In 1908, Austin Miller began law school at the University of Virginia. He was from Gainesville, Florida, where the University of Florida is. 

Mitchie Company

Austin and his father, Phillip, went to the Mitchie Company in Virginia to order some pennants and banners for Philllip's store in Gainesville. 

Phillip and Austin saw many different kinds of banners and pennants for different colleges with their own animal symbols, such as the Yale bulldogs and the Princeton tigers.

When making the pennants and banners for the University of the Florida, the manager asked for Florida’s school emblem. Phillip and Austin did not have an answer, as UF did not have an animal symbol.

Austin thought an alligator would be a good symbol for the University of Florida. Alligators are native to Florida and no other school had claimed the animal as their symbol. 

After finding a photograph of an alligator, the Mitchie Company began making pennants and banners for the University of Florida using an alligator as the symbol.