What's In A Name? The Long, Strange Saga of Arvada High School and Its Mascot

 

Arvada High School is one of the oldest schools in the Denver area, it is the school I graduated from in 1989 and the school where I spent the first 16 years of my teaching career. While I was teaching at Arvada, the school formally adopted the Bulldogs as its mascot. How the school went from the start of what was originally known as the "Arvada School", to the Arvada High School Bulldogs is a twisty, strange, bizarre story. One that captured the nation's attention for a time and put the school, its students, and its staff directly in the crosshairs of the nation's culture wars.

The Start

    Arvada, Colorado had been a remote farming community sitting between Denver and the foot of the Rocky Mountains. By the late 1800s enough people had settled in the Arvada area that a school was needed to educate the children in the area. A one room brick school was built on what is now known as "Olde" Wadsworth Boulevard between what is now 57th Avenue and Grandview Avenue. At first the school was only for primary grades- essentially an elementary school- but by 1900 the school added grades through 12th grade. In 1904 the first senior of Arvada School graduated, Miss Angie Bates. This original one room schoolhouse still stands today and is currently the barroom for the School House Kitchen and Libations in Olde Town Arvada. Eventually there were enough students in the area that the community decided it needed a separate school for secondary grades and in 1922 the new Arvada High School building opened on the corner of Ralston Road and Wadsworth, today the location is a 7-11.

The First Mascot

Originally the school lacked a mascot. The school and its sports teams were called the "Cherry-Whites" after the colors of the school; Cherry and White. When the new school building opened in 1922 a new Agricultural Arts and Welding teacher was hired, Tom Vanderhoof. Vanderhoof started the first football team, built the football field for the team and coached the football team, as well as several other sports, for many years. Coach Vanderhoof was also the one responsible for the first mascot of Arvada High School.  

The football jersey's of the 1920s were essentially wool sweaters. Since the school colors were cherry and white, the sweaters were dyed cherry red. When the football players would finish practice or a game, many would remove the sweaters as they left the field and as a result of the sweat the dye would transfer from the sweater to their skin, coloring their skin red. Due to this the students began to call the football players "redskins". Because of this Vanderhoof wanted to make Redskin the official mascot of

Arvada High School. The 1920s were at the end of what was known as the Progressive Era in American History and Vanderhoof supported several progressive causes. Concerned that the name "redskin" may be offensive to American Indians, Vanderhoof sent letters to all of the registered tribes in Colorado asking for permission to use the name Redskin for the Arvada High School football team. All of the responses Vanderhoof received back from the tribes did not express any concerns about using the name Redskin so the name stuck and soon a depiction of an American Indian became the mascot of Arvada High School. Arvada High School would be the Redskins for the next 70 years. Until 1993.

The Controversy and Change

In the early 1990s a Jefferson County parent organization, the Jeffco Native Americans Parent Organization asked the school district of  Jefferson County as well as the administration at Arvada High School to consider changing the name of the school citing the offensiveness of the name since it was a racial slur towards American Indians. And thus began one of the most unique, bizarre, and uproarious years ever witnessed in any high school in the United States.

During the 1992-93 school year Principal Jim Melhouse, under pressure from district administration, considered changing the mascot of Arvada High School, and the circus began setting up its tents. Various groups quickly organized in support of or against the name change and began lobbying anyone and everyone they could find in support of their goals regarding the mascot of Arvada High School. The emerging story captured the attention of the national media and soon stories about the controversy were appearing in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, on NPR, and national newscasts. A community meeting was held in the auditorium of Arvada High School so that supporters, opponents, students, faculty, alumni, and community members could express their opinions. Security for this meeting was tight as there were threats of violence and media coverage was intense. The popular late night ABC News program Nightline did a live broadcast from the school auditorium about the issue and school mascot names. 

Unfortunately, as is always the case with such volatile  issues, the threat of ugly acts of violence were made by people who somehow feel threatened by change or when things are not going the way they want them to go. Because of death threats against him and his family, Principal Melhouse was given a bulletproof vest to wear in public and the Arvada Police escorted him into and out of the building. Furthermore, Melhouse had to remove his children from the neighborhood elementary schools because of threats of violence and kidnapping against his children.

Ultimately Melhouse, who was in favor of changing the name, decided that the faculty would vote to change the mascot of the school or to keep it the same. At this point, somehow organizations both for and against the change, got a hold of the home addresses and numbers of the faculty resulting in both sides beginning to lobby the faculty at their homes attempting to influence how they would vote on the issue. In a close vote, the faculty of Arvada High School elected to drop the Redskin as the mascot of the school.

Following the decision to change the mascot of the school, the parent organization that initially forced the issue came through Arvada High School and pointed out everything that had to be removed from the school. Essentially any thing with the word Redskin or any depiction of Native Americans had to be removed. The only thing depicting an American Indian that was allowed to remain in the school was a podium that had been built by a student and on the front of that podium was a painting of an American Indian that had been done by another student. The parent group determined that it was an honorable depiction of American Indians and not exploitative, so it could remain. This podium was in the classroom of Social Studies teacher Zeph Villano. I have since inherited this podium and it continues to sit in my classroom at nearby Pomona High School.

Aftermath

Following dropping the name Redskin, Arvada went through a number of new mascots. First up was a Harlequin, a type of clown dressed in costume with a diamond shape pattern. This mascot never caught on and unceremoniously disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared. Next, the school was just known as the “Reds” without any mascot of any kind. The Reds remained the name of Arvada High School throughout the rest of the 1990s.

Shortly after the mascot changed, Social Studies teacher and graduate of Arvada High School, Craig Wilkie- who was in favor of dropping the mascot- proposed creating a museum of Arvada High School since it was the first school in Arvada and one of the oldest schools in the Denver area. In this museum would be artifacts from the school telling the story of the school throughout the nine decades of its existence. This museum would obviously incorporate the story of the Redskin mascot as well as feature artifacts depicting the former mascot. There was pushback from some that this was simply reintroducing the former mascot back into the school, however Wilkie successfully argued that museums are designed to preserve and inform others of the past. Sometimes that past is distasteful or uncomfortable but it doesn’t change the past. You can’t erase or ignore history just because some may not like it. In fact, you should preserve and talk about the past for that very reason. You have to remember the past to understand where you currently are and help you figure out where you go from here. Ultimately Wilkie’s argument won out and with the help of several students and faculty members the Arvada High School museum was created and featured prominently in the lobby of Arvada High School for the next 30 years. 

From A Color To An Animal

In 2000, new school Principal Robert Lopez decided that it was time for Arvada High School to get a new mascot and the students would be the ones to decide what that mascot was. Three possibilities were proposed as the new mascot of Arvada High School: a Miner, a Titan, or a Bulldog. Visual renderings of these three possible mascots were created by an award winning art student and were all featured in a mascot campaign put together by the Arvada Student Council leading up to the election for the new mascot. At a Spring Pep Rally the results were revealed and overwhelmingly the students had chosen the Bulldog to be the new mascot of Arvada High School.

However, the switch from a color to a Bulldog as the new mascot of the school was not without its own controversy. All of this took place in the wake of the tragedy of Columbine. Jefferson County Schools became hypersensitive and created a special committee to review all mascot depictions in JeffCo to ensure that they were not unduly aggressive or encouraged violence. The original Bulldog mascot created by the student depicted a very burly, muscular bulldog in a spiked collar, bearing sharp teeth. The Jefferson County Schools Mascot Review Committee determined that all of this was inappropriate as it encouraged violence, aggression, intimidation, and bullying and they ordered that that mascot be toned down. So, a softer, more friendly version of the Bulldog emerged. However, the original mascot that was too mean was somehow magically painted one weekend on the wall of the new band room at Arvada High School, and to the best of my knowledge, is still there today.

The End Of The Museum

The Arvada High School Museum that had been created by Craig Wilkie with the help of students and other faculty members in the mid 1990s endured for the next 30 years as a source of pride for the school and interest for all who visited. After Wilkie had retired several teachers and students served as the curators of the museum faithfully maintaining, cleaning, and updating it.

Recently the State of Colorado has determined that the museum violates state law because it tells the story of the Redskin mascot and has mandated that it be removed from the school by October of 2024. Apparently neglecting the argument of Craig Wilkie about the reason for the museum and ignoring one of the key lessons from history “If learning history doesn’t make you uncomfortable, you are learning the wrong history.”

Christianity, Religion, Classrooms, and The United States.

First let me tell you where I sit, before I tell you where I stand. I am a Christian. I was born, baptized, raised a Catholic and still consider myself to be a Catholic today. I hold my religious beliefs close to me and tend to be quiet about what I do and do not believe in terms of religion. My faith is a private matter and between me and my God. I do not feel, nor have I ever felt, compelled to involuntarily share my views on religion. I am not threatened or scared by others who have different religious beliefs, or those who have no religious convictions. What does alarm and frighten me is when others feel so threatened by the presence of other beliefs that they feel compelled to loudly proclaim and impose their religious views upon others. That is the purpose of this blog.

Recently Louisiana passed a law requiring the 10 Commandments be posted in every classroom in the state. Oklahoma now requires that the Bible be used as essentially a textbook in history and English classes. There are renewed calls for "God/prayer be put back into our classrooms and schools". All because of this belief that the United States must return to being the "Christian nation" our Founding Fathers created. Any legitimate scholar or student of American history will tell you this notion is indefensibly wrong. The United States was not founded as, nor is it now, a Christian nation any more so than it is a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation or a Hindu nation.

In The Beginning...
During the Colonial and Revolutionary Period one of the few views that the colonies shared collectively was Anti-Catholicism. Catholics were widely disliked and mistrusted in the colonies. In 1774 England passed the Quebec Act which stated that Catholics in Quebec would receive equal protection of the law. The colonies were shocked and horrified by this law and the Continental Congress even passed a resolution condemning this law stating that Catholics did not deserve equal protection and deserved whatever bigotry and discrimination that happened upon them. Then, as is still the case today, most Christians in the world are Catholics. Therefore, being openly hostile and prejudiced against most Christians makes it hard to argue that the founders desired a "Christian Nation". While it is true that many of the Founding Fathers were Christians and some were deeply and devoutly Christian, there were just as many for whom Christianity was not a strong guiding force in their lives, and there were a fair number of Founding Fathers who were Deists or for whom religion was a concern at all.

For those who were deeply and devoutly Christian, their Christianity was very different from those who claim to be, or truly are, devout Christians today. For devout Christians during the colonial/Revolutionary period their Christianity was very focused on God and theologizing meaning that they were focused on studying the Bible to find answers to the fundamental questions of life and they mostly kept their views contained to themselves or discussed it among other equally devout Christians. Whereas devout Christians today are focused on Jesus Christ and evangelizing meaning they are interested in proclaiming and spreading the "word of God" and share their views widely and publicly. The devout Founders would be very uncomfortable with the emphasis and focus of today's devout Christians.

Founding Fathers such as John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington Christianity was not a strong influence in their lives. They were members of Christian churches but their church attendance alternated between frequent to infrequent throughout their lives. They occasionally would reference biblical passages or teachings and would from time to time invoke God. But Christianity was not a strong guiding force in their lives or a potent moral compass. Their religious beliefs are probably more reflective of the religious beliefs of most Americans today.

For the Founding Fathers who were not necessarily Christian or even religious- such as Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, James Madison (known as the Father of the Constitution), and James Monroe- they were either Deists or were skeptical of religion as a whole or simply did not really have an interest one way or the other in religion. Deism believes that there is one creator of the heavens and earth but does not have any influence in daily life or events, this philosophy was very popular and a powerful school of thought in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Thomas Jefferson famously removed any mention or event from the Bible that was "supernatural" (miracles) or he was otherwise suspicious of the possibility of the event happening, creating what has become known as the "Jefferson Bible" and can still be found today...you can buy it on Amazon. Madison was particularly repulsed by religion, in particular Christianity, because of the suffering, strife, and killing that had happened throughout human history in the name or defense of religion. So concerned were these Founding Fathers that the United States not be recognized as a "Christian Nation" or any type of theocracy that they insisted that 'freedom OF religion' be mandated in the 1st Amendment. Meaning that this government would not impose or require any religious belief upon its citizens but rather that the citizens held the right to choose which religion they wish to follow or, more importantly, which religion not to follow. Furthermore, it is worth noting, that not once is God ever mentioned in any manner in the Constitution, and in the Declaration of Independence there only four mentions of a God. However, those four mentions of "God" in the Declaration of Independence do not resemble the Christian understanding of God; it is as the "Creator", "Nature's God", "Providence" as well as a mention of a duty to a "sacred Honor", all of which reflect the Deist view rather than a secular, or Christian one.

"GOD" And Federalism
Much has been made recently about "returning the nation back to God", meaning that somehow the United States has lost its Christian roots and the time has come to turn back to God- meaning Christianity. The implication is that the Christian God has always been present in American society. However, this is simply not the case.

"In God We Trust" was not always present on U.S. currency. That phrase does not appear on US coins until 1864 and is not on paper currency until 1957. Prior to "In God We Trust" the Latin phrase "E Pluribus Unum" meaning Out of Many, One, which is the national motto of the United States appeared on US currency. In 1864 the motto was replaced with the phrase "In God We Trust" on coins in reaction to a sudden surge of religious fervor in the nation as the Civil War was entering its final stages. Recently, the profile of Washington on the quarter has flipped so that instead of facing the phrase, Washington is facing away. Christian Nationalists hold that this an indication that the US has turned its back on God and are clamoring for the nation to turn back to God. In all actuality the reason for the flip of profiles is because the painting that was used for the image on the quarter had Washington facing to the right instead of the left but was inadvertently flipped was flipped in the wrong direction. Changing the direction of the profile was correcting the error and honoring the original portrait. 

In 1957, the phrase began appearing on paper currency as more of a effect of the Cold War than it was a proclamation of religious zeal. Because the Soviet Union was officially an atheistic state and did all it could to stamp out religion in the Soviet bloc. The United States saw this as a way to highlight the differences between the two powers. The United States allowed the  belief in God whereas Communists did not, thus the phrase made it onto our paper currency. It was not about religion, or Christianity perse, it was about Cold War ideological differences. It was also because of the Cold War that the newest line of the Pledge of Allegiance was added.

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by minister Francis Bellamy, who interestingly was a socialist- GASP! When it was originally written it did not include the phrase "under God". Those two words were added in 1954, again in response to the Cold War and atheistic beliefs of the Communist world. Despite what many Christian Nationalists believe, the Pledge of Allegiance is still recited often, if not everyday, in every public school that I know of across this nation.

Religion And The Classroom
Which brings us back to the beginning of this discussion- religion in the classroom.

Many charge that 'we must bring God back into the classroom!' Many want school prayer be brought back into the classroom. In all actuality it had never left. I have personally witnessed several students throughout my career openly read not only the Bible, but also any number of other religious texts, in my classroom during some free time they may have. I have never once told them to stop or put it away, furthermore those students were able to read their religious texts without ridicule or bigotry from other students. I have also observed students openly pray in my classroom. A few times I have had Muslim students who would leave my classroom for short periods of time so they could pray. I have never, nor has anyone else, tried to stop or prevent these prayers being said.

Hallmarks of those who wish to "return the nation to God" is what Louisiana and Oklahoma have done. But these acts are fraught with problems. For Louisiana, which version of the 10 Commandments will be posted? The Jewish version is different from the Protestant version, and both are different from the Catholic version. Will all three be posted? I assume Louisiana will choose the version that the state "believes" to be the most accurate and faithful.
For Oklahoma, similar questions exist. Which version of the Bible will be used? The Catholic Bible is different than Protestant Bibles. Will the King James Version, which is riddled with mistranslations, be the one used of will it be other, more accurately translated versions? Furthermore, will the Koran, the Torah, the Hindu Vedas, and the Buddhist Tripitaka be used as textbooks as well? If not- which I know is the answer- then what makes the Bible more reliable and accurate than the others? The answer is, of course, that the state of Oklahoma has "faith" in the validity of the Christian Bible over the other holy texts.

And that "faith" expressed by the states is where all of this breaks down. These cases will no doubt be brought before the United States Supreme Court. I firmly believe, even with this Supreme Court, that these laws will be struck down and found Unconstitutional. Despite the beliefs and desires of some, the United States is NOT a Christian nation. It may well be a uniquely religious nation, but it is not a Christian one. The Founding Fathers did not want it to be one and did not believe it should ever be one. It clearly states in the very first amendment to the Constitution, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..."  We are no more a Christian nation, than we are any other religion. We are first and foremost Americans. Free to believe, or not to believe, in any religion we choose.