I wrote a post in 2010 about our U.S. senator from Illinois, Paul Simon. He was the commencement speaker at our son's graduation from the University of Illinois. I was so moved by his speech that I wrote him a letter telling him so and he actually wrote back to me. This is an excerpt from my post.
...The first thing I remember was him admonishing the Board of Trustees for continuing to use Chief Illiniwek as the mascot for the University of Illinois. I'm proud to say my son was one of those strongly pushing to retire the dancing chief (who was actually dressed as a Sioux instead of an Illiniwek warrior). Mr. Simon told the Board that if one Native American felt it was denigrating to have a person dressed in a Native American costume as a mascot, it needed to stop. He spoke eloquently of prejudice, respect and understanding...
Art was wearing his high school Honokaa Green Dragons t-shirt the other day and it got me thinking about sports team logos and mascots.
I wondered who came up with the idea of a green dragon. I didn't think there were green dragons in Hawaiian lore so I looked online. Would you believe there is a legend with dragons? Here's the link. https://www.to-hawaii.com/legends/puna.php
I don't think the Hawaiian people would mind Honoka'a High School using the dragon as their mascot.
I've always wondered why we had the Marauders as our mascot/logo for Waipahu High School.
I mean really? A marauder? Whoever came up with that? Marauders are not good people. And if you look at the logo, you see they didn't look nice and didn't look like they would play fair.
My first high school was a cougar. I can't remember the second or even if there was one. They didn't make a big deal of it if there was.
ReplyDeleteIn the two schools in which I taught, there were Vikings and Lancers, both historical, so I doubt that anyone was offended.
Our high school football team name was "Red Ravens".
ReplyDeleteInteresting post.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post--I like Art's green dragon, that's cool. The 'Marauders' logo almost gave me a chuckle, that's a pretty nasty looking pirate! Well, my hometown high school is a Native American head (which I like) and the name 'Raiders' (which I don't like).
ReplyDeleteWhy can't these sports teams stick with real or mythical animals...
My high school mascot was a Trojan. Seemingly safe enough, except that it was (probably still is!) a popular brand of prophylactics so you can imagine the high school boy jokes that resulted. It was a brand new high school. I was in the first graduating class and we got to vote on several team names. I don’t remember what the other choices were but you gotta wonder what the adults were thinking when they put Trojans on the list.
ReplyDeleteThere are several in Ohio using the Trojans as their mascot.
DeleteMy grandkids high school Walla Walla High, calls themselves the "Blue Devils," with the head of a mustachioed man with horns and pointy ears. Since we are inundated with wildfire smoke every year I think they should change it to the "Smoke Jumpers." The high school I graduated from was Lincoln Lynx. The one I started out in was the Roosevelt Rough Riders. Personally I really like the "Green Dragons."
ReplyDeleteAt Kaimuki High School, we were the Bulldogs.
ReplyDeleteI never really paid attention to the mascots - but they do seem inappropriate and on the rough and rowdy side. Maybe because of football teams. They want to have that kind of image.
Tigers when I attended - Wildcats, now.
ReplyDeleteAkron North High School was a Norse warrior. Not too bad. Close to home, I am so pleased my baseball team, the Cleveland Indians are looking for a new name and have eliminated all the caricatures in use.
ReplyDeleteOur school used CAnuck. Now I will have to go back and look up what it meant. Our school has been closed since 1958.
ReplyDeleteThe school I went to was the second to open in the district. It used the name of the original school and added the word North. Our teams were called the North Stars. Don't remember if there was a mascot.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you should ask about high school mascots. My High School mascot is the Molalla Indians. Yep, it still is, because the Molalla Tribe was one of the local tribes inhabiting the Willamette Valley, and the Confederated Tribes of Oregon has granted Molalla special dispensation to retain the name. They have worked with tribal affiliates to create a curriculum featuring local tribes. The Molalla Tribe went extinct many years ago but it is still a part of local history. They were asked to change their logo, however. It no longer features an actual Indian chief.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what my high school used as a mascot. I do think the Redskin name is terrible, but I actually really like the idea of a green dragon as a mascot! :-)
ReplyDeleteP.S. I looked it up: the name is the Yellow Jackets. Not a bad name, I'm thinking.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting post. My H.S. mascot was a bulldog!
ReplyDeleteIt truly is shameful the racist mascots. We're slowly clearing that up in Canada. SLOWLY.
My high school had the Little Indians and the cheerleaders' costume was mock deerskin dress with beads and feather in the headband. I have no interest in keeping in touch with my high school days, but I do believe they have changed it by now.
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