To Warrior or not to Warrior? That's not the question!

Foxboro's uniforms have changed, but the logo has been there for decades.

There are a couple of sayings that I was told by veterans of the newspaper industry when I was first striking out on my own, and I remember them to this day.

The first was from an editor at my first post-college newspaper that thought I should inject a little life into my developing writing style. "Never confuse a good story with facts," she said. I think she was only half-joking. A few weeks later, she was bartending for a living at a watering hole near the newspaper's office and we were briefly dating.

The other was from a grizzled old editor who had been in his job for way too long and was just counting the days before his retirement or death, whichever came first. "Never underestimate the stupidity of the American reading public," he said. That should have been the epitaph on his gravestone. 

Recently, I've been reminded that both sayings have a measure of validity, depending upon context. 

Foxboro High School's current sports logo,
presently used primarily for the football team.

There's a tempest in a teapot brewing in the neighboring town of Foxborough (I'll call it "Foxboro" for the remainder of this piece because it's more recognizable that way) over the high school's sports nickname and mascot.

Foxboro High, a proud member of the 12-school Hockomock League (and founding member as well) calls its athletic teams "the Warriors." Yes, that's Native American imagery and that's partially what this is all about. And for about 40 years or so, Foxboro teams have used a facsimile of the logo of the NFL team previously known as the Washington Redskins (Foxboro's version pictured at right) as their official symbol.

Foxboro is not alone at having usurped a pro team's logo -- with a few minor alterations of coloration to differentiate it from the trademarked logo that is usually guarded from unauthorized use. Locally, Franklin High School's Panthers formerly used the Carolina Panthers' logo until the school decided to come up with something unique that it could call its own. Elsewhere in Massachusetts, Everett High School uses a style very similar to the San Francisco 49ers' logo with the obvious exception of a big "E" where the Niners' interlocked "SF" would be.

Generally, NFL teams look the other way when high schools want to use a trademarked logo. Even if NFL Properties, the league's marketing arm, catches a whiff of such use, usually the worst that happens is that the league sends the offending school a letter asking it to affirm that it will not use the logo in any sort of advertising. I'm not sure if that happened in Foxboro's case, but it's clearly been a case of "no harm, no foul" for four decades.

Even my own alma mater, Mansfield High, (nicknamed the Green Hornets after the 1940s radio serial), has adopted Georgia Tech's Yellowjacket symbol (in green and white, of course). It looks great in the center of the basketball court. North Reading High, also the Hornets, hasn't even bothered to change the colors of the Georgia Tech art.

The U.S. Buffalo Nickel (1936)

But now, Foxboro is coping with the latest wave of Native American objections to school mascots with native connotations. At a recent school committee meeting, the members decided to seek public input about the logo, which as you can see, depicts the side profile of a native warrior inside a circle, with two feathers protruding from the side of the sphere nearest the back of the native's head. I'm not sure if anyone remembers the Buffalo Nickel prior to Thomas Jefferson's five-cent piece at the bottom of your pocket, but the profile is very similar (the buffalo is on the back).

As best as I can tell, it was more of a preemptive action than a reaction to any immediate challenge to the logo. And the school committee members all said they would prefer to find a way to keep "Warriors" by simply disassociating it from Native American imagery. 

But for the fourth straight legislative session, a bill has been filed in the state legislature that would ban the use of Native American-themed nicknames, logos or mascots in any Massachusetts school. Once looked upon derisively as doomed legislation filed on behalf of crackpots or zealots, the latest filing is starting to legitimately scare people. 

In 2020, there were 41 Massachusetts high schools that used nicknames or logos that hearkened back to the original residents of the commonwealth. Now there are just 23, and more are starting to take action themselves before the state orders it.

Schools with longstanding nicknames such as Natick (Redmen), Barnstable (Red Raiders), Nashoba Regional (Chieftains), Taconic Regional (Braves), Algonquin Regional (Tomahawks), Winchester (Sachems), North Brookfield (Indians), Athol (Red Raiders), Hanover (Indians) and Turners Falls (Indians) ditched their native imagery for tame and inoffensive monickers. Even nearby Walpole eliminated "Rebels" as the school nickname in a battle over Confederate imagery (brought to the frozen North in 1968 by southerner John Lee when he became the football coach) and chose "Timberwolves" for the future.

There have been some notable holdouts. Tewksbury has fought long and hard to turn back those that would take "Redmen" away. Braintree refuses to consider an alternative to "Wamps." Wakefield retained the Warriors name as well as a mascot after a non-binding referendum in town indicated support for the existing images (although not overwhelming in nature). The town of Dartmouth claims to have received the blessings of local Native Americans to keep "Indians." And there are lots of Raiders and Warriors laying low, hoping to fly beneath the radar during this round of purging.

One wonders if the members of the Foxboro school board regret bringing up the matter of the logo in the first place.

After all, for quite some time, the school has been gradually weaning itself from the former logo of the Redskins -- the final version of which was adopted by the team in 1983 and adorned their helmets until they became the Washington Football Team and then the Commanders. Foxboro didn't start wearing it on the football helmets until the mid-1980s. Gradually it started to make its appearance as embroidered patches on other sports' uniforms, but that practice has been mostly discontinued in recent years.

Indeed, the committee members probably could have kept their traps shut, quietly "retired" the Redskins logo with no fanfare, ordered a bunch of decals with stylized "F" symbols already in use around the school, then designated someone to slap two of those on each football helmet before the start of practice, and no one would have been all the wiser.

But the second this issue became public, panic set in. Townspeople and outsiders alike suddenly leaped to the erroneous conclusion that the committee was out to replace "Warriors" as well, and the torrent of ill-informed opinions overflowed the levees and poured into the town hall like a tsunami.

The Sun Chronicle's Foxboro correspondent (and former publisher before the new ownership took over in 2018), Jeff Peterson, called the school committee meeting in which public comment was offered a "pep rally" for the old name and logo. I watched the replay on Foxboro Cable Access and that was an accurate description. Speaker after speaker decried political correctness and touted how the name and logo expressed respect and admiration for the first residents of their town -- although nobody recognized that the English settlers and their descendants eventually sent the natives running in the opposite direction, often at gunpoint, and they didn't stop until the dawn of the 20th century.

One woman, who said she was of Native American ancestry, said she was not at all offended by the town's use of the nickname and the imagery. I'm sure there are plenty of individuals in the United States with some native ancestry in their DNA that don't share the outrage of others. 

There was one high school girl that spoke of the image within the logo as racist in nature -- and while I took her description as being a little overstated, she delivered her dissent with courage and the audience treated her respectfully, as it should have. I don't believe the image on the logo is an offensive caricature or designed to depict the warrior as sub-human or inferior, but I do believe that there are a lot of Native Americans who are offended by what white people think is inoffensive. 

There were some expressions of emotion that I thought were a little over the top. After all, this was a school logo being discussed, and not a school shooting, or some equally horrible event that would have warranted deep sorrow. I understood their emotions, but I hope they've had a chance to reflect back upon their comments and understand why they might be perceived as excessive.

The bottom line of the meeting, however, was that most of the speakers simply could not separate the logo issue from the nickname issue -- and there was no nickname issue. Nobody wants to change "Warriors."

Dylan Gordan would not be less of a Warrior
without the logo on the side of his helmet.

Point of information -- Foxboro was one of the last teams in this corner of southeastern Massachusetts to choose a mascot. From the 1910s, when high school sports assumed close to their current form in this area, and through the 1940s, most schools were referred to simply by their colors. Foxboro, of course, was the Blue and Gold. Suddenly, and I'm not sure why, local towns started to adopt nicknames. Just after the end of World War II, Attleboro adopted "Bombardiers" to honor the brave aviators that helped the Allies attain victory. North Attleboro adopted "Rocketeers" to be a little more futuristic but also maintain a rhyming tie with the city to the south. And in Mansfield, a vote of students in 1947 chose "Green Hornets" after the popular radio serial of the era.

I'm not entirely sure when Foxboro chose "Warriors." My initial research indicates somewhere between 1948 and 1952, the latter being when I first noticed references to "Foxboro Warriors" in the local media of the time that's archived on the Internet. Perhaps when I have some time, I will run over to the Boyden Library and see if they still have old editions of the Foxboro Reporter preserved on microfiche or other media.

In the meantime, I made the usual and characteristic mistake of engaging with those commenting on The Sun Chronicle's Facebook page, expressing their outrage over taking away the logo or changing the nickname, or blasting columns written by editorial writers or columnists who expressed their opinions on the matter.

Yes, the Blue Ribbon Daily's editorial writer (don't know who) really messed up when he or she suggested that the town should pick "Patriots" as a new nickname. That's the LAST nickname I would choose. The town has been adamant about retaining its own identity since the football team made Foxboro its home in 1971, especially since owners Billy Sullivan, Victor Kiam and Robert Kraft took turns treating it like the dirt beneath their feet on several occasions. Besides, there were Warriors here before Patriots.

More recently, columnist and old friend Bill Gouveia opined that perhaps the town should see the writing on the wall and change the logo while preserving the name. That's very sensible and something I've been preaching for a while now, but the comments have been fast and (for the most part) furious. Again, nobody seems to read a column before reacting to it -- and thus, a lot of people totally missed the several times when Bill said in plain English that he thinks Warriors can be preserved.

I've tried to chip in with historical perspective and facts, but not unexpectedly, I've have been met with the usual accusations of being "woke," or a flaming "lib," or the like. One bright light said that Bill Gouveia was my "fluffer." Just think of the process of how baby thoroughbred horses are created, and you might get the idea. Or look it up. 

Another rather handsome chap said he uses The Sun Chronicle as his toilet paper. I told him that must be very painful -- and very expensive, given the cost of newsprint these days. 

And a few souls thought I had no right to comment upon a Foxboro matter, as I was not a resident. I did, however, live in the town for 12 years and I have covered its sports in one form or another over parts of seven decades. I have a stake. Probably more than they do.

Above all else, I noticed that the angriest respondents weren't from Foxboro. Some, not even remotely close. Their lives must be woefully lacking in companionship if they have to troll a small daily newspaper in Attleboro to fulfill their daily quota of expressed outrage over something -- even if they really had no idea what they're bitching and moaning about.

Look, I understand that no one is intentionally trying to hurt anyone else by the use of the logo. Practically everywhere you go in this state (including the state name), there's something that dates back to the original inhabitants. Hockomock League. Neponset Reservoir. Merrimack River. Cotuit. Mashpee. Nantucket. Chicopee. And I could go on and on. Even Gay Head on the Vineyard became Aquinnah in retrospect, which was a good choice. 

But there is a sense of inevitability about this movement. Given the overwhelming number of high school teams, college teams and now even the pros that are ditching potentially offensive imagery and nicknames, Foxboro is not destined to become the last stand against political correctness and "woke" culture.

It's time to try the art of compromise. Give up something to save something more important before the state rams it down your throat and you lose both.

I'll admit, I would like to see the logo go, too. Any association with the Washington Redskins and the sleazeball that runs that team under a new name should be purged. The logo could have been given a Viking funeral (no pun intended) on the Neponset Reservoir in the dark of night, and this entire controversy could have been avoided. 

But I'd definitely keep "Warriors." 

Just last week, I was fortunate enough to call on Foxboro cable TV the state championship game of Division 2 girls' basketball on behalf of a group of very talented young women that embody all that's good about the name. They were fearless. They were relentless. They were confident and drew strength from their "family" unit. And yes, the Foxboro girls beat Dracut by 20 points for their third state crown since 2018.

Their uniforms say only "Foxboro" on them. Not even the "ugh" at the end of the word that is supposed to be the official name of the town. There's no logo. They don't need one.

They are Foxboro. They are Warriors. And they don't need somebody else's logo to convince them or anyone else of that.