No more changes for Rebel mascot


The mustachioed mascot at Hays High School looks like he’s hopping mad.

col jack hays rebel mascot
Illustration by Hays Free Press

If so, he’s got his reasons. First, “Colonel Jack” lost his belt buckle bearing the Stars and Bars. Then the carpetbaggers commandeered his pistols, replacing
them with a couple of harmless flags.

At least no one’s tried to strip him of his uniform. Might there be a pair of long johns beneath those Confederate grays?

In the past few weeks, a rebel yell has been raised to protect Colonel Jack from any further insult. Hays High School alumni and athletic supporters are coming together to save their mascot from the dustbin of history, much like the fate of actual Rebels who fought during the Civil War.

“Don’t take the rebel away!” implores one Facebook group, which boasts more than 100 members.

But those sympathizers are just whistling Dixie, according to Hays High School Principal David Pierce.

“It’s all rumor,” he said. “It’s all false. I have not tried to change any mascot, nor have I wanted to change the mascot.”

It’s not even up for discussion, Pierce added.

“There’s not been anyone that’s approached me about it,” he said. “I’m sure there’s people out there that don’t like it. Really, that could be said for a lot of mascots.”

The mascot has been around almost as long as football coach Bob Shelton, who retired after the end of last season. Shelton had coached at Hays since it opened in 1968, and at Buda High School four years before that.

“As far as I know, people will take that mascot, and different organizations will do different things with it,” Shelton said. “The ones we use for athletics, I think he still has guns in his hands.”

People have argued that Confederate imagery, including the rebel, is a painful reminder of slavery. At the collegiate level, the University of Mississippi’s mascot, Colonel Reb, was retired in 2003. Last year, Ole Miss replaced him with an anthropomorphic black bear.

About 10 high schools around Texas boast Rebel mascots.

The original Colonel Jack, though, was no rebel. Jack C. Hays, the namesake of Hays High School and Hays County, was a former Texas Ranger who lived in California during the Civil War.

During the fighting, he remained neutral.

Published Feb. 17, 2011, in the Hays Free Press.


8,472 responses to “No more changes for Rebel mascot”

  1. You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be actually something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!

  2. An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on this. And he actually bought me breakfast because I found it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending time to discuss this subject here on your web site.

  3. Great beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your website, how could i subscribe for a blog site? The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear idea

  4. Nice post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed! Very helpful info specially the last part 🙂 I care for such information a lot. I was seeking this particular information for a very long time. Thank you and best of luck.

  5. An early proponent of the Gothic Revival and lively in the “Early Faculty” of American stained glass, he founded the Willet Stained Glass and Decorating Firm, a stained glass studio, together with his wife Anne Lee Willet, in protest against the opalescent pictorial home windows which have been the fashion at the flip of the twentieth century.

  6. But the presence of a few outstanding minority news folks, television personalities and film stars is much less vital than the broader nature of the minority expertise within the media industry.

  7. Nevertheless, building a full-scale expeditionary power dedicated to liberating outnumbered French Indochina from Japanese forces was delayed, as the European theatre of operations and the liberation of metropolitan France became high priorities for the deployment of France’s restricted forces.

  8. A recent (2001 Pilkington Glass) innovation is so-referred to as self-cleansing glass, geared toward building, automotive and other technical purposes.

  9. Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Historic Mariner (much of his work on which was destroyed throughout the 1916 Easter Rising) and an illustrated version of Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock.

  10. As a brush dipped in paint, the typebar catches some of that ink after which strikes the paper, leaving an inked impression of the character.

  11. On November 23, 2006, the Nashville Predators won 6-zero in opposition to the Vancouver Canucks with goaltender Tomáš Vokoun being replaced at first of the third interval by Chris Mason on account of damage.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *