Nicknames help identify a school or organization.
Around these parts, think Eagles and East Bladen High School comes to mind. When it’s Knights it has to be West Bladen High School. Right?
Blue Devils will always be associated with Clarkton much like Bulldogs with Bladenboro, Panthers with Tar Heel and Cougars with Elizabethtown.
Those school nicknames are fine. We know which school is being talked about simply by its nickname.
Let’s admit it, though. None of those nicknames are catchy. None stand out in a way that makes folks from outside the area take notice.
Dorothy had lions and tigers and bears in the “Wizard of Oz,” all common team nicknames. Bladen County has Blue Devils, Bulldogs, Cougars, Eagles, Knights and Panthers – oh, my.
Among North Carolina high schools, there are the Valor Preparatory Owls, Grimsley Whirlies, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Unicorns, Bishop McGuinness Villains, Cary Imps, Rocky Mount Gryphons, J.H. Rose Rampants and A.L. Brown Wonders.
All of those school nicknames catch your eye. Villains may be my favorite. It reminds me of a Dixie Youth Baseball team in the county many, many years ago that used the nickname Thieves. Most folks thought it meant stealing bases.
When it comes to nicknames, summer collegiate and minor league baseball teams have some of the best around.
While working on the story about former West Bladen baseball players Brady Durden, Garrett Dunham and Hunter Smith playing with the summer collegiate Hope Mills Rockfish team, some unusual Old North State League nicknames stood out.
ONSL nicknames include Laurinburg Highland Hooligans, Sandhills Bogeys (based in Pinehurst, of course), Danville Dairy Daddies, High Point Hushpuppies, Lake Norman Harbor Hippos, Wilkes County Moonshiners, Pineville Porcupines and Randolph Ropin’ Roosters.
Hooligans, Hippos and Hushpuppies, oh my. Doesn’t that sound much better than Dorothy’s lions and tigers and bears.
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Among the Appalachian League nicknames are Burlington Sock Puppets, Pulaski River Turtles, Danville Otterbots and Johnson City Doughboys.
The Coastal Plain League features the Holly Springs Salamanders, Tri-City Chili Peppers, Greenville Yard Gnomes, Asheboro Zookeepers and Macon Bacon.
Minor league baseball classic nicknames include the Richmond Flying Squirrels, Rocket City Trash Pandas, Amarillo Sod Poodles, Hub City Spartanburgers, Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, Akron RubberDucks, Binghamton Rumble Ponies, Columbus Clingstones, Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, Hartford Yard Goats, Kannapolis Cannon Ballers and Sugar Land Space Cowboys.
Of course, it’s hard to top the nickname of former minor league hockey team Macon Whoopee. The Southern Professional Hockey League does have the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs.
Next season the East Coast Hockey League will have the Greensboro Gargoyles to join current members Savannah Ghost Pirates, Tahoe Knight Monsters and Greenville Swamp Rabbits.
The nine-team Canadian Football League once had the Saskatchewan Roughriders (one word), which are still playing, and the Ottawa Rough Riders (two words), which changed its nickname to Redblacks in 2014.
Bladen County school nicknames are set in our minds. That’s a good thing. The nicknames will likely stay for years to come.
However, if there’s ever a push to change some of the school nicknames, then I can’t wait for that first West Bladen Wienerschnitzels against East Bladen Electron Magnetic Fields game.
It will be one for the ages.