Historically speaking, names contain a great deal of meaning. That’s why the naming of Mingo County’s coming consolidated high school and its athletic teams shouldn’t be taken lightly. There should be a great deal of thought behind the process. This shouldn’t be some random process where some generic name, mascot and colors with no significance to the area or its people arbitrarily are chosen just for the sake of doing so. So if you will allow me to be the catalyst, let’s begin the discussion and get the ball rolling – hopefully in the right direction.
Let’s start with the school name itself. There’s been several different ones thrown about ever since plans for the consolidation began. Mingo Central, Mingo South and Mingo County High are just a few suggestions, with Mingo Central seemingly the choice among those with decision-making power. How about this: Simply call it Mingo High School. There need not be any direction (Central, South, etc.) added. After all, there’s no Mingo North High or South High, so why feel the need to give a directional label to the name to differentiate it? And there’s no need to add “County” after “Mingo” either. There’ll continue to be other high schools in the county, so it really wouldn’t be the “county” high school would it? No. Mingo High School just has a nice ring to it. Just a thought.
Now for the fun part of naming the mascot and choosing school colors. I’ve always held to the belief that the best and coolest nicknames are the ones that have some sort of history and meaning behind them, the ones that have a unique meaning to the school and the culture of the area. Take for instance the Logan Wildcats. Now you may ask, “what’s so unique about Wildcats?” And you would be right in doing so, until you discovered that “Logan Wildcats” was the name of two separate Civil War military units from Logan. The LSU Tigers get their moniker from the Louisiana “Tiger Brigade” of the Confederate Army. Williamson High School is known as the “Wolfpack” because “Wolf” happens to be the school’s first athletic coach’s last name. See what I mean? History and tradition, having substance and meaning behind the name must play a part in the process. Now don’t misread me. There’s nothing inherently wrong with being known as the Lions, Tigers or Bears. But oh my, they’re so common. So why not be unique, and at the same time historically significant and true to the roots of the area’s identity? What better way to do so than to pay homage to the area’s native inhabitants, the people for which the county is named, and call Mingo High School’s athletic teams the “Tribe”? The Mingo Tribe – nice ring to that. Just a thought.
But what color scheme will the Tribe don? Again, significance and meaning must take precedence. Any of you familiar with Pittsburgh Steelers history may know the story as to how black and gold became the franchise colors. In the early years of the 20th Century, the black smoke espoused from the blast furnaces of the city’s steel mills formed a haze across the skyline. At dusk, that haze mixed with the yellowish setting sun provided the inspiration for what you see Big Ben and the boys attired in today. The team and the city’s culture are forever linked because of that. Now what is Mingo County most known for? Other than the Feud and the Matewan Massacre, it’s the coal industry. Let’s weave that culture and identity into the school’s as well by making its colors black and old gold (not yellow). Black is for the coal itself, and old gold for the area economy that is driven by it. The Black and Old Gold of the Mingo Tribe…nice ring to that. I can hear the chants of the “Tomahawk Chop” already. Just a thought.
Guest columnist Brad Davis is a former managing editor of the Williamson Daily News. He can be reached at bgd90@hotmail.com
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