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

From Honeybears to Smoky Bears to Scarabs, meet the best high school mascots in Tennessee

This isn't just a black bear. It's a Great Smoky Mountains black bear, inspiration for Sevier County High School's mascot. / Michael Patrick, Knoxville News Sentinel

Bears are all over the high school ranks when it comes to high school mascots, but Tennessee is the only state where you can find Honeybears playing Smoky Bears.

Over the past few months, SBLive/High School on 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 Tennessee (vote in the poll below to pick your favorite):

The poll will close at 11:59 p.m. ET Sunday, Feb. 9.

1. Champions (Cascade HS)

They can play Queen’s “We Are the Champions” at every sporting event and never be wrong. From the school website: “The mascot was unanimously agreed upon to be a walking horse, but naming it took a little thought. The students didn’t want to be called the ‘horses,’ so they asked themselves: ‘What do you want your horse to be?’ The answer--a champion! Thus, we became the Cascade Champions.”

2. Diplomat Lions (Tennessee Prep)

Tennessee Prep basketball has competed as a national four-year high school and postgraduate program since 2016, and they do so as the only Diplomat Lions in the country.

3. Feet (The Webb School)

Word has it that when looking for a name for the school’s sports teams, Webb students heard there was a California school called the Argyle Socks. And then in 1973-74, The Webb Feet of Tennessee were born.

4. Fighting Cocks (Cocke County HS)

The mascot isn't a shocking visual at all; it's just a rooster. And the school logo is an artistic take on the rooster inside a C, very similar to the South Carolina Gamecocks' look in the college ranks.

5. Honeybears (Harpeth Hall HS)

“Honey” the Honeybear is this all-girls school’s mascot. From a Harpeth Hall Facebook post: “The honeybear mascot was first introduced at Harpeth Hall in the 1970s, coinciding with the passage of Title IX. The legislation opened up new opportunities in sports for women and girls and teams embraced mascots to represent them and bring them good luck in competition.”

6. Pharaohs (Raleigh-Egypt HS)

This is a school that embraces the “Egypt” in its name in more ways than one. In addition to calling themselves the Pharaohs, the school newspaper is called The Scroll and the yearbook is The Sphinx. And the school colors? Red, white and black, just like Egypt’s flag.

7. Purple Pounders (Chattanooga Central HS)

Stan the Pounder Man wields some serious clout at Chattanooga Central sporting events — and a giant fake hammer. They became the Purple Pounders thanks to a 1935 football season in which they pounded the opposition, and Stan the Pounder Man commemorated Stan Farmer, a past principal who also coached a lot of dominant Chattanooga Central football teams.

8. Scarabs (St. Cecilia Academy)

The scarab is an ancient Egyptian symbol for life, and St. Cecilia calls itself the Scarabs and even the SCArabs to emphasize the acronym the school often goes by. 

9. Smoky Bears (Sevier County HS)

Not to be confused with forest steward Smokey the Bear, these Smoky Bears are named as such in honor of Sevier County High School being so close to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The school is located at 1200 Dolly Parton Parkway in honor of the most famous former Smoky Bear.

10. Turkeys (St. Mary's Episcopal)

Formerly called the Southern Belles, St. Mary’s Episcopal made Benjamin Franklin smile somewhere when switching to the Turkeys. The logo sports a formidable-looking turkey often accompanied by the tagline, “fear the bird.”

—

Download the SBLive App

To get live updates on your phone — as well as follow your favorite teams and top games — you can download the SBLive Sports app: Download iPhone App | Download Android App

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