Best high school mascot in Colorado: Top 10 candidates

Alamosa alternatively goes by the Maroons and the Mean Moose, but we’re honoring the latter. People who live around bears and moose know that it’s the moose you really want to be careful around. And Alamosa’s Mean Moose mascot looks even more fearsome than your average moose. 

Colorado is famous for its world-class skiing, but Aspen is the only resort town in the state — and the only high school in the country — to call its athletic teams the Skiers. Yes, the school holds a bunch of state championships in boys and girls skiing, but the Skiers have also won state titles in lacrosse, golf, swimming, cross country and ice hockey.

Clear Creek in 1859 was the place to be if you were looking for gold, and Clear Creek High School honors that history. The county actually produces more silver than gold, but Clear Creek Silverdiggers just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

Colorado Rocky Mountain School has a unique mix of sports — soccer, cross country, climbing, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding — and the only nickname in the country rooted in fried bull testicles.

Before 1917, Fort Collins was known by a variety of nicknames, including “beet diggers.” According to its website, “in 1917 the mascot ‘Lambkins’ was born. At that time, Fort Collins was the hub in a region known for producing sheep and wool. So, ‘Lambkins’ seemed like an apropos nickname. In 1981, a fierce-looking lamb named Clyde was commissioned to be used primarily by athletic teams. Clyde, however, never replaced the prancing lamb and the school today uses both mascots.”

Colorado has 53 mountain peaks that are at least 14,000 feet high, and the small mountain town of Lake City is close to five of them — Sunshine, Redcloud, Handies, Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre. The high school honors its unique geographical position by calling themselves the 14ers.

Africa is home to the impalas, but Poudre is the only home to Impalas in U.S. high school sports. Cache the Impala is the school’s mascot, and a real impala was donated to Poudre in 1966, and it’s proudly displayed in the school’s front hallway.

From the city’s website: “From the start, melons were the staple of Rocky Ford. Today, Rocky Ford cantaloupes and watermelons have fans worldwide, thanks to the Arkansas Valley’s dramatic temperature swings from day to night (the greatest disparity in the country) that encourage the melons to sweeten. Lucille Ball was reportedly such a fan she had Rocky Ford melons delivered to her dressing room.”

Burros are no strangers to mining towns, but Fairplay, Colorado, home of the South Park Burros, is rich with burro-racing history. It all started in 1949, when the challenge went out to anyone with the fortitude to race from Leadville to Fairplay in exchange for a $500 prize. The snorting, muscular burro in South Park’s logo looks like it’s successfully completed that mission many times.

No, there’s nothing gory about the Gore Rangers. Yet another mountain town (and world-class ski resort) on this list, Vail Mountain’s mascot is a reference to the Gore Range — a roughly 60-mile stretch in the Rockies — that Vail sits in.