Tiger or Bear Cub?

The D.C. [Detroit College] Tigers experienced a name change some years down the road... The Academic [High School] Department's football team inevitably became The Cubs of the Tigers, and the name has remained to this day for The High's teams. Interestingly they began life as tiger cubs, and were so represented as near-adult cubs in line drawing and caricature for years. At some point, now undeterminable, the tiger cubs gave way to the present identity as bear cubs. In 1897 and for some time after, boys from the Academic [High School] played on the Collegiate team.

An excerpt from John McCabe's book, The High. A Living Diary of University of Detroit High School, 1877-1948