WASHINGTON-Just about every school has a mascot and in the state of Washington there are some interesting ones. We have our share of Cougars and Huskies, Lions and Tigers and Bears, but no Bulls, Hawks or Doves.

Several animal mascots are indigenous to the area of their schools such as Goeducks (Evergreen College), Anchovies (Puget Sound), Orcas (Whatcom CC), Chinooks (Kalama), Ducks (Toutle Lake) and Jack Rabbits (Quincy).

Mascots need not be animals as Kernels (like wheat from Manson), Acorns (Oakville), and Spudders (Ridgefield) are prime examples. The farm lands of Eastern Washington have Mustangs and Fillies (Bridgeport), Broncos (Ritzville), and Cowboys (Chimicum, which is in the west). Goats (Chelan) and Nannies and Billygoats (Pateros) and bugs like Yellow Jackets (Twisp) and Hornets (Inchelium).

There are a few animals only found in Washington zoos such as the Penguins (Clark CC) and Screaming Penguins (no doubt a louder variety at Explorations HS), Gorillas (Davenport), Gators (Green River CC), Kangaroos (Lake Washington) and the never seen Sasquatch (Spokane CC) and Dragons (St. George).

Alliteration was popular for the students at Blaine (Borderites) and Yakima Valley (Yaks). Politics seems to have been a factor in naming mascots for Eisenhower (Cadets) and Lincoln (Abes).

Some teams used native words as mascots such as Chitwins (Taholah), Hyaks (North Beach), and Totems (Sammamish) while others went far away such as the Turks (Sultan). Some schools chose forces in nature as mascots like the Earthquake (Franklin), Tides (Gig Harbor), Storm (Seattle CC), Thunder (Mountain View), and Lightening (LaSalle) and one chose a man-made force, the Bombers with a mushroom cloud (Richland).

There are Coyotes (Kittitas) and Koyotes (Kahlotus) for those who don’t spell as well and there are Elks (Quinault) for those with grammar problems as elk is the plural of elk. There are electric names such as Shockers (Waterville) and Sparkplugs (Edison) and there are names for workers such as Loggers (many), Chokers (Grays Harbor CC), and Papermakers (Camas).

The insurgence of private schools has created several more Crusaders and Saints and perhaps the most difficult to put on a hat or uniform, The Light (Vancouver Christian). They join the ranks of the Devils, both Red (Lower Columbia CC) and Blue (Walla Walla CC).

There is only one Fishermen (Ilwaco) mascot and only one Comet (Naselle), although Creston did use the mascot before they combined with Wilbur to be just another Wildcat. And Sunrise Beach HS in Seattle has no mascot at all.