Why is University of Arizona's slogan "Bear Down?"?

The slogan "BEAR DOWN" was given to the Wildcat teams by John "Button" Salmon, student body president and varsity athlete, shortly before he died in 1926 following an automobile accident. His last message to his teammates was "Tell them to BEAR DOWN".

One day in 1952 Jack K. Lee, an applicant for the UA's band directorship, was leaving Tucson by air following an interview with university administration. From his airplane window, Lee observed the huge letters on the roof of the UA gymnasium. Inspired, he began to scribble down the music and lyrics to an up-tempo song. By the time his plane landed, he had virtually finished it. A few weeks later Lee was named the university's band director, and in September of that year, the UA band performed "Bear Down, Arizona!" in public for the first time. Soon thereafter, "Bear Down, Arizona!" became accepted as UA's fight song.

http://www.arizona.edu/home/bear-down.php

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Bear Down Arizona

In the fall of 1926, John Byrd “Button” Salmon was newly installed student body president at the UA, a promising student and member of note of several of the school’s honor societies. He also was a varsity quarterback, a baseball catcher and generally acclaimed popular campus figure. He embodied all-around.

In early October after the Wildcat varsity defeated the freshman squad in an annual match at the time, Salmon and several friends were returning from a visit to Phoenix, and an automobile crash north of Tucson near Florence left the young athlete critically injured.

Salmon, then 22, lost his battle and died the morning of Oct. 18. A memorial service was held on campus that week, drawing a reported thousand mourners, and a line of cars stretched miles to his burial plot.

The coach at the time, J.F. “Pop” McKale, had visited Salmon in the hospital regularly before his death, and later told the squad the young athlete’s last message to his teammates was, “Tell them... tell the team to bear down.”