What's In A Name?
What's In A Name?
Friday, August 4, 2006
By Casey Brown
Seeing the image of the golden horns that don each side of the Rams’ helmets slamming into the sternum of the opposition accurately represents the motion a prairie-dwelling ram performs against its grassland foes.
To the Native Americans, the ram was a symbol of strength and determination. In the wild, the animal uses its keratin-rich horns to drive, batter, and crush its opponent with forceful impact.
The ram is a most-appropriate mascot for a football team. It’s probably the most appropriate mascot in the NFL; especially when it comes to the battles at the line of scrimmage, in the trenches, where players butt heads continually.
While the Rams’ name has been popular in the NFL, it also has been popular on the prep front. Three Rams NFL players were on high school teams named the Rams. Another, running back Marshall Faulk, played for the Carver High Rams in New Orleans.
The NFL Rams came by their nickname because the original owners in Cleveland favored the Fordham University Rams. This was 1937, when Fordham had the fabled “Seven Blocks of Granite” linemen and were one of the country’s strongest teams. The original Cleveland Rams also wore the red and black of Fordham U.
Some Rams players come from high schools whose mascots have similar, unique origins or meanings:
Wide receiver Marques Hagans was a Crabber at Hampton High School in Hampton, Virginia.
“I know don’t know where it came from but the whole mentality is that you can’t crush a crab,” Hagans said. “The shell of a crab is pretty tough. People try to step on crabs and smash the shell. There was a tough mentality [at Hampton] that you can’t crush a crab; that was our fight song. We’re naturally tough.”
Defensive tackle La’Roi Glover was a Pointer at Point Loma High School in San Diego, California.
“A Pointer is a dog,” Glover said. “It’s a hunting dog. The hunter tells the dog where the rabbit is and the dog points, literally points to it.”
Point Loma High also is located on a so-named peninsula that points into the Pacific Ocean.
Safety O.J. Atogwe was a Green Griffin at W.F. Herman High School in Windsor, Ontario.
“I’m going to have to call my high school coach and ask him about that,” Atogwe said, in answer to a question. “I know it’s a mythical creature; half eagle, half lion almost. I guess just because we were very fierce and because we won so many games, so many championships that it was kind of unreal. We used to call ourselves the Green Machine.”
Offensive tackle Orlando Pace was a Blue Streak at Sandusky High School in Ohio.
“It’s a blue streak. Where it came from, I have no idea,” Pace said. “I don’t know if lightning came down and hit somebody one day or what. We had blue streaks on our helmets and the actual mascot was a bear with blue streaks on it.”
Wide receiver Clinton Solomon was a Highlander at Eastern Hills High School in Forth Worth, Texas.
“It was a muscle man in a skirt that was supposed to be tough. I think it was Scottish or something,” Solomon said. “We didn’t have a mascot on the sideline, it was just a picture.”
Guard Tony Palmer was a Bomber at Midwest City High School in Oklahoma.
“It was from World War II when a B-52 bomber landed on our football field,” Palmer said. “Our school was right next to Tinker Air Force Base and that’s where we got the name Bombers from.”
Wide receiver Shaun McDonald was a Matador at Shadow Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, near Phoenix.
“We had a matador dress up and it would go to the football games and into the crowd,” McDonald said. “Little kids would be scared of it because it did look a little weird. It would run around and do flips and stuff. The matador was actually a girl. She would help the cheerleaders. It had a mask and a whole suit, it was kind of weird.”
No worries, Shaun. At least you didn’t play at Blooming Prarie High School in Minnesota where supporters yell, ‘Go, Awesome Blossoms!’ Or at Cairo High School in Georgia where patrons chant, ‘Let’s go, Syrupmakers, Let’s go!’
A list of the high schools each member of the Rams played for and mascots:
| Player | HS Name and Mascot |
| Victor Adeyanju | Currie High (Chicago) Condors |
| Jon Alston | Loyola College Prep (Shreveport, La.) Flyers |
| Dwight Anderson | Bloomfield High (Conn.) Warhawks |
| Oshiomogho Atogwe | W.F. Herman (Windsor) Green Griffins |
| Antoine Bagwell | East Lansing (Mich.) High Trojans |
| Alex Barron | Wilkinson High (S.C.) Bruins |
| Ron Bartell | Renaissance High (Detroit) Phoenix |
| Jamal Brooks | Grenada Hills (Calif.) Highlanders |
| Fakhir Brown | Mansfield High (La.) Wolverines |
| Isaac Bruce | Dillard High (Fla.) Panthers |
| Marc Bulger | Central Catholic High (Pittsburgh) Vikings |
| Jerametrius Butler | Carter High (Dallas) Cowboys |
| Dominique Byrd | The Breck School (Minneapolis, Minn.) Mustangs |
| Jeremy Calahan | West Montgomery High (N.C.) Warriors |
| Jeremy Carter | Leesville Road High (N.C.) Pride |
| Jerome Carter | Columbia High (Fla.) Tigers |
| Corey Chavous | Silver Bluff High (S.C.) Bulldogs |
| Brandon Chillar | Carlsbad High (Calif.) Lancers |
| Dexter Coakley | Wando High (S.C.) Warriors |
| Jerome Collins | Wheaton-Warrenville South (Ill.) Tigers |
| Kevin Curtis | Bingham High (Utah) Miners |
| Deandre Eiland | Tupelo High (Miss.) Golden Wave |
| Tony Fisher | Euclid High (Ohio) Panthers |
| Travis Fisher | Godby High (Tallahassee, Fla.) Cougars |
| Jason Fisk | Davis High (Calif.) Blue Devils |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | Highland High (Ariz.) Hawks |
| Gus Frerotte | Ford City (Pa.) Sabers |
| La’Roi Glover | Point Loma High (San Diego, Calif.) Pointers |
| Mike Goolsby | Joliet Catholic Academy (Ill.) Hilltoppers |
| Brandon Green | Industrial High (Tex.) Cobras |
| DeJuan Groce | St. Edward High (Lakewood, Ohio) Eagles |
| Andy Groom | Bishop Hartley High (Columbus, Ohio) Hawks |
| Marques Hagans | Hampton High (Va.) Crabbers |
| Remy Hamilton | Spanish River High (Fla.) Sharks |
| Anthony Hargrove | Port Charlotte High (Fla.) Pirates |
| Madison Hedgecock | Ledford High (N.C.) Panthers |
| Tye Hill | Woodland High (S.C.) Wolverines |
| Jason Hilliard | Jeffersonville High (Ind.) Red Devils |
| Alex Holmes | Harvard-Westlake High (Hollywood, Calif.) Wolverines |
| Torry Holt | Eastern Guilford High (N.C.) Wildcats |
| Brian Howard | Kent-Meridian High (Wash.) Royals |
| Richie Incognito | Mountain Ridge High (Ariz.) Mountain Lions |
| Steven Jackson | Eldorado High (Las Vegas) Sun Devils |
| Jimmy Kennedy | Theodore Roosevelt High (Yonkers, N.Y.) Indians |
| Joe Klopfenstein | Grandview High (Colo.) Wolves |
| Leonard Little | Asheville High (N.C.) Cougars |
| Dane Looker | Puyallup High (Wash.) Vikings |
| Chris Massey | East Bank High (W.Va.) Pioneers |
| Andy McCollum | Revere High (Ohio) Minutemen |
| Shaun McDonald | Shadow Mountain High (Scottsdale, Ariz.) Matadors |
| Tim McGarigle | St. Patrick High (Chicago) Shamrocks |
| Brandon Middleton | Alief Elsik High (Houston) Rams |
| Ben Noll | Priory High (St. Louis) Rebels |
| Orlando Pace | Sandusky High (Ohio) Blue Streaks |
| Tony Palmer | Midwest City High (Okla.) Bombers |
| Brad Pyatt | Arvada West High (Colo.) Wildcats |
| Dave Ragone | St. Ignatius High (Cleveland) Wildcats |
| Donovan Raiola | Kamehameha High (Honolulu) Warriors |
| Matthew Rice | Eleanor Roosevelt High (Md.) Raiders |
| Fred Russell | Romulus High (Mich.) Eagles |
| Blaine Saipaia | Channel Islands High (Calif.) Raiders |
| Tim Sandidge | Amherst High (Va.) Lancers |
| Mark Setterstrom | Northfield High (Minn.) Raiders |
| Paul Smith | Andress High (Tex.) Eagles |
| Raonall Smith | Peninsula High (Wash.) Seahawks |
| Clinton Solomon | Eastern Hills High (Fort Worth, Tex.) Highlanders |
| Todd Steussie | Agoura High (Calif.) Chargers |
| Drew Strojny | King Philip Regional (Mass.) Warriors |
| Taylor Stubblefield | Davis High (Wash.) Pirates |
| Claude Terrell | LaMarque High (Tex.) Cougars |
| Dominique Thompson | Riverside High (N.C.) Pirates |
| Adam Timmerman | Washington High (Iowa) Demons |
| Kevin Timothee | Plantation High (Fla.) Colonels |
| Pisa Tinoisamoa | Vista High (Calif.) Panthers |
| Rod Trafford | Delbarton High (N.J.) Green Waves |
| Matt Turk | Greenfield High (Wis.) Hawks |
| Larry Turner | Wayne High (Ohio) Warriors |
| Drew Wahlroos | Poway High (Calif.) Titans |
| Aaron Walker | Astronaut High (Titusville, Fla.) War Eagles |
| John David Washington | Campbell Hall High (Los Angeles) Vikings |
| Jeff Wilkins | Austintown Fitch High (Ohio) Falcons |
| Moe Williams | Spencer High (Ga.) Green Waves |
| Will Witherspoon | Rutherford High (Fla.) Rams |
| Claude Wroten | Bastrop High (La.) Rams |
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