UCLA Bruins Fans: The Eight Clap, the Rose Bowl, Tradition
Josephine lived in a backyard. Joe ran away with the circus. Both were bears, both belonged to UCLA and both eventually got too big for anyone to handle.
It is the kind of story a fan base tells with a straight face. And it says a lot about the people who love this team.
UCLA Bruins fans root for a school that had to borrow its own name, in a city with a hundred other things to do on a Saturday. They answered by building traditions that are loud, precise and a little bit theatrical. This is Los Angeles, after all. Nobody here does anything without a sense of production.
A Name on Loan
Before they were Bruins, they were Cubs. The name fit a young campus seen as the little sibling of the university up north, and students hated what it implied. So in 1924 they became the Grizzlies.
That lasted two years. When UCLA joined the Pacific Coast Conference in 1926, Montana already owned the Grizzlies name. The solution came from an unlikely place. Student leaders at Berkeley, whose teams were the Bears, gave up the name Bruins so the Los Angeles campus could have it.
Think about that for a second. One of the most recognizable names in college sports was a hand-me-down from a rival. Bruins fans have spent the century since making sure nobody remembers it that way.
The colors came from the same family tree. Blue and gold belong to the whole University of California system, but UCLA gives them a local reading: blue for the ocean and the wildflowers, gold for the Golden State, the poppies and the sunsets. Even the palette sounds like a postcard.
Joe, Josephine and the Bears That Got Too Big
Now, about those bears. In the 1950s, UCLA kept live bear mascots. Joe was a Himalayan bear cub who grew until his caretakers could no longer manage him, at which point he was sent to a circus. Josephine, another cub, was kept in the backyard of the student rally committee chairman. When she outgrew the yard, she moved to the San Diego Zoo.
Live bears once roamed the sideline at the Coliseum. That era ended for obvious reasons, and the costumed versions took over. Student performers have appeared as Joe and Josephine Bruin at games since the 1960s.
The costumes have their own history. Early versions of the mascot looked a bit like a famous cartoon mouse. The wardrobe moved from turtlenecks in the 1940s to basketball jerseys in the 1960s and 1970s. Somewhere along the way, the bears settled into the friendly, slightly smug look fans know today.
Eight Claps and a Stadium Full of Flashlights
Every fan base has a signature. For UCLA it is the Eight Clap, a yell introduced by a student in 1948 that still follows the fight song around like a shadow.
The mechanics are simple once you have seen them. A slow rise of the arms, eight sharp claps, then the four letters spelled out with fist pumps, and a final “Fight, fight, fight.” The school even publishes a step-by-step guide for newcomers.
Then there is the tradition almost nobody outside Westwood knows about. In 1935, at night football games, UCLA students began performing light stunts, each one holding four colored bulbs. In 1953 the system changed to flashlights with eight color filters. Picture a student section turning itself into a glowing sign, one handheld light at a time. Card stunts are common in college football. Doing them in the dark is a very Los Angeles twist.
The songbook fills in the rest. “Sons of Westwood” is a fight song from the 1960s, adapted from a Berkeley tune, which keeps the family theme going. “Mighty Bruins” arrived later, first played at a football game in 1984.
Saturdays in Pasadena
Here is the strange part of being a UCLA football fan. The stadium is not on campus. It is not even in the same city.
For decades the Bruins shared the Coliseum with USC, a story we told in our guide to the USC vs. UCLA rivalry. Since the early 1980s, home has been the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, one of the most famous stadiums in America, tucked into the hills of the San Gabriel Valley.
The distance changes the ritual. Game day is a road trip before it is a game. Fans load up in Westwood, cross the city and set up in the grass lots around the stadium, where the tailgates spread out and the official fan zone opens hours before kickoff. Most college fans walk to their stadium. Bruins fans commute to a landmark.
It makes the day feel like an event rather than a routine. When we asked fans for their best advice, the answers were about burritos, parking plans and making noise. You can read them all in our UCLA game day hacks.
The Den Keeps Watch
The student section has a name: The Den. Its members do the usual student section things, like filling the seats and losing their voices. They also do something less usual.
Each year, in the week before the USC game, the Bruin Bear statue on campus is covered with a heavy tarp and a sign announcing that the bear is hibernating. Members of The Den then take overnight shifts to guard it against visitors from across town.
It is half security and half theater. Mostly it is an excuse to spend a cold night outside with friends, protecting a bronze bear for the honor of the school. If that sounds familiar, the fans across town have a matching ritual. Meet them in our look at USC Trojans fans.
What Makes Bruins Fans Different
College football loyalty usually comes from isolation. The team is the biggest thing in town because it is the only thing in town. We wrote about that pull in our piece on why college fan culture hits different.
UCLA fans do not have that. They live in a city with beaches, studios, pro teams and perfect weather, all competing for the same Saturday. Showing up is a choice, made again every week.
Maybe that explains the style. A borrowed name turned into a brand. Two bears who became legends. A clap with choreography, and a student section that once lit up the night with colored bulbs. Bruins fans treat fandom the way their city treats everything else: as a performance worth rehearsing.
Eight claps. Four letters. One long drive to Pasadena. And a bear under a tarp, waiting for the week to end.
Related Reading
UCLA Game Day Hacks: What Bruins Fans Swear By Before Kickoff | Off the Field
USC vs. UCLA Rivalry: The Victory Bell and a City Divided | Culture Clash
USC Trojans Fans: Fandom of the Week | Culture Clash
