NESPA Winner: Localizing Contest, 2023
The Cypress, Brookline High School, Brookline, MA
The high school has not always had the “Warrior” as their mascot and even such, several iterations of the “Warrior” have been used.
Until as late as 1984, sports teams used the “Sagamore Indian” as their mascot, which was often abbreviated as the “Indians.” It is unclear when the high school took on the mascot of “Sagamore Indians,” but the first use of Indigenous imagery in the BHS yearbook was in 1928. Most likely, the mascot came long after the existence of the newspaper “The Sagamore,” initially named in 1893.
The “Indians” was not the only way teams were identified, as they were often referred to as the “Wealthy Towners” in articles from this newspaper and other local newspapers.
According to a 2007 edition of this newspaper, the school dropped the mascot of the “Indian” in 1971, when two Indigenous students protested the practice of the cheerleading team dressing up as Native Americans during the Thanksgiving day pep rally.
The first time this newspaper referred to sports teams as the “Warriors” was in 1986.
