"Rebels"

Until 1961, the school's nickname used in athletic competitions, was "the G's", until a schoolwide competition prompted by an improving football team^[8] resulted in a change to "Rebels"—a name inspired, according to the proponents, by rebellious notions current at the time, and a fancy for the movie Rebel Without A Cause and the song "Rebel-'Rouser". A logo was devised of a fox with an eye patch (and a "rebel hat"^[8]), symbolizing "the valiant underdog, the fearless fighter, the humble warrior";^[9] The Confederate flag was added later, including on athletic jerseys.^[8] Only one teacher, Lyn McLaren, protested at the time, realizing the associations prompted by the nickname and the flag. One student, in a letter to a newspaper in 2004 (after McLaren's death), recollected "events like slave day with the yearbook showing an awkward photograph of a black student as a slave. I recall the rebel flag and the overt bigotry. I recall Jewish teachers hiding their ethnicity".^[8]

In the wake of the 2015 Charleston church shooting, the association with racism and slavery was again questioned, though there had been earlier protests, including by an opposing wrestler of African descent in the 1980s; after 1992 the flag no longer appeared in the yearbook. By 2015, the flag had been removed, though the nickname stuck.^[8] The official process to change the nickname took place in the spring of 2017,^[9] and by the fall the nickname had been dropped.^[10] In 2019 the new nickname, "87s", was unveiled.^[3]