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

From Antlers to Boomers to Locomotives, meet the best high school mascots in Oregon

South Wasco County High School in Oregon has the only Redsides in the country. / SBLive archives

The word "boomer" could describe a number of things, but did you know one definition is a mountain beaver that isn't really a beaver?

Oregon high school mascot fans might be one of the few demographic subgenres out there that already knew that.

Over the past few months, SBLive/SI has been 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 Oregon (vote in the poll below to pick your favorite):

The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. ET Friday, Jan. 31.

1. Aardvarks (Oregon Episcopal)

Oregon Episcopal has been Eagles and Falcons in the past, but students rightly brought in something a little more unique when switching to the Aardvarks. The story goes that students started calling themselves the Aardvarks in the 1960s and ‘70s despite the official name being the Falcons, and Aardvarks eventually officially stuck in the late ‘80s.

2. Antlers (Bonanza HS)

One surefire way to become inclusive of all antlered species is to just call yourself the Antlers rather than the Moose, Elks, Antelopes, Angoras, etc.

3. Billies (Pleasant Hill HS)

Four high schools in the U.S. call themselves the Hillbillies and three others are the Billies, but none are more pleasant than this one. And Pleasant Hill’s billy goat logo is very pleasant to look at.

4. Black Tornado (North Medford HS)

Not only does North Medford have the only Black Tornado in the country among U.S. high schools, it has a fantastic back story. In the 1928 state championship football game, well before Medford split into North and South, a sports editor described the Medford team’s dominance of Benson as sweeping over the field “like a Black Tornado.” Black Tornado officially became the school mascot in 1953, and North Medford kept it when the school split in 1986, with South Medford becoming the Panthers. 

5. Boomers (Toledo HS)

These Boomers have nothing to do with people born between 1946 and 1964. A Boomer is a nickname for a "mountain beaver," which is actually more closely related to squirrels than beavers. These squirrelly mountain beavers got their nickname thanks to the loud noises they make in social situations.

6. Cruisers (Powers HS)

Nope, these Cruisers weren’t named in the late 1950s or early 1960s in honor of teenagers driving their cars around trying to find a new place where the kids were hip. Powers is in timber country near the southern Oregon coast, and a timber cruiser is someone who estimates the value of timber in a particular forest.

7. Fishermen (Astoria HS)

There’s been some debate in the past about changing Astoria’s mascot to something more gender-neutral, but it remains the Fishermen with one explanation being that in the industry, “fishermen” is used universally regardless of gender. Located where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean, fishing is a huge part of the Astoria community. Way bigger than the Goonies.

8. Lava Bears (Bend HS)

A bear dripping with lava? Not quite. The lava bear is a legendary variety of black bear found in the lava beds of south central Oregon. The few “lava bears” that were killed or captured were a little larger than a badger. Today, it is acknowledged that lava bears never existed as a unique species. So although Small Bears would be more accurate, Lava Bears sounds way cooler.

9. Locomotives (Huntington HS)

The railroad had a huge impact on the small Eastern Oregon town of Huntington being established in the late 1800s, so the high school went with Locomotives as its mascot. The Locomotives were an 8-man football juggernaut in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, chugging past the competition to win four straight state titles.

10. Redsides (South Wasco County HS)

We already met the Cutthroat in Idaho, and now we have the Redsides, another form of trout. Also called a Redband trout, a Redside is named for the red stripe along its side. South Wasco County High School is located a stone’s throw away from the Deschutes River, which is loaded with Redsides.

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