Canton committee to review Warriors nickname begins holding meetings

A wrestling tournament in January 2019 drew a crowd in the Canton High gymnasium.

CANTON – The Canton Board of Education’s athletic mascot review committee held their first organizational meeting earlier this month.

Twenty people attended the initial meeting, including school Superintendent Kevin Case, Julie Ausere, chair of the Board of Education, Erika Hayes, vice chair of the Board of Education, Drew DiPippo, principal at Canton High, Kim Church, the athletic director at Canton High, several teachers, town residents and students.

The creation of this committee to discuss the school’s current athletic mascot, the Warriors, was approved by the Board of Education last August.

The committee will be charged to learn more about the mascot and its meaning to students and the community. Another six committee meetings have been scheduled with the next meeting set for Monday, May 24.

“There is no specific goal at this time,” said Church. “We are not saying we are getting rid of anything. We are not saying we’re changing anything. Right now, this is strictly discussing what the mascot means to the education of our student athlete and what it means to be a Warrior in the Canton community.”

The committee hopes to provide the Board of Education with a recommendation in early September.

“We are excited that (our Board of Education) equity statement is almost completed and we can look through the aspect of the equity statement at our current high school mascot and be able to determine what are the implications for the use of the current mascot within the use of the educational system of the Canton Public Schools,” Case said earlier this month at a Board of Education meeting on May 11.

Last August when Case asked the Board of Education to create the athletic mascot review committee, he said, “As we look to create a more culturally sensitive, inclusive and equitable environment for all of us in the Canton community, we have received a request from community members (asking) to relook at (Canton High) mascot.”

The committee will be reaching out to members of a 2006 committee that examined the Warrior mascot and other area schools that have gone through the process of re-evaluating their mascots, Church said.

The committee will come up with a plan to gather input from the Canton community, Church added. At this time, the meetings are closed to the public.

Hayes has agreed to be one of the committee’s two co-chairs, Case said. The other leadership position has not been filled yet.

A number of Connecticut schools have re-examined their mascots and the use of native American imagery used with those mascots. In the last five months, three schools have modified their athletic nicknames. Farmington went from Indians to River Hawks; Newington changed from Indians to Nor’easters and Glastonbury went from Tomahawks to Guardians.

In 2020, Guilford changed from Indians to Grizzlies while RHAM High, a regional high school in Hebron, changed their mascot from Sachems to Raptors. In 2019, Manchester High changed their nickname from Indians to Red Hawks.

Northwest Catholic in West Hartford changed their nickname from Indians to Lions in 2015. West Hartford’s Hall High is still the Warriors but has abandoned any use of Native American imagery in 2015. West Hartford’s Conard High, whose nickname is the Chieftains, has also stopped all use of Native American imagery, also in 2015.

Killingly High changed their nickname to Red Hawks in 2019 but in February 2020, a newly-elected Board of Education voted to return to the legacy nickname of Redmen, which many people consider a racist slur.

Canton’s mascot has been the Warriors for the last 70 years since the early 1950s.

The last time that Canton reviewed the Warrior mascot and the use of Native American imagery was in 2006 just prior to Case’s hiring as superintendent.

The 2006 committee was formed to examine the mascot, research its history and make recommendations. The committee recommended that a revised Native American symbol be used in order to “preserve and maintain the dignity of Native Americans” according to Board of Education minutes in 2006.

In 2006, a different version of a warrior dancing with no axe and a different ceremonial head dress was painted at center court in the gymnasium. The issue came up when the gymnasium floor was being refinished and the Canton High principal at that time, Gary Gula, did not want to replace the “Dancing Warrior” logo.

Over Gula’s recommendation, the school board voted in 2006 to keep the Warrior name and logo, the Hartford Courant reported at that time.

In the last 10 years or so, Canton has been quietly phasing out the use of Native American imagery and replacing imagery of an Indian warrior with the block letter C.

When the gym floor was refurbished after the 2013-14 school year, the warrior was replaced by a big letter C at center court. Gula retired in 2013 and current Canton High principal Drew DiPippo began his tenure in September 2013.

The only visible Native American imagery remaining is two feathers off the back of the block letter C on a large black cover in the gymnasium that covers a climbing wall and on some Canton High athletic uniforms.

The dancing warrior was once painted on the gymnasium walls at Canton High. At one time, it was on athletic awards handed out to students.

The dancing warrior logo that was at center court in the gym from 1988 through 2005, according to photos in Canton High yearbooks. It was once used on athletic awards given to students.

It’s hard to tell when Canton began using the Warrior nickname but a good guess is 1949 when a season-ending photo of the high school football team in the weekly Farmington Valley Herald had the headline: Canton Warriors.

According to newspaper stories in the Farmington Valley Herald and the Hartford Courant and high school yearbooks, Canton used the nickname Redskins for a few years after World War II before transitioning to Warriors.

Prior to World War II, stories in the Farmington Valley Herald and The Courant about Canton High or Collinsville High athletics did not include any nicknames in them so it’s hard to tell if the school was using a nickname at that time.

Future meeting dates

Monday, May 24: 7-8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, June 16: 7-8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, June 30: 7-8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July 14: 7-8:30 p.m.
Tuesday, July 27: 7-8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, August 11: 7-8:30 p.m.

2021 Mascot Review Committee Members