Maryville High School (Missouri)

Maryville High School
Location
1503 South Munn Avenue
Maryville, Missouri
United States
Coordinates 40°19′46″N 94°52′56″W / 40.3294°N 94.8821°WCoordinates: 40°19′46″N 94°52′56″W / 40.3294°N 94.8821°W
Information
Type Public
Principal Thom Alvarez
Enrollment 474
Color(s) Green, White, Gold
Athletics conference Midland Empire Conference
Mascot Spoofhound
Website School Website

Maryville High School is the public high school for Maryville, Missouri. It is the only institution to have the Spoofhound for a mascot.[1] It is a Missouri State High School Activities Association Class III school. The present high school building on the southwest side of Maryville opened in the 1965-66 school year.

History

It earlier had the Washington High School from 1908 to 1965 at First and Vine. Before that was a school in the same location from 1883 to 1908. The Washington School building was used as a middle school until 1999 when it was torn down after the middle school moved closer to the Maryville High campus on the south edge of Maryville.[2]

In 2006, the school moved from its traditional category of medium size Class 3 school to Class 2. It was runner up in the state championship football in 2008 and won the title in 2009. In 2010 it returned to Class 3.[3]

Athletics

The school's original colors were red and white. When Northwest Missouri State University opened in 1905, the college colors were also red and white. The college changed its colors to green and white. The high school later changed its colors to green and gold. Maryville High School football games were played on the football field at Beal Park east of the municipal swimming pool (now the Aquatics Center) at least in the late 1950s and early '60's; and also at Bearcat Stadium on the college campus.In the late 1970s the high school began playing its football games in a stadium on its own campus.

State Championships

Runners Up

Maryville Marching Spoofhounds

The school's marching band has won many awards and has gained national recognition in its past years. Including appearing on the Today Show before marching in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1990. They have been invited to march in the New Year's Day Parade in London, United Kingdom. In 2008, they were invited to the National Adjudicator's Convention (The Dixie Classics) in Chicago, Illinois. They have also participated in the Independence Day Parade in Washington, DC. In the 1980s-90's over a third of the student body was involved in the Spoofhound Marching Band. In 2011, the Marching Spoofhounds marched in a Magic Kingdom Parade at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Mascot

Spoofhound in 1920s
Spoofhound today

The Spoofhound was a Plaster of Paris carnival toy from the 1920s. Maryville is now the only school in the country to use the Spoofhound as its mascot. Although originally two words, Maryville uses a one word Spoofhound for its mascot.

Legend has it that the high school received this nickname in the 1920s when the football coach L.E. Ziegler was so angry with the way his squad had looked in practice that as an insult he said they looked like a bunch of "Spoofhounds". The players mockingly referred to one another by this insult and the name stuck. In the 1940s, Ziegler became the superintendent of schools for Columbia, Missouri where the mascot is also named for an early 20th-century doll—the Kewpies.[5] Maryville's mascot has evolved over the years from a lovable buffoon "Spoofy" to a snarling "Hound, designed by local high school art teacher Brian Lohafer in 1976[6]". ESPN recognized the Spoofhound as one of its top mascot names and enshrined the Spoofhound in their "Mascot Hall of Fame." As of 2009, no other academic institution or sports club had adopted the nickname.

Notable alumni

References

  1. ↑ Spoofy the Spoofhound through the years; Maryville Daily Forum; March 12, 2010.
  2. ↑ Steiner, Michael J (2008). Nodaway County. p. 85. ISBN 9780738552217.
  3. ↑ MHS football returns to Class 3 after four years in Class 2 Maryville Daily Forum - February 1, 2010
  4. ↑ http://www.ihigh.com/getinthegamestl/article_88087.html
  5. ↑ Marc's Distinctive High School Mascot Collection Retrieved October 26, 2006
  6. ↑ The artist himself.
  7. ↑ "Here and There and Around the Square", Maryville Daily Forum April 27, 1955, page 1
  8. ↑ Donnell, Forrest C
  9. ↑ Ex-hoops coach Millikan dies - St. Joseph News-Press - January 31, 2010
  10. ↑ Gary Williams (October 1, 2002). Sweet Redemption (~1st Printing edition ed.). Sports Publishing LLC. p. 16. ISBN 1-58261-594-2.