The best nicknames, mascots in Arkansas high school sports

Here are some of the top nicknames and mascots in Arkansas prep sports

Every high school has a team mascot and nickname. Some are normal, like the Cabot Panthers, Little Rock Central Tigers, Hot Springs Lakeside Rams, Pulaski Academy Bruins. But there are many that are unique, such as the Nashville Scrappers, Ozark Hillbillies, Rogers Mounties, etc. 

Here is a list of those unique mascots and a brief story behind them.

Alma Airedales  

What is an Airedale? It’s a terrier, often known as Bingley Terrier or Waterside Terrier, bred from the from the Old English Black and Tan Terrier and the Otterhound and potentially some other Terrier breeds. Alma has a statue of the terrier in front of its performing arts center.

Arkansas School for the Deaf Leopards

The school has had the name since 1941, but for many years, there is a running joke between the school and the rock band Def Leopard was formed in 1977. In 2016, when Cary Tyson, a program officer at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute, found out that the rock band was playing in Little Rock, he immediately saw an opportunity to bring attention to a “school that deserves it and does great work,” he wrote on a change.org petition. The petition called for Def Leppard to come to the school and take a picture in front of the scoreboard. Tyson and his supporters also tweeted at the band. While the band didn’t have time to come to the school, they agreed to take a picture with a select number of students with a replica of the scoreboard.

Bauxite Miners

The story of Bauxite (Saline County) is largely the story of the bauxite mining industry. Bauxite, the ore from which the town derives its name, and which is a key component in the production of aluminum, was discovered in great abundance in this area of central Arkansas in 1887. The company that became Alcoa, which mined the ore, not only provided plants and mills but also provided a community for its workers to live in. As the company cared for its workers, the town was able to exceed all expectations and produce enough ore to supply the United States military during two world wars.

Blytheville Chickasaws

The school located in Mississippi County was an area where a lot of Indian tribes settled during the 19th century. The school’s mascot is named after the Indian tribe which moved west in 1836, crossing into Arkansas. The Chickasaw migration was led by twin brothers Chatah and Chikasa, who were passing through land that became Arkansas to get east of the Mississippi River. After a dispute over their destination, Chikasa, led his followers away and became known as Chickasaw and Chata’s followers emerged as the Choctaw.

Carlsile Bison

According to John Colclasure, a 1924 graduate of Carlisle, he said their coach Bernard Bruce was proud of the team and said Bruce claimed they”charged like Bison” and the name has stuck ever since.

Cave City Cavemen

The school’s nickname due to the fact that the city was named for a large cave underneath the Crystal River Tourist Camp, which is the oldest motor court in Arkansas.

Photo courtesy of THV 11 

Conway Wampus Cats

What is a Wampus Cat? The school has had its nickname since 1922. According to an account in “Faulkner County: Its Land and People” indicates that in 1922, a “bunch of boys on the football team were trying to think of something that sounded risqué” The first printed reference was found in the Log Cabin Democrat on October 13, 1922 with the name being given to the team by Lewis Wilson, one of the team members. According to the school’s website, the Conway Wampus Cat is a fearsome creature described as a large sort of mountain lion with glowing eyes that stalks its prey at night. The wampus cat is known by its six legs. The school has adopted its twitter and Instagram hashtag as #sixlegs which means four to run at the speed of light. Two to fight with all its might.”

Danville Little Johns

Danville, which is located less than 40 miles from Petit Jean State Park and its nickname is a nod to the legend of how Petit Jean got its name. The story goes that a young, diminutive French girl disguised herself as a cabin boy named Jean to make the trip to the new world with her lover. Because of her size, her shipmates nicknamed her “Petit Jean,” a loose French translation for “Little John.” She died shortly after arriving in Arkansas and is said to have been buried at the top of Petit Jean Mountain.

Dardanelle Sand Lizards

The name Sand Lizards has been around since 1923 and it started when the phrase was used to describe the football team and has stuck ever since. The Sand Lizard Foundation celebrates World Lizard Day every Aug.14.

Dierks Outlaws

The name is for a wild, unbreakable horse with the colors of blue and white. The school’s mascot is named Blue.

Fort Smith Southside Mavericks

Since the school opened in 1963, its teams were known as the Rebels, in July 2015, the Fort Smith school board voted to drop the name Rebels and its fight song “Dixie” after “giving great consideration to the continuing impact of perceived symbols of racism on the community, state and nation.” In October 2015, a special selection committee voted to change its name to Mavericks, but kept the school colors of light blue and red. The school changed its fight song to “Wabash Cannonball.”

Fordyce Redbugs

Fordyce has one of the most unique nicknames and the story behind it is in the mid 1920s, the Fordyce Lumber Company donated land for the school to have a football stadium since it had to be relocated to accommodate a street widening project, but when workers were clearing the land, the field was tormented by chiggers leading Willard Clary, a Fordyce resident, who covered football games for the Arkansas Gazette to call the name Redbugs.

Gurdon Go-Devils

Gurdon’s mascot is a purple and yellow devil, but a Go-Devil is piece of logging equipment from a bygone era. The Go-Devil was one-horse sled used by loggers to haul trees in the early 1900s.

Harrison Goblins

Harrison became the Goblins in 1926 when the school newspaper started being called The Goblin. The mascot has taken on different looks with its current version being the blue-haired monster.

Joe T. Robinson Senators

The school located in West Little Rock off Highway 10 is often referred to as Pulaski Robinson. It was named after former U.S. Sen. Joseph Taylor Robinson in 1927.

Lonoke Jackrabbits

Not too many schools have the nickname Jackrabbits, but that is the name for Lonoke and the name has taken a life of its own as two restaurants have incorporated the name into establishment. The first one is The Dairy Bar, a local fast food restaurant which has been in business over over 70 years, was renamed to Jackrabbit Dairy Bar in 2017 when the longtime owner Callie Tidwell passed ownership to her son-in-law Travis Perrow. Another restaurant in town is The Grumpy Rabbit.

Monticello Billies

The name is short for Billy Goat with the colors blue and white.

Morrilton Devil Dogs

The six-foot gargoyle sat on the campus of the new Morrilton High School that was constructed in 1925. Morrilton had a contest to select a mascot for the football team which would play in the fall of 1926. The winners of the contest were B. Jack Wilson and James Irvin. Wilson, a senior, noticed that this gargoyle looked like a dog sitting on its haunches. This inspired him and his friend James Irvin to come up with the mascot name “Devil Dog” since that is what the gargoyle looked like. James Irvin drew a figure of a dog with a spiked collar around its neck and this became the Devil Dog Mascot.

Mountain Home Bombers

The name goes back to 1939 when the school fielded is first football team and World War II was taking place. According to local historian Mary Ann Messick, a group of football players was practicing behind what is now Guy Berry Intermediate School when a big, low-flying plane came over. According to Jimmie Fisk, a Mountain Home native who owned a Western Auto store in Yellville, he said it was a bomber and the first they had ever seen. According to Frank “Betsy” Wolf, someone said, ‘Why that’s a bomber.’” Wolf replied, “Hey, that’s us. We’re the Bombers.’” And the name has stuck ever since.

Nashville Scarppers

Nashville never has had a mascot, but its star logo has become iconic. Nichols said it was former legendary coach Gary Segrest whose brainstorm brought about the logo during the 1985-86 school year. Segrest wasn’t happy with the old ‘N’ logo on the football helmets that was similar to the University of Nebraska. Several other helmet designs were used including a Michigan Wolverine-style helmet and a star because he liked the Dallas Cowboys logo. A Superman ‘S’ was also suggested. After some tinkering, Nichols, who was an assistant on the football staff, laid the Scrapper ‘S’ over the star.

“We’ve used that on everything, including our crest, since,” Nichols said. “There is nothing really you can use that represents a spirit, other than a ghost, but that star logo has represented us ever since.”

North Little Rock Charging Wildcats

When North Little Rock consolidated Northeast (East Campus) Chargers and Ole Main (West campus) Wildcats, the two schools came up with a new nickname the Charging Wildcats. Previously, each school had their own nickname Chargers and Wildcats.

Ozark Hillbillies

Ozark adopted the nickname Hillbillies in 1935 with the school colors purple and gold. The original mascot was the Bulldogs with school colors of red and white. The mascot and colors were similar to the College of the Ozark which was known as the Mountaineers until the 1980s. “They kind of inherited this purple-and-white equipment that had this hillbilly-looking mascot on it,” said Bronson Ruston a former columnist for The Spectator, the student newspaper. “But they didn’t want to be the Mountaineers, since U of O was already using Mountaineers. … That’s how they became the Hillbillies.”

Prescott Curley Wolves

Prescott’s nickname came into existence in the early 1920s when Little Rock Central head coach Earl Quigley told a reporter from the Arkansas Gazette that Prescott players were tough and he expected a tough game, but the reporter said the Tigers were expected a “good workout” which was completely different from what Quigley had in mind. After Prescott defeated Little Rock, an editor at the Gazette, received a message from Western Union from Prescott that said, “What do you think of the workout we gave your Tigers this afternoon?” The editor wrote a few paragraphs that were intended to be humorous in which he expressed the idea that the Little Rock team had received a fine workout and was relieved that if it was any worse, then Little Rock would any games left on the schedule. The editor wrote the following headline, “WE THINK THAT OUR BOYS ARE CURELY WOLVES.” On the following Monday, the story and headline were read by students at an assembly in Prescott and the name has stuck ever since.

Rogers Mounties

According to Rogers Historical Museum, the name was chosen in 1935 when the school held a contest in which students wrote a theme suggesting different mascots. The winner was Berniece Price Kincy, who came up with the name Mountaineers and the hillbilly logo that is still used today. The mascot survived a controversy in 1993 when school administrators tried to remove the mascot’s jug and pipe-smoking accessories. A “save the pipe movement was started at the homecoming parade in 1993 and the mascot has remained in place.

Russellville Cyclones

The name “Crimson Cyclones” was given to the team by local fans in October of the 1921 season. The team had new crimson uniforms that were bought by a group of local businesses. And it was described that the team “flattened” opponents like a Cyclone allowing just six points in a perfect nine-game season. There were no playoffs at that time, and the Cyclones were passed over as the state champions in 1921.

Smackover Buckaaroos 

The school was originally nicknamed to the Red Devils and the name was changed to the Buckaroos in the early 1920s during the Oil Boom. According to the book, The Smackover Kids written by the late Don Lambert, the story is that on the opening day of school the student body elected to change its mascot name to Buckaroo and the school colors to black and white. Smackover would be represented by a bronco-busting cowboy.....they would be the Tom Mix's of modern day football...they would be the BUCKAROOS.

Stuttgart Ricebirds

Stuttgart, a city established by German settlers, is known as the Rice and Duck Capital of the World and popular for its rice field and duck hunting along the Mississippi Flyway. A ricebird is a small grey bird found in rice fields and survive on rice crops. The school adopted the nickname shortly after 1912.

Van Buren Pointers

The name Pointers is for a hunter dog and its colors are green and white.

Photo courtesy of KATV 

Warren Lumberjacks

The origins of the name go back back to 1905 when the team adopted the name because of the presence of timber men in the area. The school colors — orange and black — go back to 1915 when one of the coaches was a graduate of Princeton, which has the same colors.

Wonderview Daredevils

The mascot The mascot is personified by Danny the Daredevil, who engages the crowd at sporting events. School colors are green and white.