Wardens – Powell County High School (Deer Lodge, MT)

Well, I suppose they could’ve been the Criminals instead.

Deer Lodge is a city of 3,000 in a very central location in western Montana. It’s about an hour from the capital, Helena, about 30 minutes up I-90 from Butte & about 25 miles from Anaconda. 

Such a central location made the place ideal for the state hospital and also for the state prison. I guess Wardens would describe the head honcho at both places. 

Deer Lodge has 2 other notable sites:

• Grant-Kohrs Ranch, dating back to the days of the cattle barons
• The Old Prison, which also includes a theatre, cars, antiques, and an old locomotive

Deer Lodge was also important to Native Americans, a stop on the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and a railroad and mining center.

The city is the county seat of Powell County, which itself has a population of almost 7,000. Some interestingly named communities in the county include Racetrack, Carpenters Bar & Wall City.

The high school dates back to 1903. Currently, it has about 185 students.  

It won its first (and only) state championship in 2005, in golf. It looks like it offers 10 different sports. Girls teams are, invariably, called the Lady Wardens.

Hard to believe, but you can actually get a Warden figurine online (Custom Period Costume Mascots):

Wamps – Braintree (MA) High School

Now, Wamps are bad enough. Put that together with Braintree, though …

So, what is a wamp? Well, it sounds like it:

• “Refers to a solution stack for the Microsoft Windows operating system”
• “Helps you find profitable products to sell on Walmart with smart, data-driven insights—powered by SellerAmp and tailored for success in the Walmart marketplace”
• “Is the friendly mini painting forum for all painting abilities”
• Stands for the Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors
• Are “web-footed creatures that are ‘spawned’ in dead cities and roam the graveyards of the upper regions of the Dreamlands” [in HP Lovecraft’s The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath]

Now, “Wamp” is also short for Wompatuck, a chief of the Massachusett tribe. And that’s where this particular Wamp came from.

Now, what is a Braintree? Easy. It’s a city of 39,000, just south of Boston. It dates back to 1640, and is named after Braintree, England (which simply means “Branoc’s tree”). It’s primarily known for its connection with the Founding Fathers, especially the Adams family. It was also the site of the murders that led to the Sacco & Vanzetti trial.

They were also in the LLWS this year

The high school dates back to 1858, and currently has about 1,675 students. Its teams have won state championships in girls soccer, girls basketball & dance. Notable people include the usual athletes and politicians, as well as Amy Bishop, a Harvard PhD and college professsor who opened fire at a department meeting, killing 3.

Seeing as we’re talking about the most liberal state in the nation, it shouldn’t be too surprising that the school is thinking about changing their mascot. Though actually voted through in 2020, the Wamps are still around, albeit with a new logo.

Voks – Lanier High School (San Antonio TX)

Hey, an AI hallucination:

Doing a little more traditional research, I found out that the mascot comes from Lanier being a vocational high school. 

Now, what does a Vok look like exactly? Well, it appears AI got it right this time: “The mascot is often a personified gear, emphasizing unity and strength through participation in the school community”:

Or even more scarily:

Lanier is actually Sidney Lanier, the Confederate poet. And, yes, there was such a thing as a Confederate poet. 

He’s actually a pretty interesting fellow. War-wise, he served as a private in the Confederate army, worked on a blockade runner, and was captured & imprisoned (catching the TB that would take his life at age 39). In addition, he was very musical (as flautist, organist & composer) and was also a teacher (including at Johns Hopkins).

Interestingly, he is the namesake of 14 schools (including 1 college), a couple of lakes, a county, an island, a bridge, a scholarship at UCLA, and lots more.

The high school dates back to 1915. Currently, it has about 1,550 students, and is 95% Latino. As for that last bit, it was the first high school in the US to offer classes in mariachi music.

Also along those same lines, the school’s 1939 boys basketball team made some history by beating the local all-white high school for the city championship. Their star was all of 5’1”.

San Antonio’s big enough to have its own NBA team, so I won’t say any more about it.

And also this place 

Villains – Bishop McGuiness High School (Kernersville NC)

According to the school’s website, “Our school mascot, ‘The Villain,’ comes from our early roots at the Villa Marie Anna Academy.” 

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “villain” means “a low-born base-minded rustic; a man of ignoble ideas or instincts; in later use, an unprincipled or depraved scoundrel; a man naturally disposed to base or criminal actions, or deeply involved in the commission of disgraceful crimes.”

I’m actually pretty familiar with these guys. They’re rivals of my boys’ high school, Charlotte Catholic. 

BM’s Wikipedia page mentions four sports, along with the number of each’s state championships. Those include basketball (boys 6, girls 9), cross-country (boys 2, girls 3), tennis (boys 1) & volleyball (girls 0 - ?!?!). I see it doesn’t mention anything about football, though. Does it? Huh, losers?

Other than a pretty good athletic program, the school dates all the way back to 1959 and currently has about 455 students. If you couldn’t guess already, yes, it is indeed Catholic.

Kernersville is between Greensboro and Winston-Salem, in NC. It was settled in the mid 1700s, but incorporated only in 1873. Today, there are 26,500 inhabitants. 

Wikipedia lists 13 “notable people,” none of whom I’ve ever heard of. They do, though, include great names like Kemp Wicker, Turner Battle, DeLana Harvick & Ramelon O’Arwisters. In addition, Brent LaRue “represented Slovenia in the men's 400 meters hurdles at the 2012 Summer Olympics.”

Almost forgot … somehow or other this refugee from the Blue Man Group is their physical, on-field mascot: