Top 10 high school mascots in Ohio: Vote for the best

From Arcs to Greenmen to Zeps, meet the best high school mascots in Ohio

Aurora Greenmen logo / SBLive archives

Led Zeppelin fans looking for a U.S. high school team to support need look no further than Southeast Ohio.

High school mascot fans with an interest in U.S. naval history, specifically the USS Shenandoah, can tell you that team is the Zeps.

Over the next couple of months, SBLive/SI will be featuring the best high school mascots in every state, giving readers a chance to vote for No. 1 in all 50.

The winners and highest vote-getters will make up the field for our NCAA Tournament-style March Mascot Madness bracket in 2025. The Coalinga Horned Toads (California) are the defending national champions.

Here are High School on SI's top 10 high school mascots in Ohio (vote in the poll below to pick your favorite):

The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. ET Friday, Jan. 24.

1. Arcs (Brush HS)

Geometry reference? Nope. Charles F. Brush was the inventor of the arc lamp, which revolutionized public lighting in the 1870s.

2. Ceramics (Crooksville HS)

The Crooksville China Company was established in 1902 in Crooksville, Ohio, which became known as the pottery capital of the world in the early 20th century. Hence, the Crooksville Ceramics.

3. Electrics (Philo HS)

Philo became the Electrics in 1931, inspired by the Philo Power Plant that had been built in 1924 and voted as the mascot choice by students. The school’s gym is called “The Power Plant.”

4. Executives (Cleveland Addams)

Named after the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, Jane Addams, these Executives mean business.

5. Golden Gales (Lancaster HS)

These are the only Gales of any color in U.S. high school sports, and the reason that name came to be is golden. Until the 1930s they were the Golden Tornadoes, but that name was too long for the local newspaper's press, so a sports writer came up with Golden Gales as a more fitting alternative. The school's physical mascot is Gusto.

6. Greenmen (Aurora HS)

From the History of the Greenmen section of auroraohioalumni.com, “Aurora was not always the Greenmen. Years ago, Aurora were the ‘Irish.’ During the late '40s, Aurora had a number of residents involved in the organization of the Cleveland Browns. Aurora was given permission to use the original ‘Brownie.’ As our colors were green, we became the ‘Greenies.’ A number of people did not like the ‘Greenies’ and around the late ‘50s, early ‘60s, Aurora became the ‘Greenmen.' The logo mascot remained. In 1972, an Aurora senior student-athlete, Mark Campana, redesigned the Greenman to the more masculine version we currently use.”

7. Potters (East Liverpool HS)

Wait, another pottery capital of the world in Ohio? Yep. Potter Pete the mascot (part man, part kiln) came to be in 1962, and the school’s Patterson Field has an actual Potter Pete kiln on site that fires up during football games.

8. Shermans (Unioto HS)

Students in the 1930s chose Shermans as the school’s one-of-a-kind mascot in honor of Unioto’s location just opposite the former site of World War I Camp Sherman. They're also known as the Sherman Tanks.

9. Tarblooders (Glenville HS)

From the “What is a Tarblooder” section of the Glenville website: “It is a school battle cry that started during the 1940s indicating that members of the Glenville athletic teams would whack the ‘tar’ and ‘blood’ from its opponents. Thus, our colors are red and black.” Yikes.

10. Zeps (Shenandoah HS)

The nation’s first U.S. Navy zeppelin crumbled near the site of Shenandoah High School. In 1925, the USS Shenandoah became caught up in violent thunderstorms, and the zeppelin crashed in Caldwell, Ohio, making international news. Shenandoah honors that history by going by the Zeps.

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-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports