I’m a Fightin’ Red.
My colors are red and white. More than 100 years ago our school’s nickname was the “Reds” because our uniforms were red. Now I learn, in your paper, that an unwelcome mascot at Eaton High School has become a national issue (“Student team has mascot, message; Exasperated by Indian nicknames, squad turns tables,” News, March 14). We were forced to adopt a mascot as a condition of membership in our consolidated school district. Very few schools in our district retained even their town’s name. Eaton remained Eaton High School on the determination of the people of our town and our school’s superintendent.
The superintendent told me in the late 1960s, that he had insisted on keeping and retaining the use of the nickname “Reds.”
A mascot was not immediately adopted even though demanded by the state school system. We have never been a Redskin (Like Washington’s pro football team), or a warrior, or a brave (Like Atlanta’s pro baseball team), or a Seminole (like Florida State), or any other image of an Indian.
The Indian mascot slithered onto our playing fields and we’ll kindly dropkick it back to the state superintendent of schools where he can place it in a dark drawer with all his other icons.
