For this week's edition of Mascot Monday, we are going with a Robin Hood theme, and heading to
Sherwood (Ore.).
Photo courtesy of Sherwood High boosters
At Sherwood High they are the Bowmen - the only group of Bowmen in the country.
Your first inclination might be to connect the city name to Sherwood Forest in England, and thus to Robin Hood. But that would not be the right reason for the mascot name. Instead, think of American World War II veterans.
According to the football program's website, they were the Bulldogs at Sherwood High when it opened in 1936 and stayed that way until around 1953. It was then that the school board and local leaders voted to change the school's mascot name to honor Robin Hood and His Merry Men, a group of veterans and Kiwanis Club members who began as a social group and then moved into local service.
They marched in local parades, promoted the town to attract businesses and started the Robin Hood Festival in 1954. The festival is a yearly tradition that is still running.
Folk lore has contributed to a handful of mascot names across America, but in Sherwood it was folk lore that motivated a group of locals to serve their community and then the school honored those men.
