The trends of mascots aren’t hard to figure out – generally you want some sort of military or dangerous figure, like Pirates, Trojans, Crusaders, Vikings, Raiders, Cowboys, Indians, or some-such. Or you want a ferocious animal, whose courage, daring, and ability to inflict pain will inspire your team. Hence, the multitude of Lions, Bulldogs, Panthers, Wildcats, Leopards, Bears, Hawks, Eagles, Hornets, and Yellow Jackets.
Texas also has quite few varieties of more Unusual Creatures like Deer, Elk, Owls, Bees, and Dragons.
Then there are the schools that go a different direction:
Atlanta Rabbits – The old helmet logo had a ferocious looking rabbit with curled bicep, now sadly replaced with a sleek “running rabbit” design
Forney and Ralls Jackrabbits
New Braunfels Unicorn - I think it would be awesome if this team could generate some kind of mist that only allows furtive glimpses. Also, if they could miraculously heal from injury.
Dallas Washington Pegasus – This is a little strange from a grammatical perspective. Pegasus is a particular creature, not a species. What’s the plural of Pegasus? Apparently it’s Pegasus.
El Campo Ricebirds
Groesbeck Goats – We played them in high school. I always enjoyed the “Milk the Goats” signs.
Frisco Coons
Grand Prairie Gophers
Grandview Zebras
Springtown Porcupines
Killeen and Weatherford Kangaroos
Forth Worth Polytechnic Parrots – Say this one out loud. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say anytime you can add “polytechnic” to the name of your school it makes your mascot more awesome.
There are also the Community-Specific Mascots, based on some form of local industry or geographical feature, like:
Farmersville Farmers - There are several other Farmers, as well.
Robstown Cotton Pickers
Pampa Harvesters
Grapeland Big Sandies – Their mascot is an anthropomorphic sandstorm. That’s cool.
Hereford Whitefaces - That's a cow.
You can also get cute with your town’s name, like:
Frost Polar Bears
Italy Gladiators
And then there are the schools who go for the Confusion Factor, making their opponents have to do research to determine what they are:
Summersville Yeguas
Lanier Voks
Itasca Wampus Cats
Hubbard Jaguars – I include this one because, apparently, there is a law in Hubbard that requires you to pronounce Jaguar as “jagger.” If you say “You mean jag-wahr?”, you will be corrected.
My Favorite Texas Mascot
A part of the unusual creature category, my personal favorite is:
Hutto Hippos
The hippo is my favorite animal, as I have previously revealed. If anyone out there is looking for a unique Christmas present for me, I’d love a baseball cap with picture of a hippo on it.
This is by no means a complete list! Tell me your favorite Texan high school mascot.
We’ll probably talk about weird college mascots when bowl season comes around.
2 comments:
Alas, my high school was simply the hawks, but we played the Atlanta Rabbits. Very sad to hear they've changed the logo. I really liked the rabbit on steroids look. A school near San Angelo is the Winters Blizzard. The logo is an anthropomorphic tornado guy who is blowing, I assume, cold air forward.
Bridgeport is the Bulls. Not very original. But their girls volleyball team goes by the Sissies. Maybe you should look into mascots for girls basketball and volleyball teams as well.
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