Top 10 high school mascots in California: Vote for the best

From Fighting Zebras to Horned Toads to Tarbabes, meet the best high school mascots in California

Can you guess which California high school football team here is called the Fighting Zebras? / CLIFFORD OTO/THE STOCKTON RECORD / USA TODAY NETWORK

It's fire season in California, so we're offering up a lighthearted cure for the smoky blues with the best high school mascots in the state.

Over the next couple of months, SBLive/SI will be featuring the best high school mascots in every state, giving readers a chance to vote for No. 1 in all 50.

Vote: Best high school mascot in Alabama

Vote: Best high school mascot in Alaska

Vote: Best high school mascot in Arizona

Vote: Best high school mascot in Arkansas

The winners and highest vote-getters will make up the field for our NCAA Tournament-style March Mascot Madness bracket in 2025. The Coalinga Horned Toads (California) are the defending national champions.

Here are High School on SI's top 10 high school mascots in California (vote in the poll below to pick your favorite):

The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday, Sept. 17.

1. Barristers (John Marshall HS)

The L.A. school, which opened in 1931, was named afterJohn Marshall, who served as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835. In honor of Marshall’s long, storied law career, the school’s students called themselves the Barristers, and Johnny Barrister is their studious-looking mascot.

2. Biohazards (Life Academy)

Beware Life Academy athletes’ knowledge of microorganisms when facing this Oakland school that’s focused on health and bioscience.

3. Falcons (Millennium HS)

The first hope upon learning about the Millennium Falcons in Piedmont was that George Lucas went there. The next hope (a new hope) was that the school predated 1977 blockbuster “Star Wars.” Alas, Millennium started in 2004 — after “Attack of the Clones” and before “Revenge of the Sith” — but huge points go to the founders for picking a perfectly paired mascot with the school name.

4. Fighting Zebras (Lincoln HS)

No, there aren't zebras roaming around the Sacramento suburb of Lincoln. The name came 100 years ago courtesy of the school's student paper, which pointed out the zebra-like appearance of the basketball players in their striped warm-up suits.

5. Haybalers (Hollister HS)

More commonly referred to as the ‘Balers, their pitchfork-wielding mascot looks straight out of a bucolic horror movie. Hollister is an agricultural area neighboring Gilroy (the garlic capital of the world), and the pair’s annual rivalry football game against each other is called the Prune Bowl.

6. Horned Toads (Coalinga HS)

Coalinga’s Horned Toad history goes back to 1935, when the first Horned Toad Derby was run in town. The event pits captured wild horned toads against one another in a race on a makeshift track, while Coalinga High School athletes compete on a more state-of-the-art track.

7. Tarbabes (Compton HS)

In 1927, a community college was added to Compton High School’s campus, and the mascot changed from the Lions to the Tartars (a Mongolian warrior). The college was known for being “Adult” Tartars while the high school was considered “Baby” Tartars. The Baby Tartars have had many nicknames over the years: Little Tartars, Tartar babies, Babes and now the Tarbabes.

8. Tillers (Tustin HS)

Tustin High School, alma mater of former NFL running back and current UCLA football coach DeShaun Foster, has been known as the Tillers since the school opened in the early 1920s. The name is a reference to the farmers who once made up much of Tustin’s population. Today, the median home price in Tustin is just over $1 million.

9. Tologs (Flintridge Prep)

You don’t know what a Tolog is? Obviously it’s an acronym devised by the Flintridge Sacred Heart Class of 1948 meaning “To Our Lady of Good Success.”

10. Ugly Eagles (Clayton Valley Charter HS)

According to the Sacramento Bee, back in the 1970s a gruff football coach ordered his players to cut their hair and trim their sideburns. The players at then-Clayton Valley High School rebelled, so the coach deemed his shaggy lot to no longer be the Eagles but instead the “Ugly Eagles,” and the mascot stuck. The school became Clayton Valley Charter in 2012.

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-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive | @sblivesports

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