As we get deeper into the high school softball season, one of the fun things is to look into the teams’ nicknames. We’re going in a different direction a bit here, but thought you’d enjoy reading a fun story we did a while back on school nicknames and some of the wonderfully creative, clever, funny and even historically relevant names and mascots around the country.

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FROM HODAGS TO HEADLESS HORSEMEN
The Romance of America’s Most Unique High School Nicknames

By Carlo Kumpula

Snorting and hissing as it crept through the forest, the Hodag was in search of its usual meal, a white bulldog. Some six feet in length, with claws like iron and a row of spikes from head to tail, the Hodag was more menacing than any other creature in Wisconsin’s northwoods.

Nocturnal and solitary, the Hodag managed to avoid capture until the late 1800s when Eugene Shepard of Rhinelander trapped one. People crowded into tents at local fairs to see the fearsome beast, and word was received that the Smithsonian Institution was going to send a man to investigate.

Only then did Shepard admit that the Hodag wasn’t quite real; that he’d built it out of wood, ox hides, bull horns, and bent steel rods. Shepard’s creation was eventually destroyed in a fire, but the Hodag legend lives on; most notably as the mascot of Rhinelander High’s sports teams.

In the Old South, meanwhile, lived something called the Wampus Cat, described as a hideous critter possessing the head of a man, the body of a wildcat, and the soul of a demon. The Wampus Cat lurked along gloomy river bottoms and preyed upon hapless hunters, fishermen, and travelers; and anyone else who wandered too far away from civilization.

The Wampus Cat also proved to have a greater range than that of the Hodag, as high schools in Itasca, Texas, Conway, Ark., Atoka. Okla., and Leesville, La., all claim the Wampus Cat as their own. One Wampus Cat actually drifted northward into present-day Idaho, where Clark Fork High adopted it.

Hodags and Wampus Cats are what all high school nicknames should be. Interesting, colorful, unique. With all respect to the hundreds of Panthers, Cardinals, Tigers, and Eagles out there; sorry, you didn’t make the cut. A little creativity is in order.

It’s possible that the only athlete who might have been a match for either the Hodag or the Wampus Cat would have been a Nimrod from Watersmeet High of Watersmeet, Mich. Nimrod was a descendent of Ham and is represented in the Old Testament book of Genesis as a mighty hunter. Watersmeet, situated in the heart of the Ottawa National Forest, is in prime hunting territory, and Nimrod is a perfect fit.

Watersmeet is one of many schools to have nicknames that represent people; some real, others imagined. What about the Peglegs of Stuyvesant High in New York City? Seems that Peter Stuyvesant, who would later become the last Dutch governor of New Amsterdam (now New York), had to have his right leg amputated after being wounded in a battle back around 1644. Thereafter he wore a wooden leg.

And how about the Brockton Boxers of Brockton, Mass., which happens to be where legendary heavyweight champ Rocky Marciano is from. I guess the Brockton Marcianos didn’t catch.

Just north of New York City lies Tarrytown, and the old village of Sleepy Hollow. Remember Washington Irving’s tale of Ichabod Crane, the awkward fellow who was menaced by a caped rider on a black horse? What better name for Sleepy Hollow High than the Headless Horsemen? I’d hate to play them on Halloween.

Indiana has many interesting nicknames and one of the best is the Vincennes Lincoln Alices. As explained on the school’s website, “According to local legend, the name Alices came about in 1923 when a sportswiter used that name to describe the boys basketball team after a game in Columbus. The name was the result of combining the tale of Alice of Old Vincennes and the fairy tale of Alice in Wonderland.”

While we’re pretty much familiar with the latter, some of us non-Hoosiers may not know much about this other Alice. Written by Maurice Thompson, Alice of Old Vincennes was the best selling romance novel of 1900. Set in Vincennes at the time of the American Revolution, the novel tells the story of Alice, a spunky French orphan girl who falls in love with one of George Rogers Clark’s men.

Minnesota boasts a couple of nicknames based on notable people. The Little Falls Flyers are so named because Charles Lindburgh spent much of his youth there, playing on the banks of the Mississippi River. Sauk Centre, to the southwest, was the boyhood home of author Sinclair Lewis. The title of his most famous work has thus given us the Sauk Centre Mainstreeters.

The Land of 10,000 Lakes also is a land of many other great nicknames. Among the best are the Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms and Granite Falls Kilowatts.

Then we have the Midgets. Northern Wisconsin sports two high schools who bear that nickname, but for distinctly different reasons. Butternut was the home of Charles “Midget” Fischer, a former Olympic and professional wrestler who achieved national recognition in the 1940s. The Butternut Midgets are named in his honor.

Hurley, just an hour’s drive away, is not quite so defined. The best story is that in the 1930s a local sportswriter used that term to describe the local basketball team, which sorely lacked height that year. Another plausible theory is that the iron miners who settled the area were actually at an advantage if they were short, so as not to be constantly ducking the beams in the mine shafts. Either way, the Hurley Midgets have endured. One school in Illinois, Freeburg High, is also called the Midgets. Their school mascot looks a bit like Yosemite Sam, minus the hat.

Economic activity has spawned many a nickname. My own alma mater of Mellen, Wisc., is the Granite Diggers. The most noteworthy of the granite taken from local quarries was shipped to Arlington National Cemetery in 1964 to become the memorial at the grave of President John F. Kennedy. Our entire school was dismissed one afternoon so we could hike down to the local rail yard to watch the huge slabs being loaded on to flatcars. It was a great honor for the community.

Pennsylvania has a similar tale. The Northampton area is rich in limestone and is known as the heart of the Cement Belt. Cement from the former Atlas Cement Plant was used to build the Panama Canal, the Empire State Building, and Hoover Dam. Northampton’s nickname? They’re the Konkrete Kids.

In Ohio you can find the Ceramics of Crooksville High. More than a dozen pottery companies have flourished in the area; as have the Crooksville-Roseville Pottery Festival, the Hull Pottery Convention, and the Ohio Ceramic Center. In Alaska you can find the Whalers of Barrow High, the northernmost school in the country. For hundreds of years, whale hunting has been an integral part of the Inupiaq Eskimo subsistence life.

Mitchell, South Dakota is the home of the Corn Palace. In the summer it’s a tourist mecca. In the winter it’s the home of the Kernels’ basketball teams.

Speedway, Indiana is the home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500. What better name for Speedway High than the Sparkplugs?

Continuing with the economic or agricultural connections, we have the following:

• An area rich in apple orchards has given us the Cobden Appleknockers of
• Cobden, Ill.
• Athletes from a city that made some of the first meat-cutting machines are the Slicers of LaPorte, Ind.
• Iron ore was once shipped from Ashland, Wisc., whose teams are still called the Oredockers.
• A sweet topping from Cairo, Ga., created the Syrupmakers.
• Wheat from the great plains was turned into salty snacks in Freeport, Ill., home of the Pretzels.
• Spooner and Altoona, both in Wisconsin, and Proctor, Minn., share rich traditions as Railroaders (or Rails).
• Harvesting an absorbent sea creature was vital to Tarpon Springs, Fla., home of the Fighting Spongers.
• Potato fields are a common sight around the Ridgefield (Wash.) Spudders, Moorhead (Minn.) Spuds, and Shelly (Id.) Russets.
• Tillamook of Oregon is known for its cheese, so the Tillamook Cheesemakers nickname shouldn’t be a surprise.
• A nearby institution for mentally impaired patients spawned the Orofino Maniacs of Orofino, Id.
• A factory that made top hats is the source of Danbury High’s (Danbury, Conn.) High Hatters nickname.
• Improving the yield is always the goal of the Hoopeston (Ill.) Cornjerkers.
• A long time ago a unique type of car was made in Kingsford, Mich., home of the Flivvers.
• •Finally, farming is a way of life for the San Benito-Hollister (Calif.) Haybalers.

 

We also find names that describe a link with the physical environment; such as the Carlsbad Cavemen/Cavegirls of Carlsbad, N.M., the Somerset Briar Jumpers of Somerset, Ky., the Pacific Grove Breakers of Pacific Grove, Calif., the Martinsville Artesians of Martinsville, Ind., the Ishpeming Hematites of Ishpeming, Mich.; and the Dunn School Earwigs of Los Olivos, Calif.

Anything you don’t understand here, you’ll have to grab your dictionary.

From the historic or cultural perspective we have the Collinsville Kahoks of Collinsville, Ill., named for the Kahokia culture and mounds; the Ozark (Ark.) Hillbillies; and the Teutopolis (Ill.) Wooden Shoes. We also have the Bret Harte Bullfrogs of Angels Camp, Calif., named after Mark Twain’s story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Then there’s the DeKalb (Ill.) Barbs, named after a kind of fencing; the Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy (Calif.) TOLOGS, which I’ve been told is an acronym for “To Our Lady of Good Success”; and the Eau Claire Memorial Old Abes of Eau Claire, Wisc. named for an eagle who went into battle with the Wisconsin Eighth Regiment during the Civil War.

Then there are the nicknames that are simply word-plays, such as the Polo Marcos in Illinois; the Poca Dots in West Virginia; and the Hamlin Pied Pipers and Winters Blizzards, both in Texas.

Let’s close with a few that are simply too outrageous to be believed; but that’s what makes them great.

In Texas, for example, are the Hutto Hippos. Seems that many, many years ago a circus was in town. One of the large beasts escaped (can you guess which one?) and found a new home in a drainage ditch, removal from which required much time and effort.

If you don’t buy that one, try the story of the Obezags from the Key School of Annapolis, Md. The school’s campus is located on the site of an old manor house. On the grounds of the manor were many gazebos. Years ago, when it was time to find a nickname for the school’s sports teams, someone came up with the idea of turning “gazebo” around. Thus, the Obezags were born.

Rounding out the list I also must include Red Elephants (Gainesville, Ga.); Bats (Belfry, Mont.); Unicorns (New Braunfels, Texas); Wardogs (Miami, Okla.); Hatchets (Bad Axe, Mich.); Electrons (Franklin, Philadelphia, Pa.); Battling Bathers (Mt. Clemens, Mich.); Flying Ls (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.); Flaming Hearts (Effingham, Ill.); Woodchucks (Waverly, S.D.); Atom Smashers (Johnson Prep, Savanna, Ga.); Crushers (Vintage, Napa, Calif.); Parrots (Poly, Los Angeles, Calif.); and Imps (Cary, N.C.).

Finally, don’t even start thinking of what would happen if the Yuma (Ariz.) Criminals and the Powell County (Mont.) Wardens ever got together for a game. Could be a real Zizzer (West Plains, Mo.)!

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Carlo Kumpula, who wrote this article for Student Sports, lives in Wisconsin and was a junior high teacher in Spooner, Wisc., home of the Railroaders. He was a Mellen Granite Digger and is married to an Ashland Oredocker.