Stormin' Pointers crowned best high school mascot in America in 2025

Center Point-Urbana High School (Iowa) and its lightning-bolt-wielding dog Stormin' Norman win the NCAA Tournament-style bracket

Stormin' Norman and the Center Point-Urbana Stormin' Pointers (Iowa) were voted the No. 1 high school mascot in America in 2025. / Courtesy of Melissa James

High School On SI's annual NCAA Tournament-style bracket to determine the best high school mascot in America is a marathon, not a sprint.

The Center Point-Urbana Stormin' Pointers (Iowa) outlasted 68 other teams with several nail-biting victories on their way to being crowned the United States' best high school mascot in 2025.

The Stormin' Pointers beat the Somers Tuskers (New York) in Round 1, the Annandale Atoms (Virginia) in Round 2, survived a thriller in the Sweet 16 against the William Allen Canaries (Pennsylvania), then beat the Wilde Lake Wildecats (Maryland) in the Elite Eight and Bryn Mawr Mawrtians (Maryland) in the Final Four.

That led to the national championship game, where Stormin' Norman and Center Point-Urbana beat the Morse Shipbuilders (Maine) for the 2025 title.

The Center Point-Urbana Stormin' Pointers (Iowa) beat the Morse Shipbuilders (Maine) for the high school mascot national championship. / Graphic by Jesus Baca

Center Point-Urbana Stormin' Pointers (Iowa)

Would they be the best high school mascot in America simply as the Pointers? Probably not. But Stormin’ Pointers wielding lightning bolts are an out-of-this-world force to be reckoned with in the mascot universe.

According to Urbana resident Kristy Bruce, "the schools in the towns of Center Point and Urbana merged several years ago. Center Point's mascot was a Pointer and Urbana was the Cyclones. There was a strong desire to retain both mascots in some way, which led to the Pointer within the tornado, and a very unique mascot. It was a great way to promote unity during the transition."

History of the Stormin’ Pointer logo

Richard Butschi, longtime Center Point and Center Point-Urbana high school art teacher, provided the back story of how the Stormin’ Pointer logo came to be:

"When it became 'official' that Urbana and Center Point would enter into a whole-grade sharing agreement in the 89-90 school year, the two student councils met a few times to discuss the possibilities of a joint mascot. I attended those meetings and brainstormed with the students. I sketched a few 'ideas,' but it was cumbersome to keep the two mascots identifiable and joined.

"In those early sketches, I tried to make the cyclone more personable by adding eyes and even a mouth. But it was still going to be difficult to put on a T-shirt, uniforms and such. And they would still not be unified. After seeing the sketches and bouncing ideas, someone popped up with 'Could we try putting the Pointer dog in the cyclone?' So it was back to the drawing board."

Operation Desert Storm, under the direction of General Norman Schwarzkopf, was underway at the time in Iraq, and Butschi's revised Stormin' Pointer mascot borrowed Schwarzkopf's nickname, Stormin' Norman.

"It was amazingly fitting for the Cyclones of Urbana and gave a little aggressiveness to the mascot," Butschi said. "I even told the high school principal at the time, Dave Hanneman, that this would be his name — no changes. There was a redesign done later, by me, where I added the lightning bolt held overhead by Norman and a simplification of the swirling cyclone, making it more suitable for printing."

Richard Butschi, right, longtime Center Point and CPU high school art teacher, created the Stormin' Norman mascot. / Courtesy of Melissa James

Previous High School On SI mascot national champions

2024: Coalinga Horned Toads (California)

2023: Cary Imps (North Carolina)

2022: Rhinelander Hodags (Wisconsin)

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