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

From Angoras to Red Elephants to Screaming Devils, meet the best high school mascots in Georgia

Notre Dame Academy is the only high school in the country with an Irish Wolfhound as its mascot. / Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK

Georgia's rich high school mascot history includes not just syrup, but syrup made in the town where Jackie Robinson was born.

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 Connecticut

Vote: Best high school mascot in Delaware

Vote: Best high school mascot in Florida

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 Georgia (vote in the poll below to pick your favorite):

The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday, Sept. 26.

1. Aardvarks (Atlanta Adventist)

Since Atlanta Adventist opened in 1979, it’s been known for its rigorous academics and unusual mascot. The aardvark is found in the wild only in Africa, but you can find Aardvarks in Gwinnett County.

2. Angoras (Clarkston HS)

From the city of Clarkston’s history page: “It was said that, in the early 1900s, many Clarkstonians owned up to twenty goats! They supposedly were associated with a high level of prestige. These goats were believed to be the renowned Angoras variety, and they needed to graze out in the open.” Clarkston's sports teams are also of the renowned Angoras variety.

3. Atom Smashers (Johnson HS)

Johnson High School was founded in 1959 as a laboratory school to Savannah State, and that scientific connection gave birth to the Atom Smashers.

4. Catamounts (Dalton HS)

The catamount, also known as the eastern cougar and nicknamed “the ghost cat,” went from going unseen for 80 years to officially being declared extinct in 2018. But even though you can no longer spot catamounts in the Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia, Catamounts continue to thrive at Dalton High School.

5. Grangers (LaGrange HS)

The high school sports world is loaded with Rangers, but LaGrange High School sports the only Grangers in the country. The school’s website has a simple answer to the question, “What is a Granger?” It’s this: “A Granger is a Champion!”

6. Irish Wolfhounds (Notre Dame Academy)

Irish-themed nicknames abound for the many Notre Dames throughout high school sports, but Notre Dame Academy in Duluth, Georgia, has the only Irish Wolfhounds. The American Kennel Club describes the Irish Wolfhound as calm, dignified and kind, and it’s the tallest of all AKC dog breeds. 

7. Red Elephants (Gainesville HS)

Everyone knows reddish elephants exist only in Fantasia, but there’s more to this story in Georgia. "Gainesville High School was playing in Marietta and was wearing red jerseys," said Phil Jackson, longtime sports editor of The Gainesville Times and former voice of the Red Elephants. "Gainesville didn’t have a nickname at the time and had large players. Very few teams had large players, so because of the red jerseys and the big players, an Atlanta sportswriter wrote that they looked like a thundering herd of red elephants.” Red Elephants on parade.

8. Red Terrors (Glynn Academy)

A Glynn Academy student chose this mascot in 1918 based on a phrase that described the political and violent campaigns of "Red Terror” by communist movements, one of the scariest concepts to many Americans at that time. The physical mascot has had several appearances over the years, but it’s currently a fierce, devilish creature with horns. 

9. Screaming Devils (Warren County HS)

Warren County has the only Screaming Devils in the country in high school sports, and the name is a result of integration in 1970. Before that, Warren County was a white school called the Blue Devils, while Warren High was a Black school called the Screaming Eagles. Upon integration, the new Warren County High School became the Screaming Devils (rather than the Blue Eagles, presumably). For the record, four U.S. high schools use Blue Eagles as their mascot, so Warren County chose the more original route.

10. Syrupmakers (Cairo HS)

During a heavy rainstorm at a football game many years ago, workers at the Cairo syrup shelter brought over their raincoats labeled "Roddenbery's Syrup" on the backs of the jackets to keep the players dry. Reflecting this heritage, the Cairo (pronounced “kay-row") football team was named the Syrupmakers, and it stuck for all sports. The school’s physical mascot is a syrup pitcher.

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-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive | @sblivesports

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