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

From Dateliners to Shamans to Strivers, meet the best high school mascots in Alaska

No glacier bears were found in this Alaska ice cave in July 2024. / Mike Swanson

The 2024-25 school year is upon us, so it's officially high school mascot time.

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 Alabama

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

The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday, Sept. 12.

1. Dateliners (Diomede HS)

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.

2. Glacier Bears (Haines HS)

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 Northern Canada and Southeast Alaska, bearing a genetic history influenced by the region’s glaciation. Its Tlingit name, s’iknóon, translates to “the bear that disappears.”

3. Halfbreeds (Aniak HS)

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.”

4. Harpooners (Tikigaq HS)

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.

5. Jaegers (Ayaprun/Mertarvik HS)

Ayaprun/Mertarvik is a 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.

6. Nanooks (Nome-Beltz HS)

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.

7. Shamans (Chaptnguak/Amaqigciq HS)

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).

8. Strivers (Mountain Village HS)

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.

9. Tundra Foxes (Akula Elitnaurvik HS)

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.

10. Warlords (Kokhanok HS)

Kokhanok Warlords logo in Alaska. / Lake and Peninsula School District

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.

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-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive | @sblivesports

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