Zeps – Shenandoah (OH) High School

Yes, it’s weird. But would knowing that it commemorates a disaster that took the lives of 14 people help make it any less so?

I thought not. Sure enough, the mascot was named after the crash of the airship USS Shenandoah nearby in 1925.

The Shenandoah was the first airship that the US created, being commissioned in 1923. It was also the first airship to use helium (instead of the much more flammable hydrogen). Apart from its service with the Navy, it also undertook a memorable flight across the country (the first, for a dirigible).

As for the accident, the ship was caught in an updraft that took it to a height where the gas bags burst. With that, the control cars and engines became detached and fell to the ground. It’s kinda amazing that 28 people actually survived.

The high school is actually just outside the small town of Sarahsville (pop. 150), a couple of miles east of the crash site. We’re talking Noble County here, in the rural southeast part of the state.

The school dates back to 1963, and today has 215 students. It appears to emphasize STEM. I actually had a hard time finding much about it. I do know, however, that their yearbook is called the Zeppelinian:

As for athletics, they feature 10 of the more standard sports. Couldn’t find much about those either, though I did uncover a list of colleges recent grads had gotten into. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard of any of them – Walsh, Finlay, Otterbein, Muskingum …

Muskingum are the Muskies!

Wykons – West Iron County High School (Iron Rivers, MI)

What the heck is a wykon?  (Spell check wants me to change it to “Wakens.”)

Well, would you believe it’s totally made up? Yup, in 1968, 3 faculty members came up with a supposedly “mythological creature,” with 3 legs, naming it the Wykon.

Said creature came about through the merger of two high schools – Iron River & Stambaugh – to form West Iron County. The old schools were Immortalized in the original drawing – Stambaugh in the tail & Iron River in the body. Can you see it? Nope, neither can I.

Recently, the mascot got a physical, on-field presence. In 2023, Westy was created to “help bring the mascot to life for students.” Personally, I must admit to simply feeling confused.

Where’s his 3rd leg? Where’s his tail?

Iron County? It’s in the UP, right in the middle of the Michigan-Wisconsin border. The county was organized in 1885, and named after the Iron River (which was, in turn, named after the area’s iron deposits). It currently has 11,600 people. It looks very cold.

The town of Iron River was established in 1885 as well, and currently claims 3,000 inhabitants. Wikipedia lists 5 “notable people,” none of whom I’ve heard of. 

The high school has 400 students. It claims 2 “notable alumni” (also listed under the town):

• Nick Baumgartner, a snowboarder who participated in 4 Olympics, winning a gold in 2022
• Jan Quarless, football coach at Eastern Michigan and Southern Illinois, with a lifetime record of 15-36

As for WIRHS, they offer 7 sports, with the major exception of baseball. Couldn’t find much on the history of Wykon athletics, unfortunately.

Woolies – Millbury (MA) High School

Hmm, I wonder which definition they were referring to:

• “Lacking in clearness or sharpness of outline”
• “Marked by mental confusion”
• “Marked by boisterous roughness or lack of order or restraint”

Though that last one might fit, it’s actually “Of, relating to, or bearing wool.” And that comes from Millbury being – surprise! – an old mill town, where they processed – yup! – wool.

Do you think they shoulda just gone with the Rams?

Millbury is just south of Worcester, in the middle of the state. It has about 14,000 people, and dates back to 1716. 

It’s right on the Blackstone River. And that’s where all those mills come from. In fact, Millbury includes one of the oldest continuously operating mills in the country, dating back to 1735. Interestingly, that mill today contributes parts of MLB’s baseballs. 

Of the town’s notable people, I’m only familiar with one. Wouldn’t you know, though, that he – Ron Darling – just so happens to be a former MLB pitcher. 

Darling was actually born in Hawaii though

The high school dates all the way back to 1851. Currently, they have about 725 students. Wikipedia lists 3 famous alumni, none of whom I’ve ever heard of (Darling went to Catholic school).

They feature all the typical sports, with the interesting addition of esports. They’ve notched 7 state championships, in 3 sports – girls’ soccer (3), baseball (2) & football (2).

The mascot comes from a local newspaper cartoonist back in the 1940s, one Al Banx. And here’s what he came up with:

Al’s also responsible for the mascots of Worcester’s:

• North High School – Polar Bears
• South High School – Colonels
• Polytechnic Institute – Engineers
• College of the Holy Cross – Crusaders

Wooden Shoes – Teutopolis (IL) High School

Man, those’re gonna leave a mark on the basketball court.

Teutopolis is a town of 1,600 people in the southeast part of the state (just 3 miles from Effingham!). It was founded in 1839, by a bunch of Germans. In fact, that odd name is actually Latin for “German city.”

Which also explains the mascot (well, sort of). Officially, it’s to honor the town’s German heritage (wait, I thought it was the Dutch who wore clogs), as well as a local shoemaker who was still making the things in the 1930s.

The high school has 345 students. Reflecting that German heritage (I guess), it’s 97% white.

The school supports 10 different sports, including all the regulars. They’ve notched 5 state titles, all in basketball.

The mascot dates back to 1935 or so. Previously, they were:

• The much more boring Tigers & Bulldogs
• Totally mascot-less

You choose – I’m getting conflicting information on this.

Hard to believe, but the THS mascot is not alone. Seems there once was a minor league baseball team in  Holland, MI (which was actually settled by the Dutch) with the same moniker. That team played way back in 1910 & 1911, but you can still buy their jerseys:

You can, of course, get all kinds of merch for Teutopolis:

Woodchucks – St John (ND) High School

“And here they are, ladies and gentlemen! Let’s have a big round of applause as your St John Woodchucks waddle onto the field.”

St John is a town of 320 people, just south of the Canadian border. Just south of the town is the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation. Both town and reservation date back to 1882. 

Not too surprisingly, the high school is 97% Native American. With only 127 students, they somehow manage to field 8 teams over 6 sports, including a football team (9-man, of course)!

Whence the woodchuck? Well, previously, the team was known as the Zephyrs. Seeing as a “zephyr” is a “soft, blowing breeze,” it seems like they were pretty ripe for a mascot redo.

Like a tiger, or a bulldog, or an eagle … Anything other than a woodchuck.

Nevertheless, the mascot was the winner in a student vote organized way back in 1948. The school claims that the woodchuck is “a unique animal with a fighting spirit that was a good representation of the Turtle Mountains area.”

Sure it is.

The real mascot actually looks like this:

Wildkits – Evanston Township (IL) High School

Surely, you mean “wildcats” “Kits” sound like “kittens.”

Which, surprisingly, is exactly what was intended. Turns out Evanston is host to another school, Northwestern Univ., and their mascot is the Wildcat. (Kind of like the Tarbabes, if you remember them.)

Evanston is a suburb of Chicago, on the North Shore. It dates back to just before the Civil War, and currently has about 78,000 people. 

The high school itself dates back to the 1870s, and today has not quite 3,600 students. The school has over 1M sq. ft., the largest square footage of any HS in the country. Indeed, it looks like a college campus.

With such a large student body, it’s probably not too surprising that ETHS hosts 100 teams in 31 sports. They’ve won 26 state championships (including badminton & table tennis!). 

But not girls flag football, at least yet

The actual, on-field mascot is called Willie the Wildcat. Which is exactly the same as Northwestern’s.

Whirlies – Grimsley (NC) High School

The dictionary definition – adj. informal, “spinning or whirling” – isn’t helping us here very much.

Would you believe, though, that it’s actually short for “whirlwind”? Indeed, the team started out as the Purple Whirlwind, holding on to that nickname from 1920 to 1951. The evolution to Whirlies came from a number of possible sources:

• A simple nickname
• A shortened form used in newspaper titles
• A form used by journalists for elegant variation

An additional impetus was the team’s changing their colors from purple, which was hard to source, to navy blue.

The school itself was originally called Greensboro High School, and dates all the way back to 1899.  The name was changed in 1962 to honor original school superintendent George A. Grimsley. It also helped to distinguish it from what are now 4 high schools within the city limits.

It’s a large school, with over 1,900 students. Wikipedia lists 40 famous alumni, but I’ve heard of only one. Unfortunately, he’s a genuine nut case.

On the athletic side, the school has won more NC state championships than any other. Their first, for football, goes all the way back to 1907.

Their latest was in 2020-21

The actual, physical, on-field mascot is named Whirligig.

I probably don’t need to say much about Greensboro. With a population of 300,000, it’s the 3^rd largest city in NC.