You would think that high school mascot names would not be
that big a deal. But they are.
In towns big
and small, school names help identify a town.
Especially in
smaller towns, it is powerful stuff.
It has always
frustrated me that high schools in my hometown in Iowa and here in Lander have
used Tigers as their mascots. Now a
tiger is ferocious, brave and tough animal, but what the heck does that animal
mean to towns in Wyoming mountains or back in the cornfields of Iowa?
Riverton
athletes are the Wolverines, which at least is a local Wyoming animal.
Wyoming Indian
High School uses Chiefs, which is perfect. Dubois Rams accurately describe that
town’s poster animal.
In Newcastle,
they go nuts over their Dogies, which works well for folks along the Texas
trail where millions of cows (and get along, little dogie) were trailed back in
the day. Lingle goes a little further with the Doggers.
Torrington
sits on the Oregon Trail, hence the Trailblazers. Laramie dominates the high
plains, hence the Plainsmen.
Rawlins
players are called the Outlaws, which has nothing to do with its location as
site of the State Prison. By definition,
an “outlaw” is an old western term for an ornery horse. Their logo is a nasty bronc. Thanks Rob Black
for this information
Two
out-of-state mascot names, which I always loved, are the Belfry Bats in Montana
and the Sturgis, South Dakota Scoopers. Not sure what they scooped? Another
South Dakota high school is Mitchell where the Kernels play, based on the famed
Corn Palace there.
Bruce Pozzi up
in Anchorage referred me to the Aniak Halfbreeds. Not exactly political correct but yes, that
is their nickname.
On a college
level, the UW Cowboys mascot name is perfect.
My local college growing up was the Upper Iowa University
Peacocks. Huh?
Love the idea
of colleges taking their state’s historical mottos like Oklahoma Sooners, Indiana’s
Hoosiers, Iowa’s Hawkeyes and Ohio State’s Buckeyes.
But back to
Wyoming.
Here in
Lander, I always thought we should be the Mountaineers or the Pathfinders. When
your hometown school has been the Tigers or the Lions or the Panthers for
decades, such things are slow to change, if ever.
Wind River
Cougars and Pinedale Wranglers are good historical names as are the Kemmerer
Rangers. Or the Big Piney Punchers, the
Greybull Buffaloes and the Buffalo Bison. I like the Worland Warriors name because
they are in a county named after Chief Washakie.
Veteran
Wyoming sports writer Patrick Schmiedt wrote a blog back in 2011 where he
cussed and discussed various school names.
His friends
thought the Gillette Camels, in Campbell County, to be the worst nickname in
the state, but it rolls nicely off the tongue. Not sure where the Evanston Devils came from.
Once upon a
time, the biggest mine in Wyoming was at the little town of Sunrise, hence the
Guernsey-Sunrise Vikings, which came from the Miners from Sunrise and the
Longhorns from Guernsey. This somehow turns out to be Vikings who are those
folks with big horns sticking out of their caps. Okay? I guess it works for them so that’s good.
Players of the
new Thunder Basin High School in Gillette call themselves the Bolts, I assume
because that area generates one heckuva lot of electricity for Wyoming and the
rest of the country. It must have been an interesting process coming up with a
mascot for an entirely new school. I like (Thunder) Bolts.
Schmiedt wrote
about an interesting situation where the new Tongue River school combined the
Dayton Elks and the Ranchester Rustlers. He hated to see them give up their
wonderful mascot names to adopt The Eagles, which is already used in 1,200 high
schools across the country. It is the most common mascot name. He thought
Tongue River players should call themselves the Elk Rustlers!
His favorite mascot
is at little Eden-Farson, which are the Pronghorns. He said that school is the only high school
in the country that uses that nickname. He
thought the Carpenter Coyotes were bold to pick a mascot for which there is a
bounty for folks who can find them and shoot them and collect a few bucks along
the way.
Several
friends sent me hilarious experiences they endured concerning their local
schools’ mascots. I would like to invite readers to please email me your
funniest stories. Thanks in advance. I will publish a future column featuring
all these funny stories.
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