Uniontown to celebrate 75th anniversary of Eagles symbol

By Jason E. Silvers

The Fort Scott Tribune

UNIONTOWN -- The eagle has been a symbol for many groups, organizations and individuals across the nation for several years.

For the last 75 years, the bird has been used as a symbol and mascot for Uniontown High School athletic teams. While Feb. 19 is the official date that will mark the 75th year that UHS teams started using the eagle as a symbol, district officials have planned a special ceremony celebrating the anniversary two days earlier.

"It's the 75th year of us being called the Eagles," USD 235 Superintendent Randy Rockhold said. "It's a really neat thing."

UHS officials and community members plan to celebrate the anniversary through a ceremony on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the UHS gymnasium when the UHS Eagles host the Altoona-Midway Jets. The recognition ceremony is planned to take place between the girls and boys varsity basketball games that evening.

While the community is invited to attend the games, the district plans to honor older local citizens -- especially residents who remember the beginnings of the eagle as a symbol in Uniontown -- during the ceremony, UHS Principal Tracy Smith said.

"Everybody's invited," he said. "We strongly encourage senior citizens to attend. We're recognizing patrons of Uniontown who have been around as long as the eagle (in Uniontown)."

Incentives will be available for certain attendees; grandparents of current UHS basketball players will receive free gifts, and those local residents who have lived as many years as the eagle has been Uniontown's mascot will receive free admission to the games, Smith said.

"We welcome them with open arms," he said.

Smith said he is currently working to obtain a live eagle that will be used as part of the recognition ceremony. If that effort does not work out, a volunteer dressed in the Eagle mascot outfit will be used, he said.

Also planned that evening is a chili feed and the annual "Black Out the Gym" night in which spectators in attendance are encouraged to wear black. The girls varsity game is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, followed by the boys varsity game at 8 p.m.

Tribune records show that the UHS student body, on Feb. 19, 1934 in the UHS gymnasium, chose the eagle as the official school symbol. UHS athletic teams have been known as the Eagles ever since.

UHS Athletic Director Duane Ford said he was not sure what the school's mascot or team name was prior to 1934 since school records only date back to 1938, when the only sports available at the school were basketball and track.