Top 5 high school mascots in Idaho: Vote for the best

From Maniacs to Mushers, meet the best high school mascots in Idaho

Orofino (Idaho) High School has a one-of-a-kind mascot — the Maniacs. / SBLive archives

Get ready for a Cutthroat competition when it comes to the best high school mascots in Idaho.

Compared to other states, Idaho doesn't have a whole lot of high schools, but Gem State schools feature some of the most unique nicknames in the country.

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 Delaware

Vote: Best high school mascot in Florida

Vote: Best high school mascot in Georgia

Vote: Best high school mascot in Hawaii

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 five high school mascots in Idaho (vote in the poll below to pick your favorite):

The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday, Oct. 1.

1. Cutthroat (Sun Valley Community)

The scrappy, aggressive cutthroat is the Idaho State Fish, and Sun Valley Community School has been the Cutthroat since a yearbook contest named it the school mascot in 1984. The logo is a cutthroat wearing sunglasses and holding a knife in its teeth.

2. Maniacs (Orofino HS)

This one-of-a-kind mascot goes back in the 1920s, whenOrofino’sboys basketball team was said to have played like maniacs. At Orofino High School, this means being "ungovernably enthusiastic.”

3. Mushers (Camas County HS)

It’s not Alaska, but Fairfield, Idaho (home ofCamas CountyHigh School) does average over 60 inches of snow per year, and mushing is one efficient way to get around during winter in the rural town of 501 people.

4. Russets (Shelley HS)

Shelley’s mascot isn’t just any potato — it’s a russet-burbank potato that wears a crown, robe and scepter. Shelley offers a two-week break from school to allow students to assist in the season’s potato harvest.

5. Wampus Cats (Clark Fork HS)

Clark Fork has been the Wampus Cats since 1935, and different people in the area have different ideas of what exactly a Wampus Cat is. Here’s a favorite, as told to the Bonner County Daily Bee in 2010: “They say what the hell’s a Wampus Cat?” laughs Bob Hays, who owned Hays Chevron until 2022 and played at Clark Fork in the late 1950s. “I tell them it’s a big cat that stays up in the mountains and eats snow snakes in the winter.”

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-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive | @sblivesports

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