Best high school mascot in Tennessee: Top 10 candidates

From Purple Pounders to Fighting Cocks to Feet, meet the best high school mascots in Tennessee

If you see a Honeybear battling a Turkey, you're probably in Tennessee.

That probability increases to a definite if you're watching the Purple Pounders play the Fighting Cocks.

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 past couple of months we've been going from Alabama through Wyoming featuring each state's best high school mascots, and then giving readers a chance to vote for their favorite. Our Tennessee poll will post Nov. 21 on highschool.si.com and will stay open through Nov. 28.

Here are the top 10 high school mascots in Tennessee:

Cascade Champions

They can play Queen’s “We Are the Champions” at every sporting event and never be wrong. From the school website: “The mascot was unanimously agreed upon to be a walking horse, but naming it took a little thought. The students didn’t want to be called the ‘horses,’ so they asked themselves: ‘What do you want your horse to be?’ The answer--a champion! Thus, we became the Cascade Champions.”

Chattanooga Central Purple Pounders

Stan the Pounder Man wields some serious clout at Chattanooga Central sporting events — and a giant fake hammer. They became the Purple Pounders thanks to a 1935 football season in which they pounded the opposition, and Stan the Pounder Man commemorated Stan Farmer, a past principal who also coached a lot of dominant Chattanooga Central football teams.

Cocke County Fighting Cocks

Relax. The mascot is a rooster. And the school logo is an artistic take on the rooster inside a C, very similar to the South Carolina Gamecocks look in the college ranks.

Harpeth Hall Honeybears

“Honey” the Honeybear is this all-girls school’s mascot. From a Harpeth Hall Facebook post: “The honeybear mascot was first introduced at Harpeth Hall in the 1970s, coinciding with the passage of Title IX. The legislation opened up new opportunities in sports for women and girls and teams embraced mascots to represent them and bring them good luck in competition.”

Raleigh-Egypt Pharaohs

This is a school that embraces the “Egypt” in its name in more ways than one. In addition to calling themselves the Pharaohs, the school newspaper is called The Scroll and the yearbook is The Sphinx. And the school colors? Red, white and black, just like Egypt’s flag.

Sevier County Smoky Bears

Not to be confused with forest steward Smokey the Bear, these Smoky Bears are named as such in honor of Sevier County High School being so close to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The school is located at 1200 Dolly Parton Parkway in honor of the most famous former Smoky Bear.

St. Cecilia Academy Scarabs

The scarab is an ancient Egyptian symbol for life, and St. Cecilia calls itself the Scarabs and even the SCArabs to emphasize the acronym the school often goes by. 

St. Mary’s Episcopal Turkeys

Formerly called the Southern Belles, St. Mary’s Episcopal made Benjamin Franklin smile somewhere when switching to the Turkeys. The logo sports a formidable-looking turkey often accompanied by the tagline, “fear the bird.”

Tennessee Prep Diplomat Lions

Tennessee Prep basketball has competed in the Grind Session (Elite Basketball Circuit) since 2016, and they do so as the only Diplomat Lions in the country.

The Webb School Feet

Word has it that when looking for a name for the school’s sports teams, Webb students heard there was a California school called the Argyle Socks. And then in 1973-74, The Webb Feet of Tennessee were born.

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