Top 10 4th of July-themed mascots

It's the Fourth of July, and the means celebrating America's independence from the British. Why not also celebrate some high schools that have gone with Fourth of July-themed mascot names?

Plenty of schools pay homage to America's independence with their specific mascot names, and we know that not all of them did it intentionally.

So come along for the ride as we look at the Top 10 Fourth of July-themed mascot names.

The official food of the Fourth

Hot dogs are synonymous with the Fourth of July when you think of barbecues and baseball. Take it another step, and you get an even cooler connection. Every year since 1916 (except for 1941 and 1971) the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest brings thousands to Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y., to see who can eat the most hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. Legend has it that two men were arguing on the Fourth of July in 1916 about which one was more patriotic, and the contest was born. So how does this tie into high school sports? Frankfort (Ind.) is the only school in the nation to choose Hot Dogs as its mascot. According to the MaxPreps Mascot Monday story for Indiana, the founders of the town wanted to honor their parents' hometown of Frankfurt am Main (Germany), and yes, Frankfurt is famous for a food similar to the American hot dog.
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What did we get? When did we get it?

To answer those two important Fourth of July questions, take a trip to Northern California about an hour south of San Francisco and meet the 76ers of Independence (San Jose, Calif.). Ever since the planning stages, this school has maintained a connection to Independence Day, as it opened to students in 1976, the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. If you wanted to get technical, you could say the 76ers mascot just has to do with when the school opened. But Sammy the Sixer would tell you otherwise. You can find the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, and one other high school with the same mascot name. Which school is that? Check out the next slide.
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Similar but different 76ers

We have another group of 76ers from a school named Independence. Independence (Columbus, Ohio), just like the school in San Jose, goes by the 76ers mascot name. So why would we show two versions of the same school name-mascot name combo? Because Independence of Ohio's mascot logo is exactly the same as another Fourth of July theme: the New England Patriots. So now this elicits a debate about whether a Patriot is the same as a 76er. A dictionary definition of a Patriot is "A person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors." There is no definition for a 76er, so let's just assume that a 76er is someone who vigorously supported the formation of a new nation way back in 1776. With those definitions, a Patriot can indeed be a 76er.
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Be back in a minute

In the MaxPreps database, we have 28 Minutemen on the mascots list (click here to see them). So before we talk about why the Minutemen fit into the whole Fourth of July theme, we should determine what a Minuteman actually is. It's a "Member of a class of American militiamen who volunteered to be ready for service at a minute's notice," during or preceding the Revolutionary War. So basically if things were going bad for the people in the Colonies as a British attack came, the Minutemen were the ones who showed up quickly and got things fixed. We'll give special props to the Minutemen of Liberty (Bedford, Va.), for a great logo.
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Before it all began

Before there were Americans, there were Colonials. The Colonials were the inhabitants of the colonies, and therefore the ones who were either for or against the American Revolution. Either way, Colonials played an important role in the formation of America, and 13 schools in America chose to go with that mascot name. Take a look at the Acton-Boxborough (Acton, Mass.) Colonials (pictured above) for an example. 
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What do Bluejays have to do with Independence Day?

The question above doesn't have an affirmative answer. There really isn't much of a connection between the Fourth of July and Bluejays mascots. But when the Bluejays are from the "America's Official Fourth of July City," as decreed by Congress, they certainly have a connection to the holiday. The title wasn't bestowed upon the town until 1979, so the school's mascot name had been fully entrenched by then. We would never vouch for a community to change its high school mascot, but let's think outside the box and talk about which mascot would suit Seward (Neb.) best if it chose to eschew the Bluejays mascot. The Seward 76ers sounds best, though there would undoubtedly be others that could work.
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Downright Patriotic

Of all the possible Fourth of July mascot names, this one is the most popular and the most pertinent. The MaxPreps database has 276 Patriots and 1 Running Patriots, showing that plenty of American schools want to pay homage to those who supported a new nation during turbulent times in the late 18th century. No Patriots are better than any others, but for the purpose of the article, take a look at the Cousino (Warren, Mich.) logo.
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Yankees living nowhere near the Bronx

The term "Yankee" was used more in the Civil War, but the definition extends itself to anybody living in the New England area. The work that led to the Fourth of July obviously started in the northeast, and thus was spearheaded by Yankees, but you won't find any Yankees anywhere near there when it comes to high school mascots. Two schools are Yankees - Hamilton (Los Angeles) and West Central (Biggsville, Ill.) - but neither is exactly in a spot where you would expect the Yankee mascot name.
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Even the losers...

We certainly are not calling the kids from Berlin (Conn.) losers. Their mascot name, however, has to be the one associated with losing. The Redcoats were British soldiers responsible for keeping the colonists under rule, and by the end of the Revolutionary War, the Redcoats were soundly defeated. Though you can say the Redcoats name is associated with losing, you can't deny the recent state football title for Berlin.
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Stars but no stripes

The current American flag contains 13 stripes for the original colonies and 50 stars to represent each state. Looks like MaxPreps is nowhere near completing an American flag. The MaxPreps database has 28 Stars but absolutely no stripes. Looks like we can't form an American flag after all. Most schools, including Siegel (Murfreesboro, Tenn.), have chosen to go with a logo that resembles the NHL's Dallas Stars. These stars shine and there are no stripes to get away of this.