CHS Bluecat
- 1960 - 1988
(Recreation of the 1960
Bluecat
by Mary Alice Terry Larson
- 2000)
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CHS Bluecat
- 1988 - 2009
(Used on the Coleman
High School websites
and the new CHS gym floor)
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(actual photograph to be
added.)
Bluecat
"Bronzed"
The Bluecat
bronze
sculpture was recently completed at the Hoka
Hey foundry in Dublin,
Texas and members of the Bluecat Booster Club,
sculptor and foundry
representatives posed for a photo
afterwards. From left ot right
are: Judia Terry, who helped with the
design; David Huff, who
will devise the base for the sculpture; Dale
Stewart, sculptor; Richard
Cowan, Bronze finisher; Stan Brudney, Booster
CLub president; and Pat
Cowan, wife of the owner of the foundry.
The sculpture was
presented to the Coleman High School student
body at last Friday's pep
rally and is being displayed in the
principal's office until base work
is completed. Ralph Terry snapped the
pictue and was involved int
the desing work as well.
(Chronicle and
Democrat-Voice, Coleman, Texas, October 11,
1988.)
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LOOKING BACKWARD
By Ralph Terry
(This
article appeared in
the Chronicle and Democrat-Voice
newspaper about September 24, 2001.)
With CHS Homecoming weekend coming up, I have
been asked to answer a
question that is asked me from time to time,
“Did the CHS Bluecat mascot
originally mean a cat or a fish?” Sorry,
you fisherman of Coleman,
but once again, “The Bluecat was always a
cat!”
The first graduating class of Coleman High
School was in the year of
1894. Coleman High School’s first
football team was in 1910.
They were called “Coleman High” or the “Blue
and White” until 1923.
Apparently there was little need to have a
mascot in those early years.
In those days, pictures or graphic images were
little used in publishing,
but gained usage as printing methods became
more advanced. So, our
printed history does not give us a picture to
show what the students of
CHS had in mind, but we have to figure out
what they all knew, by reading
articles in the early school newspaper, The
Round-Up.
According to an article appearing in the
November 23, 1923 Round-Up,
“The third meeting of the committee to select
a mascot for the high school
resulted in the selection of blue cat.
The committee composed of
the presidents of each class, the football
captain, and three teachers,
selected three names out of a number of one
hundred or more, which were
submitted by the students. The remaining
three suggestions were carefully
considered, and after a discussion in the last
meeting a majority in a
ballot vote, gave the name of blue cat.
We feel sure that the decision
will meet with approval as the entire football
team, and many individuals
indorsed the name, as well as the majority of
the vote representing the
approval of the committee.” In later
articles, Sim Gideon, a student
and football player at CHS, was given credit
for submitting the blue cat
name.
But this article does not say if the mascot
was a cat or a fish.
The name bluecat was selected as mascot after
the 1923 football season,
so the name was not put into effect until the
1924 football season.
During the 1924 - 1928 years, Round-Up
various articles state,
“Cats Remain Undefeated … the cats did some of
their best scratching.”
“Coleman Defeats Brady … the azure kittens of
Coleman … ” “Cross
Plains came to the Blue Cats den.”
“Bluecats Outscratch Richland
Springs.” “Pep Squad Sweaters Have
Arrived … Soon everyone will be
familiar with the sight of the girls wearing
the white sweaters with the
Fighting Bluecat as the emblem of our fighting
spirit.” I have been
told that cat’s heads were painted on tire
covers on the back of cars in
the 1920’s and 1930’s by local artists.
I have found no mention of
the characteristics of the Bluecat being
fishy, rather than feline.
In December 1928, a Round-Up
article states, “The Senior
Class Adopts Standard Ring. … The
Senior Class of ’28 and ’29
have carried out one of Mr. Hufford’s
principle visions of Coleman High
School, that was to adopt a standard class
ring. The three lower
classes voted in favor of the selected ring as
their future class ring.
The in center of the ring will be the Coleman
High School seal. This
seal is an open book with a burning torch
beside it. The face of
a bluecat, representing the athletics of the
school, will be placed on
one shank of the ring; and a horseman roping a
steer, in honor of the school
paper, the Round-Up on the other shank.
(Note: No annuals were produced
at Coleman High School from 1924 thru
1946. The “Mesquite” yearbooks
were printed in some years prior to 1924 and
the “Corral” yearbook was
originated in 1947. This was the reason
the yearbook was not represented
on the ring.) In an attractive
arrangement the phrase Coleman High
School, 1928 will be made on the ring.”
This same basic ring design
was still in use in the 1960’s, when I
attended CHS, but I am not sure
about the rings today. A cat’s head has
been used on CHS Senior rings
since 1928.
As to the growth and aging of our mascot, the
Bluecat, in 1960, Mary
Alice Terry (yes … my sister) won a contest to
paint the head of the Bluecat
on the gym floor and on the press box at
Hufford field. Many drawings,
based on the painting Mary Alice had painted,
were later used at pep rallies,
football games and in the CHS annual, The
Corral in the 1960’s,
1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s and today in this
century. After the high
school changed homes in the 1970’s, the
Bluecat paintings were painted
over, but we still have photographs. In
1988, it was felt that CHS
needed a more tangible, three-dimensional
Bluecat, so local artist, Judia
Terry made drawings from various angles.
Dale Stewart, based on Judia’s
drawing, did a bronze sculpture. A
committee composed of members
of the CHS Booster Club and CHS Alumni
Organization approved the final
sculpture. This sculpture stands in the
lobby of Coleman High School
today. Today some drawings and t-shirts
use Judia’s drawings and
this sculpture as the basis for their
productions.
Now the real question is, “Why, when and how
did Coleman High School
select Blue and White as their colors?”
See you next time!
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Following
is
an article from the Coleman
Democrat-Voice newspaper in 1969 about
the
Bluecat. From the older articles
about our mascot, found after this
was written, we know the following
information is not entirely correct,
as Sim Gideon submitted the "Bluecat"
name as his entry in the Coleman
High School mascot contest. The
following article could explain how
Sim came up with the name "Bluecats."
Bluecat Name Case
Reopened
Some time back we explored the origin of the
name “Bluecat” as used
by Coleman High School athletic teams.
The various ideas were reported,
and finally, a summation was given which
credited the name with having
been derived from combining the word “cat”
with the color “blue” and crediting
Supt. C. H. Hufford with having something to
do with it. Now, the
case is re-opened. We have word from a
man “who was there.”
He asks that we not use his name, so we will
say only that he is a Coleman
business man, who obviously has lived here a
long time, and is well known.
We were correct in the prior summation that
the name Bluecat came from
combining the word blue and cat ... as there
is no such animal as bluecat
... and that conclusion was an easy one to
make; however, the rest of the
story is different and Supt. Hufford did not
have anything to do with it.
Although he was an outstanding school man, it
appears that Supt. Hufford
was not much interested in athletics.
Anyway, back in 1919, or 1920, Coleman High
School had a football team
... a volunteer outfit on which the members
furnished their own uniforms.
They bought their own football shoes, or had
cleats nailed to the bottoms
of some hightop models, bought their jerseys,
football pants and any and
all other equipment which they might
use. Well, with the boys furnishing
their own uniforms, there wasn’t much
uniformity. The jerseys were
mostly turtle neck style … until they got
stretched, that is, and then
the turtle neck became a big loose
collar. Anyway, they looked good
when they were new. As for color and
design, they were assorted.
Most had stripes on the arms, for that was in
fashion, but here again the
stripes were not uniform. One day one of
the players turned up with
something that was really different. He
had a jersey, or sweater,
which had a cat’s head on the front. Now
that caused a stir.
The other football players gave him a big
kidding, and had a lot of fun
over that jersey with the cat’s head.
Fun or not, when the thought turned to a name
for the team the jersey
with the cat’s head stuck. Most of the
other jerseys were blue, or
had a lot of blue on them, so, the blue color
was joined with the cat for
Bluecat. It’s too far back to remember
who suggested the name, or
whether the team voted on it, or whether it
was used jokingly a year or
so before formal adoption. Anyway, the
name came from that jersey
bearing the cat’s head and the color blue from
most of the uniforms, and
was originated by members of that football
team.
The Coleman High School Bluecats of 50 years
ago were pretty much on
their own, and many of the games were played
on Saturday, as the fields
were not lighted and school was not let out
for the football games.
Fact is, eligibility rules were not a point of
concern, and several times
the Coleman team actually played “outlaw” ball
as they used players who
were out of school. Of course the
opponents didn’t know about this,
but just the same it happened. It is
quite likely that other teams
didn’t pay too much attention to eligibility
rules either … if there was
a set of rules to follow.
("Across
the Editor’s Desk,"
by Milton Autry, The Coleman
Democrat-Voice, Coleman, Texas,
January 28,
1969, page 1.)
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or other class pages you would like to see added
to:
The CHS Historian
This page
last updated
May 4, 2018
©
1982 - 2018 Ralph Terry. All rights
reserved.
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