Best high school mascot in North Carolina: Top 10 candidates

From Imps to Rampants to Rowdy Rebel Bulls, meet the best high school mascots in North Carolina

The Cary Imps have to be considered the favorite in any high school mascot contest, but there will be some Dark Horses in this one.

Literally. 

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. Our North Carolina poll will post Nov. 9 on highschool.si.com and stay open through Nov. 16.

Here are the top 10 high school mascots in North Carolina:

A.L. Brown Wonders

A.L. Brown is in Kannapolis, which explains its K logo on uniforms (not potassium). Back when the school opened as Central High School in 1924, the football team had only 12 players and won zero games. One story goes that the nickname Wonders originated in 1925, when someone said, "It was a Wonder the team could win a game."

Bishop McGuinness Villains

Don’t root against the Villains. They aren’t what they appear to be at first glance. From the Bishop McGuinness website: "Our school mascot, ‘The Villain,’ comes from our early roots at the Villa Marie Anna Academy. The school motto, ‘Praesis ut Prosis,’ is taken from the seal of the late Bishop Eugene J. McGuinness and serves as a challenge for all who would desire ‘to excel that they might better serve.’” 

Cary Imps

These Imps have an interesting back story. Albert H. Werner, a football and baseball coach at the school in the 1930s, came up with the name as a nod to his alma mater, Duke. The JV teams at the time were called the Blue Imps rather than the Blue Devils, and a less colorful version has stuck at Cary.

Clinton Dark Horses

Nicknamed Clinton U because of its Indianapolis Colts-like horseshoe logo, the Dark Horses have been anything but dark horses on the football field. The program’s five state championships help make its mascot one of the most ironic in the nation.

Elkin Buckin’ Elks

Elkin High School is in the city of Elkin and located on Elk Spur Street, and the school’s mascot isn’t just an Elk — it’s a Buckin’ Elk. The Battle of the Bridge pits Elkin’s Buckin’ Elk mascot against the Starmount Ram.

Forsyth Country Day School Furies

These are the only Furies in the country, and the school’s physical mascot is the Fury, a horse. Maybe a nod to the 1950s TV series Fury about a black stallion named Fury?

Grimsley Whirlies

Grimsley’s mascot was originally the Purple Whirlwinds in 1921, but that stopped making much sense when they switched team colors from purple and gold to navy and white in 1951. The team’s nickname evolved to become the Whirlies, but its physical mascot is still a whirlwind.

J.H. Rose Rampants

This unique mascot is a combination of “Rams” and “Panthers,” which were the mascots of Greenville and C.M. Eppes high schools that combined to become J.H. Rose.

Lejeune Devilpups

Lejeune students in 1944 took the moniker Devilpups, a reference to the Marine Corps nickname of Devil Dog and Camp Lejeune being a Marine Corps base.

South Stanly Rowdy Rebel Bulls

Even if they were just the Rowdy Bulls or the Rebel Bulls, they’d have the nickname to themselves. But the Rowdy Rebel Bulls is even better, and their logo is fantastic — an SS with a bullhorn coming out each side.

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-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports