Football games that decide state titles have a lot at stake. some have home-field advantage at stake.
But in the world of winner-take-the-spoils high school games, have you heard of a game that had the mascot name of a new high school hang in the balance? Back in 1928, it happened in Alabama.
Lanier (Montgomery, Ala.) earned a victory over Montgomery County in that game 85 years ago, and because of that we get to hear about the Lanier Poets. Lanier and Montgomery County were going to consolidate the next year, so the battle in 1928 was to determine what the new school would be known as. Lanier won, and the rest is history.
It's a fitting result, being the Poets, as it gives a reason to talk about Sidney Lanier. Lanier was a famous poet in the South and lived in Montgomery in the 1860's, a Conferderate soldier who also forged a musical career in addition to writing a novel. You can find statues of the man at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, at Duke University and also there are numerous bridges, schools and other public works bearing his name, including Lake Lanier in northeast Georgia.
The school is on the Alabama State Historic Register. And Bart Starr, in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, attended the school,
as did quarterback Tarvaris Jackson of the Seattle Seahawks. Legendary
musician Hank Williams also attended the school.
A school that takes its mascot name from a historical figure is always a welcome sight. What makes the Lanier Poets an even more amazing story is how the school kept the nickname, 85 years later.
