Best high school mascot in Alaska: Top 10 candidates

From Glacier Bears to Halfbreeds to Harpooners, meet the best high school mascots in Alaska

Alaska is the biggest, wildest state in the U.S., and it boasts some of the most state-of-the-art high school mascots in the Union.

You won't find Dateliners or Shamans anywhere but in the Last Frontier.

SBLive Sports' love for unique mascots with interesting back stories has been well documented.

We've crowned Hodags and Imps the past couple of years in national high school mascot contests, and now we're taking a spin through every state.

Over the next couple of months we'll go from Alabama through Wyoming featuring each state's best high school mascots, and then give readers a chance to vote for their favorite. The Alaska poll will post Oct. 3 on highschool.si.com and stay open through Oct. 10.

Here are the top 10 high school mascots in Alaska:

Akula Elitnaurvik Tundra Foxes

Not just any foxes, dual-language Akula Elitnaurvik (Yup’ik, English) are the Tundra Foxes. Located on the Johnson River about 60 miles inland from the Bering Sea, they compete in basketball, cross country and volleyball.

Aniak Halfbreeds

The name “Halfbreeds” was chosen by Aniak students in the late 1970s to replace Apostles for the boys teams and Angels for girls teams. The school board president at the time was quoted as saying, "Most people are of mixed race, mixed background. We're proud of it. The kids are still proud of it.”

Ayaprun/Mertarvik Jaegers

Ayaprun/Mertarvik is another dual-language school (Yugtun, English), and the village itself is in the process of moving because of land erosion and permafrost degradation. Jaegers are sometimes referred to as the pirates of the bird world for their habit of stealing other birds’ fish.

Chaptnguak/Amaqigciq Shamans

A combined elementary/high school in Chefornak, in a remote area of western Alaska, Chaptnguak/Amaqigciq are the only Shamans in America (in a high school mascot sense).

Diomede Dateliners

Perhaps the most geographically interesting school in the country, the Dateliners are on Little Diomede Island in the middle of the Bering Strait between the Alaska mainland and Siberia. Neighboring island Big Diomede is just over 2 miles to the west, but is part of Russia and west of the International Date Line.

Haines Glacier Bears

Haines didn’t just arbitrarily throw a “Glacier” in front of one of sports’ most common nicknames just for the heck of it. Glacier bears are grayish bears unique to Southeast Alaska, bearing a genetic history influenced by the region’s glaciation. Spotting one in the wild would count as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Kokhanok Warlords

Not only does Kokhanok have the only “Warlords” among U.S. high schools, it boasts one of the coolest logos in the country: A spear-wielding warlord riding a bear.

Mountain Village Strivers

The act of striving is one of the human condition’s most pure. And in this western Alaska community of Mountain Village on the lower Yukon, it's a must.

Nome-Beltz Nanooks

Only one U.S. state has polar bears, but that hasn’t stopped high schools all over the country from choosing Polar Bears as their mascot. But there’s only one “Nanooks,” the Inuit word for “polar bears,” and that school is Nome-Beltz, home to several state championship teams over the past 60 years.

Tikigaq Harpooners

Tikigaq is the farthest-northwest community in Alaska, located in Point Hope. It’s a whaling community where harpoon skills are honed at a young age, but the Harpooners and Harpoonerettes also have excellent high school basketball teams.

(Feature photo by The Enquirer/Glenn Hartong via Imagn Content Services)

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-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive | @sblivesports