MaxPreps Mascot Mondays: Oklahoma high school mascots

Just as important as a school's name and its location is its mascot. Options abound, and some teams go with the commonplace while others go with the truly unique.

In Oklahoma, there are 500 schools with mascots listed in the MaxPreps database. Listed below are the Top 19 most popular mascot names in Oklahoma, the mascot names that only one school owns and other mascot facts/stats.

BRAY-DOYLE'S BICEP-BURSTING DONKEYS
Aside from being the lovable or annoying sidekick in the Shrek movies, the donkey is an animal that gets very little publicity. That's not the case at Bray-Doyle (Bray), where all the students are Donkeys. Now we know that a donkey can also be called an ass, and we know that the term (or the image) usually isn't connected with positive connotations. But we have three reasons why the donkey is a great mascot: (1) The donkey is a symbol of the Democratic Party, and regardless of your political leanings, it's pretty cool that out of all the possible animals this one is part of something so large. (2) The donkey is a very strong animal that can carry a lot of weight, lending help in many industries in other countries. (3) Look at the biceps on the Bray-Doyle Donkeys logo!

STILL ROPERS NO MATTER THE SCHOOL NAME
You have to go way back to see why College (Tulsa) chose Ropers as its mascot. The school was originally named Will Rogers High School, honoring the humorist and entertainer from the 1920s and 30s who was one of the world's biggest celebrities. Rogers was especially known for his cowboy skills and was considered one of Oklahoma's most famous products, so the school (built in 1939) was named in his honor. You won't find Ropers anywhere else in the nation, and though the school's name and focus have changed, hopefully you will still find people who know why the school goes by Ropers.

DOGS O'WAR
Wardogs are not cute and cuddly. Dogs have been used in warfare for centuries, and during World War I they gained special notoriety for the ability to lure enemy troops out of their trenches. At Miami, they wanted to pay their respects to the dogs that did this heroic work and put their lives on the line, and in the end they got a unique mascot name and a great logo.

NOT-SO-VIOLENT DOGS: PUGS
And now moving on to a dog that isn't quite as dangerous, and tends to be more on the cute side. The Paoli Pugs take their mascot name from the breed of dog of the same name. We don't know that for a fact, but there was no evidence elsewhere online to believe otherwise. The pug is a small dog that does have a muscular body and moves quickly, but it also is prone to many life-threatening conditions. Still, mascot names focus on the positives, and the kids at Paoli shall be known as muscular and strong-willed.

BULLDOGGERS DON'T BULLDOG
Bulldogging is a word that you might think means "acting like a bulldog" or something like that. It's actually a form of steer wrestling, a popular sport in Oklahoma. Basically, a rider leaps off a moving horse that is chasing a steer and the rider leaps off, grabs the steer by the horns and wrestles it to the ground by twisting its horns. The students at Dewey are the best Bulldoggers in the nation. And the only ones.

TOP 19 MOST POPULAR MASCOT NAMES
# Tigers 44 (There is 1 Golden Tigers)
# Bulldogs 37 (There is 1 Bulldoggers)
# Eagles 37 (There are 2 Golden Eagles)
# Wildcats 26
# Warriors 24
# Panthers 19
# Indians 17
Pirates 16
# Lions 12
# Mustangs 9
Bearcats 8
Hornets 8
# Trojans 7
Yellowjackets 7 (There is 1 Yellow Jackets)
Comets 7
Longhorns 7
# Cougars 7
Bears 7 (There is 1 Black Bears)
Bison 7
# Denotes mascot name is in America's Top 15

MASCOT NAMES USED BY ONLY 1 SCHOOL

Antlers Badgers *Black Diamonds Blue Jays Bluejackets Bluejays Boomers Broncos Buccaneers Bucks *Bulldoggers Bullfrogs Commandos Conquerors Coyotes Defenders Diggers  *Donkeys

Dusters Dutchmen Engineers *Fighting Chicks Fighting Irish Foxes Generals Goldbugs Golden Tigers Gorillas Grizzlies Haymakers Highlanders *Ironheads Ironmen Jaguars  Jets Lobos

*Lumberjax Millers Miners Oilers Pioneers Plainsmen Ponies *Pugs *Racers Raiders Railroaders Ranchers Raptors Ravens Razorbacks Rebels Red Tornadoes Riders

*Ridgerunners *Ropers *Roughers Royals *Ruf-Nex *SaberCats *Sandites Sandites Scorpions Storm Terriers Timberwolves Tornadoes Trailblazers Wampus Cats Yellow Jackets Zebras

* Denotes that no other school in America has that mascot name

MASCOT STATS
Most popular mascot name is used by 8.8 percent of schools.
There are 131 different mascot names for 500 schools.
14 schools have mascot names that no other American school has.
Oklahoma's Top 19 features 11 of America's Top 15 mascot names.