This Utica school's one-of-a-kind mascot name can be traced back to French Medieval times.
High school athletes juggle lots of different things: Homework and athletics, social events and sleep, friends and family. You could say that every high school in the nation has lots of jugglers.
But one American high school in upstate New York is the king of Jugglers.
Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Junior-Senior High
is one of seven Notre Dame institutions in the Empire State, yet the only school in the nation that chose Jugglers for its mascot name. The parochial school's choice of mascot goes way back in world history.
The school has a
well-made webpage detailing the reason for the name, and that reason is "Le Jongleur de Notre Dame," a story from French Medieval times. Back in the 1950s students fell in love with the story and they got the mascot name set in stone.
The story teaches some lessons that are pertinent to prep athletes, and not just the ones at Notre Dame. Le Jongleur (French for "the juggler") wanted to become a monk but felt he
could not do anything worthwhile or appropriate to honor The Blessed
Mother, as all monks do. Eventually he did his tricks in front of Our
Lady, and as other superior monks rushed to stop him (thinking it was
sacrilege), the statue came to life and wiped sweat off the juggler's
brow.
The webpage states that the lesson is: "If you do the best you can,
God will be pleased."
They're not the Jugglers because they manage to play sports and do they're homework. And they're not the Jugglers because they are great ballhandlers in basketball, volleyball and soccer.
They're the Jugglers because they do their best, and the aim at Notre Dame is to do your best.
