Lions, Tigers, and Bears? No thanks, I say.

A sports team's mascot serves many functions. At the core, they all serve to unite a group together under one common name, from pee wee baseball to professional teams.

In the 1930s and 1940s, high schools across the country began picking up nicknames for their teams. At the time, many simply replicated a college or professional mascot.

The best high school mascots, though, came from local or historical significance. These are the most memorable. They're more likely to make you scratch your head and wonder, "Why in the world would a team name themselves the Irrigators?" (Newell High School, SD - a farming community).

In Illinois, there's a wide variety of memorable mascots, which is a staple of many Midwestern small towns, especially.

Roxana High School Shells athletic facilities - Copyright roxanashells.com, 2023

First, the statistics

I spent over a year researching and compiling a spreadsheet of every high school in the country. Here are some of the statistics that I found:

Note: Washington, DC, is included as a state in these calculations.

There are 837 high schools in Illinois, the fourth most in the country (Texas, 1731; California, 1616; New York, 1197). Illinois boasts 258 different mascots, averaging out to 3.24 schools per mascot. This leaves Illinois as the 38th most unique state, though the ten most unique states are also among the smallest states (Rhode Island is 50th in number of schools and first in originality at 1.18 schools per mascot). Of the largest ten states, Illinois ranks third in originality behind Wisconsin (2.81) and Pennsylvania (3.23).

There are over 50 mascots used in Illinois that are not used in any other state, a testament to the originality of Illinois schools.

On the other end, the top mascots in Illinois are the Eagles (35), Panthers (34), Wildcats (31), Warriors (30), and Tigers (29). The top five nationwide are the Eagles (5.52%), Tigers (4.35%), Panthers (4.01%), Bulldogs (3.88%), and Wildcats (3.14%).

Note: these numbers exclude descriptors - Purple Panthers, Fighting Tigers, etc.

Bob the Cob, mascot at Serena High School - Copyright Shaw Local News, 2022

My Top Illinois Mascots

There's a lot of debate about which mascots are the best in the state. Here are some of my favorite Illinois high school mascots, in no particular order:

PRETZELS (x2)

There are two high schools in the United States that use the "Pretzels" moniker - and both are in Illinois!

According to the Freeport High School website,

In an 1895 article, the "Daily Democrat" first referred to Freeport as "The Pretzel City." It seems that there were many German bakeries in the city and, according to tradition, the Billerbeck family enterprise, established in 1881, was the greatest producer of pretzels. Thus, Freeport became the Pretzel City and our athletic teams began to be referred to as the "Pretzels."

Freeport High School logo - HSLogos.com

The other source of Pretzel Pride is in New Berlin, Ill., west of Springfield. According to Why Mascots Have Tales: The Illinois High School Mascot Manual, there are several theories behind New Berlin's mascot. The book notes the most common theory:

The most widely accepted story is that the school board had a meeting back in the early 1920's or 30's to come up with a mascot name for the school's basketball team. The German farmers at that meeting were consuming pretzels and beer during the discussion to create the relaxed atmosphere necessary to help them make a wise and creative decision. Somehow at the end of the meeting they had chosen a Pretzel as their mascot (Willman, 55).

During this year's annual Thanksgiving basketball tournament held in the Pretzel Dome, New Berlin debuted a new jersey, giving themselves the hometown name of "Saltyville."

Dodd Powers Pretzels To Gene Bergschneider Turkey Tourney Title https://t.co/m11YaM3Saj pic.twitter.com/37Vxwn7f4u
— Channel1450.com (@Channel1450com) November 26, 2023

CORNJERKERS

Whenever I talk to people about unique mascots, there are two names that always garner more reaction than the others. "Cornjerkers" is one of those.

Hoopeston Area High School, a farming community northwest of Danville, got the nickname from a news reporter who was tired of waiting for student athletes to show up for the team bus. What were these students doing? Working in the fields, picking - or jerking - the corn.

The team's mascot is also named Jerky.

APPLEKNOCKERS

The other name that tends to receive a gasp and a chuckle is the "Appleknockers" of Cobden High School, located along the Shawnee National Forest. Like Hoopeston's students jerking corn, students working at Cobden's apple orchards would make money by picking apples off the trees... or they would use a stick to knock the fruit off, hence the name Appleknockers.

Cobden High School logo - HSLogos.com

BUNNIES

One of two "Bunnies" in the nation resides in Champaign County at Fisher High School. The story goes that Fisher's 1933-34 basketball team was not very good, but two of their players entered the Paxton Invitational Holiday Basketball Tournament with a good luck charms on their belts: lucky rabbit feet. After winning the first game, the rest of the team and the fans caught onto the gimmick, and Fisher won the whole tournament, receiving the nickname, "Bunny Boys."

Back in 2020, Fisher won the Illinois Helmet Challenge with its unique football helmet, which features an angry rabbit peeking over the face mask with ears tilted back and carrots on the pride stickers.

WOODEN SHOES

Teutopolis (or "T-Town," for short) was originally given the nickname "Krauts" by its opponents due to the town's German heritage. However, it was changed to "Wooden Shoes" because a locally respected coach and teacher believed the previous name was derogatory and that Wooden Shoes better reflected the current state of the town. The nickname has stuck, and Teutopolis High School has been a mainstay in Illinois small-school basketball for decades now.

Teutopolis High School logo, HSLogos.com

PIASA BIRDS

Macoupin County is home to Southwestern High School in Piasa. The town was named after a local Native American creature of folklore, the Piasa Bird. Explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet discovered a painting of a monster near the Alton, not far from the Mississippi River. According to a sign erected by the Illinois State Historical Society in 1984,

In 1836 the novelist John Russell described an image cut into the bluff of a legendary dragon-like creature with wings. According to Russell, the creature was called Piasa, "The Bird that Devours Men." That version of the pictograph as well as myths about the Piasa have become prominent in folklore.

This pictograph of the winged creature is now prominently displayed as the Southwestern High School logo, alongside the colors of green and gold. There is a 23'-by-40' steel sign depicting the logo. The metallic monster overlooks the football field and breathes fire when the home team scores a touchdown.

Fire-breathing steel Piasa Bird - Copyright Southwestern CUSD #9, 2023

Illinois is a unique place with unique high school mascots. Arguably, many of the best ones were not even listed in this blog - Orphans, Midgets, Potters, Flaming Hearts, etc.

It's very easy to lose track of the schools that you've seen that had a cat in their logo - was it the Tigers, the Lions, the Wildcats, the Panthers, the Cougars...? But a name like the Appleknockers or the Cornjerkers is sure to be remembered.

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