Cheesemakers – Monroe (WI) High School

NOTE:  We’re a little short of 100, so I’m adding a few more to get us to that magic number.

So, this is Wisconsin, right? I would imagine any high school in the state could be called the Cheesemakers. So, what’s so special about Monroe? 

Well, it is known as the “Gateway to Cheese Country,” as well as the “Cheese Capital of the US.”  The town also features a biennial festival called Cheese Days, which dates all the way back to 1914. You’ll also want to check out places like the National Historic Cheesemaking Center, as well as several cheese stores, including Swiss Colony. Well, then – Cheesemakers it is!

Monroe’s right on the border with Illinois, about halfway between Iowa & Lake Michigan. It was settled in the 1830s (with many settlers coming from Switzerland), and officially incorporated in 1882. In addition to cheese, other industries have included lumber and lead mining. Today, it’s got about 10,700 people.

The town claims over 40 famous citizens, though I haven’t heard of a one. I do, though, feel like I need to at least call out the following: 

• “Evelene Brodstone, one of the highest paid female executives of the 1920s
• Edwin Copeland, botanist and founder of the University of the Philippines Los Banos College of Agriculture
• G. Fred Galli, cheesemaker and legislator” [Wikipedia]

For some reason, they’ve also produced 8 generals. Must be something in the cheese.

Evelene would later become Lady Vestley

The high school claims 5 famous alumni (including 1 general!), but no one I’ve ever heard of. It has about 700 students total.

The school features 22 different sports, including all-time faves bowling and girls hockey. They’re 3-time state champions … back in the 1970s … in cross-country.

I feel like their color should be orange

I was wracking my brains thinking about what their actual mascot should look like. Wouldn’t you know – they picked the perfect one:

Beetdiggers – Jordan High School (Sandy UT)

NOTE:  We’re a little short of 100, so I’m adding a few more to get us to that magic number.

Sugarbeeters, meet Beetdiggers!

Yup, once again, we have a high school turning to the lowly sugar beet to provide themselves with a mascot. Just in case you’ve forgotten, sugar beets are the main source of sugar in the US.

The town of Sandy is just south of Salt Lake City. Settlement dates back to the 1860s, with incorporation coming in 1893. Today, the place has 97,000 inhabitants!

The town’s main claim to fame is being home to America First Field, host of MLS team Real Salt Lake. 

Wikipedia lists 27 “notable people.” The only one I’m familiar with, though, is kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart.

The high school takes its name from the Jordan River, which flows through the west part of town. The school dates all the way back to 1907, and currently has a whopping 1,800 students. Wikipedia lists 12 “famous alumni,” none of whom I’ve heard of.

It looks like they offer 15 sports, with nothing too out of the ordinary. They do, though, have a drill team that’s been at it for over 100 years.

And, yes, they do have a physical mascot – the dour, somewhat scary Digger Dan:

Clockers – Ashland (MA) High School

NOTE:  We’re a little short of 100, so I’m adding a few more to get us to that magic number.

Somehow, I don’t think this is what they were after:

Noun, informal, US English: a drug dealer, especially one who sells cocaine or crack.

Instead, this mascot celebrates Ashland’s own Henry Ellis Warren, who invented the first synchronizing timer, in 1916. This handy little device “made synchronous electric clocks possible by keeping alternating current flowing from power plants at a consistent sixty cycles per second” [Wikipedia]. A little obscure, but hey …

Ashland is about halfway between Boston and Worcester. It was settled in the early 18^th Century, and was incorporated in 1845. Today, it has 19,000 people, and operates mostly as a bedroom community for Boston. Wikipedia lists 5 “notable people,” none of whom I’ve heard of.

The high school has 880 students. That’s a very diverse population, with Whites at 60%, Latinos at 20%, and Asians at 14%. The actual physical plant is pretty new, dating back to 2005.

Note big clock

As for athletics, they appear to have all the standard sports. In addition, we’ve also got skiing, equestrian, water polo & mountain biking.

Thankfully, there actually is a real, live, on-field mascot:

By the way, there are a lot of Ashlands out there. Here’s a special call out to the one in Wisconsin, whose high school mascot is the equally weird and wonderful Oredockers:

Zizzers – West Plains (MO) High School

Zzzz … What a snoozer of a mascot.

Hard to believe, but “zizzer” once had a much more lively meaning. According to the school website, a “zizzer” is a:

“N. 1. an expert in any activity - adj. (colloq) FIRST RATE; 2. a person of the highest caliber, ability, or reputation. 3. One who is victorious; (syn) A WINNER! Because to be a ZIZZER means to be the BEST at WHATEVER you do!”

Unfortunately, that bit of slang dates back to 1908. Seems an English teacher used it to describe one of the school’s first yearbooks.

West Plains? The town of 12,200 dates all the way back to 1832.  They’ve got no less than 6 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. It’s right on the border with Arkansas, so was the scene of lots of guerrilla warfare in Civil War. The town’s last brush with history came with an explosion in a dance hall that killed 37.

It claims several notable sons & daughters. These include actor Dick Van Dyke, C&W singer Porter Wagoner, and baseball players Bill Virdon & Preacher Roe.

Porter & friend

Finally, it has a very unique flag. I’m a big amateur vexillologist (realfunwithflags.blogspot.com), so I was happily surprised to see this one.

Couldn’t find out much about the high school except that it has 1,145 students.  I did count 13 sports, as well as 38 state titles (29 being in cross country). 

This just in … They now have a real, physical, on-field mascot, one Bolt.

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