A few of our HELMET HUT readers were kind enough to write and relate that
the July and August 2006 columns brought back a flood of memories of their
high school football experiences. While writing my REFLECTIONS articles, I
too enjoyed many of the memories that passed through my consciousness and
was reminded of the value, attraction, and benefits of high school football.
If one thinks about their experience, they will most likely recall the
friendships and humorous incidents that occurred in the one, two, or three
varsity seasons they spent on their high school's field. They will recall
the need to subjugate their personal goals for those of the team, the pride
they had in doing so while representing their high school and neighborhood
to others, and the many lessons learned that were called upon, consciously
or unconsciously, over the course of years or decades. Although tragic from
the perspective of a high school player fighting to preserve a late-game
lead, dug in on one's own three yard line, there is also retrospective humor
in recalling a linemate's bravado in yelling out to the opponent that he was
going "to knock their jock off" and then watching him get pushed four yards
deep into the end zone. Successfully overcoming a two touchdown lead to a
superior opponent and winning what seemed to be an unwinnable game can be a
reminder that all things are possible, even in the adult world.
The tradition of high school football lives on in many places and still
teaches virtues that are otherwise hard to come by in daily life. Juxtaposed
with the emphasis on individual achievement and the attainment of celebrity
that was highlighted in the January 2007 HELMET REFLECTIONS column, these
remain important values that need re-emphasis. Among my most enjoyable
activities were visits to my in-laws' residence in West Lafayette, Indiana,
home of Purdue University. Their home in fact was but a few minutes walk
from the campus and during late summer visits, watching Purdue football
practices were a satisfying and expected part of each vacation trip. Local
high school football however, also offered quite a bit. Like some other
states Indiana finishes pre-season football preparation with round-robin
exhibition games where four teams square off against each other for a
quarter each. I would drive my father-in-law, a Purdue professor and
researcher, to locales within an hour's drive from the campus and watch the
West Lafayette Red Devils, Lafayette Jefferson Bronchos, Harrison Raiders,
Crawfordsville Athenians, Frankfort Hot Dogs, Benton Central
Bisons, Southmont Mounties, and other small town squads battle it out. In
the process we would also be reminded that Indiana has the best
across-the-board high school nicknames in the country, and in many cases,
helmets and uniforms to match.
These annual round-robin "Jamborees" or "Jams" as they were referred to,
allowed family, friends, and neighbors to come out in force prior to the
season, raise funds that would help purchase needed equipment and uniforms,
and provide the interested observer with an opportunity to not only get a
glimpse of the team's playing possibilities, but a chance to scrutinize a
number of uniforms to look for changes, interesting designs, and unusual
color combinations. Linking the school mascot or school name to the
production of the uniform was always an interesting "side benefit" for me.
Leading to questions like, "What helmet logo is used for a Hot Dog?" and
"How can Alice be a school nickname?", here are a few interesting Indiana
High School football tidbits for our HELMET HUT readers:
-Yes, the Vincennes Lincoln nickname is in fact The Alices. Their
original school building was erected in 1897 and the unusual nickname may
have been adopted after Alice of Old Vincennes, from Maurice Thompson's
story. There is another local theory that when Lincoln High School won the
Indiana State Basketball Championship For Boys in 1923, it was referred to
as being like "an Alice In Wonderland coming up through the ranks to win"
experience as Lincoln was not expected to be a factor in the state
tournament and their victory mirrored the same level of fantasy as the
well-known tale. In either case, the green and white of the Vincennes
Lincoln Alices is carried forth into gridiron battle.
- My wife is recognized as one of the best all-time sprinters in the
history of Indiana High School track annals and still a record holder many
decades after her graduation. She has always been proud of the schools that
her West Lafayette Red Devils played against and the small towns in
which she competed. Though West Lafayette High School was a proud member of
the Hoosier Conference and their regular athletic opponents included the
Delphi Oracles, the Sheridan Blackhawks, and the Benton Central Bisons,
there were out-of-conference meets and the state meet. Where else could one
compete against the Crawfordsville Athenians, the Logansport Berries, the
Mishawaka Cavemen, the North Dubois Jeeps, or of course, those Frankfort Hot
Dogs?
- Some of the Indiana high school nicknames are obvious, at least to me:
The Town Of Speedway is home to The Indianapolis Motor Speedway and of
course, the great Indianapolis 500 race thus, the Speedway Sparkplugs is
self-explanatory. The Rockville Rox is reminiscent of Long Island's own
East Rockaway Rocks and if you had a school named Highlands such as Anderson
Highland High School, Scots would be a very acceptable nickname. Hobart's
history as a leading manufacturer of bricks lent itself well to the Hobart
Brickies name, one carried with pride into a number of state championships
through the 1990's. The aforementioned Mishawaka Cavemen can thank the
numerous caves in the area for their name and the less obvious Andrean
Fighting 59ers in Merrillville opened in 1959. If further reinforcement of
the name was needed, the building stands at 5959 Broadway. If you got to
watch the sun come up every morning over the Ohio River and lived in Rising
Sun, Shiners would be a perfectly good school nickname.
-Would being an Eel (Eminence and Clay City), an Artesian (Martinsville),
a Squire (Manchester), or a Zebra (Rochester) serve to frighten the
opponent? Perhaps but I can recall my wife stating how ridiculous it was for
my former high school to be known as "The Golden Tornadoes" or any colored
Tornado. "What do you do for a mascot?" I was asked and it was a question I
couldn't answer as I couldn't think of any depiction of a weather-related
event that served as a mascot.
-A number of the high schools weren't content to have reasonable and
identifiable nicknames, they were either proud enough or athletically
aggressive enough to utilize names that emphasized their intent to excel. On
Long Island, the proximity of two major internationally known airports, JFK
and LaGuardia, may have contributed to the naming of the East Meadow Jets
for example, and Indiana Hauser High School are also the Jets, but Adams
Central are not "regular" Jets, they are the Flying Jets. Sullivan High
School in the southwestern part of the state was not content to be arrows
but rather, Golden Arrows which gives the name a real emphasis. Why settle
for being a Charger when you can be a North Montgomery Chargin' Charger?
- The River Forest Ingots have a philosophical explanation for their
unusual nickname. Noting the dictionary definition of ingot as "a mass of
refined metal cast into some convenient shape for transportation", they
explain that their "mass" of raw material, their students, are refined or
"cultivated in taste, manners, appreciation, and thought" into a "stage of
perfection." Refined metal refers to their tempering of spirit where
students "will strive to obtain the proper temperament" so that they will
always give their best effort, and the molding of each individual assures
the fulfillment of each student's potential. Being transported through the
River Forest system allows for one's diploma or ticket that sends each
individual off to their life's destination, all in all, a very philosophical
and well thought out school mascot designation, one that is unique.
-The Dubois Jeeps had me stumped when I discovered through my wife's
comments that an automobile was not their school mascot. The Thimble Theater
comic strip of the 1930's that featured Popeye introduced "Eugene The Jeep"
on March 16, 1936. Eugene was discovered in Africa and given to Popeye's
girlfriend Olive Oyl by her Uncle Ben and according to the official Dubois
explanation, he resembled "a bear in terms of ears and head, but he has a
very large nose, a long tail, and a protruding stomach. He is known for his
superhuman abilities." Eugene was chosen as a mascot by a group of Dubois
basketball players and the coach and principal agreed. Yellow, roughly the
size of a dog, and always telling the truth, his only word was and is
"Jeep" and he has powers that enable him to move from one physical
dimension to another. Thus was born, the Dubois Jeeps! If one wonders how
unique a mascot can be, it should be noted that South Webster (Ohio) High
School are also The Jeeps.
The nicknames are great and in many cases, so are the uniforms of the
high school teams in Indiana.
NEXT MONTH, PART 2.
