Mavericks new mascot for new county school

   So what in the world do you use as the logo of a maverick? That’s a question to be answered in the coming weeks now that the county’s public school students have selected the mascot of the new Kiowa County Schools.

   A total of 46 entries were submitted by county residents to a committee of 12 in recent weeks. That group, under the direction of Cimarron’s Joe Coles, whittled that number down to four April 6—Mavericks, Pioneers, Patriots and Warriors.

   Students, K-12, of all three communities were then allowed to vote for their favorite Wednesday morning. Though Warriors was a close second, Mavericks came out on top.

    As of the start of school next August there will be no more Greensburg Rangers, Haviland Dragons or Mullinville Cougars—only Kiowa County Mavericks. But what exactly is a maverick, apart from a compact car manufactured in the 70’s by Ford Motor Company?

   Ford, in fact, borrowed the name from the word for unbranded range animals, and the car's nameplate was stylized to resemble a long-horned cow skull.   It was apparently common for calves to be born in wild conditions in the nineteenth century western U.S., not be located in an annual round up, and then grow to maturity without a brand for identification. The term is drawn from Samuel Maverick, a Texas rancher and politician of that time, who was notorious for not branding his cattle. In the code of the Old West, such animals could be branded and claimed by any rancher able to capture and brand the critter.

   USD 422 Superintendent Darin Headrick told The Signal Thursday that graphics of both a horse and steer were supplied by a “couple of those people who turned that in as a suggestion (for the new mascot).” The latest logo of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team features an unbridled stallion’s head overshadowing a basketball, while other mavericks representations at the high school level feature equine rather than bovine caricatures.

   While he’s certain that neither a likeness of James Garner (who starred as Bret Maverick of the “Maverick” television series on ABC from 1957-62) nor Tom Cruise (who starred as the naval aviator Lt. Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the 1986 film “Top Gun) will serve as the new mascot prototype, Headrick is less than certain at this point as to exactly how or when a Mavericks graphic will be settled on.

   “We’ll invite people to submit graphics and have a couple of professionals come up with something as well,” Headrick. “I’m not sure how we’ll handle the selection of the drawing we’ll use. That’s down the line a little, but we obviously need to get this done before the start of school (next August). If that means we’ll be done in May or June I can’t say.”

   However the selection is made it will likely be less involved than the process by which the name Mavericks was settled on. The 12-member committee that came up with the four finalists was make up of two adults from each of the three towns, a BOE member and at-large adult. Don Fisher, Carl Ballard and Mike Kaltenbach of the three communities joined Mullinville BOE member Paul Kendall, Haviland BOE member Paul Rush, and Greensburg BOE member Roberta Stauth respectively. Both an elementary and high school student of each town completed the dozen members.

   Kendall said Coles helped the group narrow the list gradually using note cards until a final “eight or nine” gave way to the final four. “We were trying to get it down to three to six, but those four emerged as the best,” Kendall said. Though he was expecting Warriors to emerge as the favorite, Kendall said, “That’s from my perspective, and I guess the kids liked Mavericks better, and it was, after all, their decision.” While Patriots was popular among the committee, Kendall said it was difficult to think of that mascot matching up with the new color of burnt orange. “You kind of need red, white and blue for a Patriot,” he said. “But we wanted something that had to do with the county’s heritage and Mavericks and Warriors both do that.”

   “I do like Mavericks as a mascot,” USD 422 BOE member J Wynn Fleener said. “It’s got several connotations to it and I think it has the ability to represent our area, being basically agrarian and all.”

   As for Mullinville roadside artist and noted critic of the mascot/color change, M T Liggett, the choice has spurred his creative juices. “I’ll have something over there (west edge of Greensburg) soon to put next to Ricky Ranger,” he said. “I guess it’ll have to be burnt orange.”