Group meets to begin selection of new Southside High School mascot

The 30-person group tasked to find a new mascot for Southside High School in Fort Smith first met Monday (Sept. 21), with committee chairman Wayne Haver charging them to consider mascots “that are not well used” and “certainly not in our conference.” The group could have a proposed mascot idea by the end of an Oct. 26 meeting.

The Fort Smith Public School Board voted 7-0 on July 27 to change the mascot and end use of the “Dixie” fight song that has been associated with the school since it opened in 1963. The Board voted to discontinue use of “Dixie” as the Southside High School fight song in the 2015-2016 school year and to drop the Rebel as the Southside mascot in the 2016-2017 school year.

Southside High School was formed in 1963 and over the years there have been attempts to change the mascot. One of those happened in the late 1980s when a school board committee pushed for a change. The effort failed to gain support from a majority of those then on the Board.

The 30-person committee includes the 14 people who recently selected Wabash Cannonball as the new Southside fight song.

“We are now at the stage of selecting a new mascot for Southside High School,” said Haver, who also is principal of Southside High School. Haver said the mascot selected should reflect the tradition, history and values of the school.

Haver reviewed mascots used by public and private schools in Arkansas. According to the list provided by Haver, 15 schools use the Tiger mascot, the most common mascot in the state. Eagles, Bulldogs, Panthers, Warriors and Lions are each the mascots of 14 schools. There are 141 schools with animal mascots and 46 schools that have people as a mascot. Haver said several districts in the state have unique mascots, like the Lavaca Golden Arrows, Alma Airedales and Cave City Cavemen.

There are also six schools with Rebels as a mascot.

“We’re not alone in having that mascot of the Rebel,” Haver said, but noted later in the meeting that “Rebels is not an option.”

Suggestions from students and the community resulted in a list of 64 mascot suggestions. The most common suggestions are Mavericks (16) and Marshals (14), Haver said. He also told the group they are not limited to the mascots that have been suggested. The group then agreed to a schedule of three meetings – Oct. 5, Oct. 12 and Oct. 26 – to be held at the Southside High School cafeteria and begin at 7 p.m. There will be opportunity for public input at the three meetings. About 35 people not on the committee attended Monday’s organizational meeting.

He said at the Oct. 5 meeting they would begin working on a list of “viable” mascot ideas.

“And we’ll end up with, hopefully, a short list … of mascots that we’ll strongly consider,” Haver said of the group’s work in the three meetings.

After the meeting, Haver told The City Wire that Oct. 26 is not “set in stone” as the last meeting but the mascot selection process will need to conclude before the Christmas break because uniforms will have to be designed and ordered.

“We will need to get that moving (uniform orders) as soon as possible. Those can take a long time to come in,” Haver said.

Following is a list of the committee members.
Travis Biggs, assistant principal, Southside High School
Sean Carrier, Southside High School band director
Paxton Clark, Southside High School senior class president
Abby Clemmons, Southside High School cheer captain
John Cooley, Propak Logistics, Southside High School alumni
Scott Eady, Southside High School alumni
Gordon Floyd, Southside High School deputy superintendent
Dana Goins, Southside High School staff
Wayne Haver, Southside High School principal and committee chairman
Tim Hearn, Fort Smith EMS, Southside High School alumni
Patrick Jacobs, CARCO, Southside High School alumni
Tony Jones, Southside High School alumni and former band president
Randy Kern, Southside High School staff
David Humphrey, ArcBest Corp., Southside High School parent
Paula Mackey Jeremiah, Southside High School alumni
Kevin Le, National Honor Society president
Larry Loux, retired Southside High School staff
John Magness, Southside High School junior class president
Stephanie Adams Mahoney, Southside High School alumni
Legacy Mendoza, Southside High School athlete (softball)
Catherine Owen, Southside High School student body president
Patti Pinter, PTA president Southside High School alumni
Jamar Racy, Southside High School sophomore class president
Caroline Rhomberg, Southside High School band president
Jim Rowland, Fort Smith Public School District Athletic Director
Jean Ann Sadler, retired Southside High School staff
Sandy Sanders, Fort Smith Mayor
Sam Sicard, president and CEO, First National Bank of Fort Smith
Pam Weber, Realtor, Southside High School alumni
Jeff Williams, Southside High School athletic coordinator