It can be easy at first to assume that the
Arkansas School for the Deaf (Little Rock) and a world famous British metal band from the 80s have a connection.
It's actually just a coincidence - one that makes this school one of the most recognizable in the nation.
At ASD they are the Leopards. So when it's spoken in its entirety, the school and mascot name combo ends with Deaf Leopards, eerily similar to Def Leppard. The connection is likely to be lost on most of today's high school athletes, but to the coaches and parents who lived through the "Hair band" era in the 80s and 90s, it's likely to elicit a chuckle.
Def Leppard has been rocking since 1977 and is still going strong, with its highlight being two American Music Awards wins in 1989 for Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist and Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Album (Hysteria).
ASD's website references the Leopards mascot name being used in the 1941, well before any of the guitar-strumming lads from South Yorkshire, England ever hit the stage. Still, the connection is quite popular. On
sportspickle.com, the Leopards were named the No. 1 school on the "10 High Schools With Better Team Names Than Your High School" list. An online search will pull up plenty more sites marveling at the coincidence as well.
Assigning any type of correlation between the band and the school might actually be a disservice to the institution, which has existed in Arkansas since 1867. And no, the band did not name itself after the school.
It's simply a coincidence - but a pretty cool one.
