BUTTE - For over a century, the students at Butte Central Schools have been known as the Maroons, but they’ve never had a mascot ... until Friday.
“Today we’re going to introduce our newest Maroon,” President and Superintendent of Butte Central Catholic Schools Don Peoples Jr. said during an unveiling event.
“I love him, yeah, I’m so excited,” student Frances Shahan said after seeing the new mascot.
On homecoming day, Butte Central introduced its first mascot, Shamrock, the wolf pup. Shamrock got the kids pumped up in the gym of the elementary school along with players from the Butte Central varsity football team.
Meet Shamrock! 🐺 Butte Central has its first-ever mascot.
“I think that’s pretty cool, I mean, our school really needed that to bring pride,” student Colsyn Crawshaw said.
While Shamrock is an Irish wolf, Butte Central will still be called the Maroons. So, what is a Maroon?
“So, that’s a question that’s been asked for literally a hundred years,” Peoples admitted.
The story goes, Butte Central played its very first football game in 1914, but the fledgling team didn’t have uniforms. So, they borrowed them from a local independent team called the Centerville Reds.
“And their uniforms were red but were faded and old, and so we became the Maroons at that point,” Peoples said.
But Peoples added that being a Maroon is more than just a color. He says it’s about that Butte tough resilience the school instills in its students.
“It’s been that grit and that determination and that ability to overcome. I think that’s part of our school history, and that’s what we want Shamrock to be,” he said.
