Shells – Roxana (IL) High School

I’m afraid this one’s a little cringey. The Shells are named after Shell Oil, who started an oil refinery there. Kind of like naming your child after your boss, you know?

Ironically, the refinery, which is still running strong, is now owned by Conoco-Phillips. I guess they should change their name to the Phillies (or Connies) then.

And would you believe the town was named by Shell as well? It’s actually named after a Shell-owned company, the Roxana Petroleum Company, in Texas. Like I say, cringe.

Roxana’s got about 1,500 people. It’s in the southern part of Illinois, very close to the Mississippi and just north of St. Louis. Not seeing too much going on there other than the refinery. Here’s a shot of the hoppin’ downtown:

It’s kinda hard to escape that huge refinery though. Here, for example, is a pic of the high school, belly up to some oil tanks:

The school’s got about 500 students. They offer 10 sports for both boys and girls. The football team happens to have one of the more interesting helmets I’ve seen out there.

Sort of reminds me of the Arizona state flag:

And here’s their rather cringey mascot:

Now, what I want to know is why these poor folks aren’t the Oilers, or the Roughnecks, or the Drillers, or … anything other than the corporate Shells that they are?