Questions arise over the selection of 'whippets' as mascot for Frisco City High School in Monroe County

Caboose at Jones Park in Frisco City.

Last week in this space, I wrote about how the people of Jones Mill voted in 1928 to change the town’s name to “Frisco City.” The name change was made to promote the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, which was commonly known as the “Frisco.” Not only did this result in a change to the name of the town, but Jones Mill High School became Frisco City High School almost overnight.

Not long after last week’s paper hit the streets, I had someone ask me about how Frisco City High School adopted the whippet as its mascot. For those of you too young to remember, a whippet is a hound dog that’s similar to a greyhound. Even though I went to high school in Frisco City, I had to admit that I didn’t know anything about the history of the mascot.

With that in mind, I delved into the archives at The Monroe Journal to see if I could learn anything about this unusual mascot. The earliest reference that I could find to the whippet mascot was in the March 22, 1928 edition of The Journal in a story about the annual Monroe County high school basketball tournament. Notably, this story appeared a few months before the town’s citizens voted to change the town’s name to Frisco City.

In that story, it was reported that the “final boys game of the tournament was played between Uriah and Jones Mill. This game was played in the chilled outdoor atmosphere. Both teams exhibited splendid defense, but little offense. At the half, the game stood 4-4.

“During the last half, the Jones Mill boys worked a perfect five-man defense and held their opponents scoreless while the Jones Mill Whippets added five more points to win 9 to 4. The Jones Mill Whippets, thus retained their county championship title, which they have held for the past three years.”

It should also be noted that in the 1920s, The Journal also ran numerous advertisements about small cars known as the Willys-Overland Whippet. These small cars were produced between 1926 and 1931. Whether or not this has anything to do with Frisco City High School’s mascot is unknown, but it’s possible there might be a connection.

While on the subject of school mascots, I want to mention Frisco, Texas. The residents of this town in 1904 adopted the name “Frisco City,” also to honor the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. They later shorted the town’s name to “Frisco.”

Here’s where things get a little odd. It’s a little-known fact that the logo of the “Frisco Railroad” is modeled after a stretched-out raccoon skin. For this reason, the high school in Frisco, Texas adopted the Fighting Raccoons as its mascot. The next time you ride through Frisco City, take a look at the red caboose in Jones Park and you’ll see the raccoon skin “Frisco” logo painted on its side.

In the end, if anyone in the reading audience knows any history about the school mascot in Frisco City, please let me know. Perhaps someone out there will know the true story of how this unusual designation came about. If not, the story may be lost to history.