from Alpha Phi Omega in 2000, said visiting schools with Tiger was always a special treat.
"Kids always ask the funniest things," Bransby said. "For example: 'What do you do if her beak falls off?'"
Bransby was part of the team that began the stadium flights.
"I clearly remember beginning to practice flying out of the tunnel and then working our way to the upper deck," Bransby said. "Of course I'm biased, but Tiger's flights were always the best,"
According to Bransby, Tiger usually made at least one complete circle around the stadium, whereas Nova and Spirit, the Raptor Center's remaining eagles, rarely circle the whole field.
David Self, also a member of Alpha Phi Omega, first saw Tiger at Camp War Eagle in 1999.
The camp's pep rally was his first visit to the stadium, but Self spent more time watching Tiger than he did learning the cheers.
Self, along with the other trainers, helped prepare Tiger's food, made replacement jesses (the leather anklets that attach to the trainers), gave educational talks about raptors, took Tiger to the veterinary school for her yearly check-ups and served as her surrogate family.
Bransby and Self both remembered being careful not to get "footed" by Tiger. Self described Tiger's talons as vice-like, remembering she would clamp on his arm when upset.
Self remembers narrowly avoiding disaster with Tiger one day.
He had her "covered" in his arms as he was trained to do, with his free arm over her wings and pulled into his body, so that he could avoid spooking her during the eight feet he had to walk to get them under an archway. This did not take long because Self is 6'10".
"Suddenly, I felt a pressure on my chest and looked down to see her foot placed squarely over my heart," he said.
Once he cleared the archway, Self saw he had a hole in his shirt from where her talon had hung on it.
"It was a deeply humbling experience to work with her and to be so closely connected to not only such a magnificent and beautiful creature, but something that was and is uniquely Auburn," Self said.
Bellah said when he hears the phrase "War Eagle," he thinks of Tiger and calls her the "matriarch of War Eagle."
"We lost a member of the Auburn Family, but her spirit will go on," Bellah said. "She symbolizes what Auburn spirit is all about."
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