Shiretowners – Houlton (ME) High School

No, this is not a Tolkien reference.

Instead, it refers to the fact that Houlton is the seat of Aroostook County. Wait, what?

Well, it’s a little convoluted, so bear with me … First, the British have counties too. They often, though, call them “shires.” And the “capital” or “seat” of a county/shire is typically called the “county town” or “shire town.”

Unfortunately, Houlton was fouded after the Revolutionary War, so it was never really British. Same thing goes for Aroostock County. So, there goes that theory …

Any controversy surrounding the source of that mascot pales in comparison, though, to that around a change in the actual mascot on the field. It was formerly a penguin, but is now – gasp! – a judge.

I mean both do fit (it gets pretty darn cold up there in northern Maine), right?

Houlton? It’s got about 6,000 folks and is right on the Canadian border. Its main claims to fame include being the:

• Terminus of I-95
• Site of an air base
• Hometown of Samantha Smith, a cute little preteen who was a goodwill ambassador to the USSR during the Cold War

Aroostook? Well, would you believe it’s the second largest county east of the Mississippi? Heck, it takes up all of the northernmost part of the state:

The county (or shire or what have you) is mostly famous for potatoes.

The high school? Well, it’s home to not quite 400 students. Couldn’t find out much more on it, I’m afraid.

One thing I do know is that you don’t want to confuse it with the Houlton School, in Rugby, England:

It’s the UK, so they have uniforms there, and not just for the athletes.

The Shiretowners?. Well, first of all, they’re usually called the Shires. A little easier on the tongue, no? Fits on a jersey better too.

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?

Scoopers – Sturgis (SD) Brown High School

As you probably already know, Sturgis is famous for a yearly motorcycle rally. Hard to believe, but the town of 7,000 swells to almost half a million during Bike Week.

Given that, I was thinking the mascot would be more like the Hell’s Angels, Devil’s Disciples, Sons of Satan, or something nice and gang-y like that.

Whence Scoopers? Well, we’ve got a couple of possibilities.

My old friend Google AI tells me that, “The nickname ‘Scoopers’ originated in the late 1800s when cavalrymen stationed at nearby Fort Meade referred to Sturgis as ‘Scooptown,’ claiming the merchants ‘scooped’ them every payday.”

Yahoo!Sports has a slightly different take: “Sturgis was originally an off-site encampment for a number of prospectors at nearby Deadwood, and they often rolled into town to partake in Sturgis' benefits. Namely, scoopers who would scoop money out of the prospectors pockets in exchange for, well, you know.”

Sports Illustrated throws out a third theory. In this one, the soldiers would get so drunk that they would have to be scooped off the streets. 

I’m not sure any of those is all that inspiring, Maybe they should just go with the Death Demons, or Warlocks from Hell, or something else like that.

Interestingly, it sounds like scooping predated the fort, with Sturgis being originally called Scooptown. Don’t exactly know where to go with that one.

It doesn’t look like Sturgis is famous for much other than those bikers. Wikipedia lists 13 “notable people” – including Bobby Buntrock, Pappy Hoel, and Poker Alice – but I’m afraid I haven’t heard of any of them.

Something to do with the Star-Spangled Banner

As for the school, they’ve got a little over 800 students. They field 8 sports, all of them pretty standard. 

It is indeed brown

Their mascot is called Scooper Sam. Here’s a little different version than the one at the top:

Sandstoners – Potsdam (NY) Central High School

And, yes, they do refer to themselves as the Stoners.

Where the heck did Sandstoners come from though? And what the heck does it mean?

Well, if you guessed Potsdam is known for their sandstone, you’d be right. Turns out it’s a pink-orange variety that’s particularly good for construction.

The most famous recipient of that sandstone is probably some of Canada’s parliament buildings. Seeing as Potsdam’s pretty close to the Canadian border, this actually makes a lot of sense.

The city of almost 15,000 is also known for two colleges, SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson. In fact, when those schools are in session, the town’s population goes up by over 50%.

SUNY-P (Are those bricks?!?)

I actually have heard of a couple of the native sons and daughters, In particular, I’m familiar with Peggy Fleming (skater), Wes Craven (director), and Frank B. Kellogg (secretary of state).

Wes is the one in the middle

The high school has about 380 students. Oddly couldn’t really find out that much about it. Its Wikipedia page talks primarily about winning a local quiz bowl and a $10,000 grant from KFC to the school’s Positivity Club.

I do know that it’s at least as old as this pretty ancient postcard

That article also mentions it has 14 sports (but no additional info). It does appear, though, that the hockey team’s pretty good.

Their mascot is this pretty weird-looking dude:

And he’s represented on the ice (and the court and the field) by this much more prepossessing fellow:

I wonder though … Couldn’t they have just been something like the Miners, or the Diggers, or the Quarrymen?

Dang, that last one’s already taken

Sallies – Wilmington (DE) Salesianum School

I wonder if the Sallies ever play the Alices.

Pretty obvious where this one comes from. That said, you still gotta wonder what the heck a salesianum is.

Well, Wikipedia is telling me that it means “house of sales.” Now, you’d think that would mean some place selling furniture, or carpets, or cars, or what have you. Instead, it points to the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales, the Catholic order that started and still run the school.

And, yes, it is indeed Catholic. In fact, it’s one of those very rare institutions, an all-boys school. 

The school dates back to 1903, and currently has 930 boys. Interestingly, it was the first integrated school in the state of Delaware.

They’ve got over 40 “famous alumni,” though I only recognize Jeff Bezos’s stepfather. Most are athletes or military types.

As for the former, the school is definitely an athletic powerhouse. Would you believe they’ve won 185 state titles? Their main sports seem to be cross-country, soccer, and swimming. 

Their mascot appears to be this thing:

I could only find this one picture of it, though, and that doesn’t say anything about it at all.

Sports Illustrated, however, does mention something about “school dogs” Louey and Dewie:

It’s a Catholic boys school, so everybody has to wear a tie

I probably don’t need to say much about Wilmington. It’s a pretty big city, and where every company in the US seems to be headquartered.

Rookies – King Cove (AK) School

This one’s really confusing. Let me (attempt to) explain …

First of all, the Rookies are only for the girls teams. The boys teams are called the T-Jacks.

Second, both appear to have a grizzly as a mascot.

Third, where those names came from is something of a mystery. According to one of the school’s coaches:

“The ‘T-Jacks’ name goes back to King Cove’s Mike Uttecht — the great grandfather of Rookies senior McKenna Gould — who used to call grizzly bears ‘Tundra Jacks’ back in the 1950s.

Barker said the girls team started much later than the boys team, so they were called the Rookies during their first year.”

I dunno. Seems a little random to me. Not sure if I’m buyin’ it.

The town of King Cove is at the very end of the Alaskan Peninsula. It’s pretty isolated – you can only get there by air or ferry. The scenery, though, looks pretty spectacular.

The town was founded in 1911. Currently, there are about 750 people, with approximately half being Native American.

Life centers around fishing. Peter Pan Seafoods formerly operated the largest cannery in Alaska there, but the plant just closed down a couple of years ago. Needless to say, that’s not helping the local economy any.

King Cove School goes from Pre-K to 12^th grade. Not sure exactly how many students they have. I found numbers from 84 to 211 (and am not sure if those are totals or just the high school). The student body is about 85% Native American.

Mother nature or Photoshop?

As for sports, it looks like they have basketball, wrestling, volleyball, and cross country. Seeing as this is Alaska, I’m thinking that last one might be a typo.

Looks like they’ve got some pretty supportive fans at least:

Resorters – Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah High School (WI)

Last week, we had us some purple reindeer. This week, we’ve got ourselves some red elk. 

Which, of course have absolutely nothing to do with the high school’s official mascot, the Resorter.

Now, what exactly is a Resorter, you might ask. Well, Merriam-Webster says it’s someone who is a “frequenter of resorts.”  (Spell check simply wants me to change it to "reporter.")

So, what does that have to do with Elkhart Lake (or Glenbeulah for that matter)? 

Well, It sounds like Elkhart Lake is actually something of a resort town. On the lake shore and within city limits are several, including the Osthoff. According to Conde Nast, that one’s the number one resort in the Midwest. And would you believe it’s going to be the site of the 2025 NFL draft? Damn!

Historically, there were seven resorts in the town back in the late 1800s. They were very popular with urbanites from Milwaukee and Chicago, who would arrive by train.

Today, the town is mostly known for auto racing. The big racetrack in town is called Road America. 

As for Glenbeulah, it’s got about half the population of Elkhart Lake, 460 to 940. They’re both a little north of Milwaukee, about halfway between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan

The high school’s got a mere 160 students. Somehow or other, though, they manage to support 14 different sports.

It looks like they’ve got an elk mascot:

That said, the students also like to dress up like tacky tourists (i.e., resorters!).