The “Spartan” was adopted as the Deerfield High School mascot in December of 1931. This announcement came via the December 23, 1931 DHS SPYGLASS, the school’s newspaper. “The name SPARTANS was unanimously chosen by the student body as an appropriate name for the school, at a chapel program which was held Friday, Dec. 18 in the auditorium. The name Spartan implies that we are brave, mighty and powerful although small in numbers.”
The history behind Lakin’s mascot is not so cut and dry. The naming of a mascot was announced in the School Notes section of the October 16, 1931 Lakin Independent. ““Bronchos” is the name by which the Lakin Rural High School athletic and forensic teams will be known. The journalism class christened them this week.”
Just a few days earlier, the new rural high school building had been dedicated in grand fashion with a key address by U.S. Congressman, the Honorable Clifford R. Hope. The school’s completion that fall was a feat in itself. Building contracts were let out in March of 1931 with the stipulation that the building be completed in 120 working days using as much local labor as possible. The opening of school was postponed not because the building wasn’t ready, but because part of the furniture had failed to arrive on time. The first day of classes was September 14, 1931. Some of the classroom desks had still not arrived, but enough of the equipment had been received to start regular school work. The new facility accommodated twice as many students as the 1920-1921 school and included an auditorium with a seating capacity of over 600 and a gymnasium of the same size on the opposite end. This came in handy as Lakin has always loved and supported its teams.
By 1940, both spellings of “Bronchos” and “Broncos” were being used when referring to Lakin teams. “Broncs” began being used in the fall of 1947 when the football team was referred to in the paper. This was the first year for football at Lakin since the sport had been discontinued in the fall of 1921. Perhaps the change was made to coincide with that event; however, the changeover to “Broncs” was gradual. Both terms – “Broncos” and “Broncs” – were still being used. Despite our best efforts, our staff could not locate an official announcement when the final “o” was dropped.
Although Lakin Grade and Middle School students are now also known as “Broncs,” they weren’t always. The debut column of “THE COLTS KICK” appeared in the September 25, 1942 Lakin Independent. This was Lakin Grade School news as compiled each week by the English classes of the 6th, 7th and 8th grades. As far as what our staff could find, this was the first time in the local papers that LGS students were referred to as “Colts.”
The pictures accompanying this post are a random sampling of artifacts from Deerfield and Lakin schools. They are not on display at the Kearny County Museum at this time; however, visitors are welcome to look at our yearbook collection in the Museum library. The Deerfield collection starts with small pamphlet-type books produced in-house. In the 1940s, the Spartan transformed to a commercially produced and bound publication. Our Lakin collection begins with the 1916, 1927 and 1931 Prairie Breezes. We have 1949 through 2022 of the Lakin Bronc/Bronco yearbooks.
