What's up with the Rebel Mascot?

Credits: Over the Mountain Journal

The media below contains the opinion of an individual student and therefore does not represent or speak to the values of Vestavia Hills High School and Vestavia Hills City Schools

About a decade ago, Vestavia Hills City Schools made the decision to remove its rather controversial “Rebel Man” mascot and rebranded to its current “1Rebel” theme for its athletic branding. The new theme is a tribute to the now-retired legendary football coach Buddy Anderson and is centered around the slogan “You Play One Rebel, You Play Us All.” New symbols, such as the “VH” emblem you see on the football field and the school’s Instagram account, have also appeared as time passed. Despite all of this change, however, a fundamental question remains: what does the school system mean when they say that our mascot is a “rebel,” now that the “Rebel Man” is gone?

Before we get into this, I think it’s important to acknowledge that many believe that “rebel” should mean the same thing that it meant under the “Rebel Man” mascot. The “Rebel Man” was a plantation owner/Confederate soldier, and it is so important that we come together to learn why this was not okay to use as a school mascot. One of the principal goals of the Confederate States of America was simply to keep slavery legal. Therefore, having the “Rebel Man” as our mascot would be very inappropriate because it implies that the school system is okay with the ideas the Confederacy had, and that is obviously not okay, nor what I or most people think they believe or believe ourselves.

So now that we’ve moved forward and gotten rid of the “Rebel Man,” what is a rebel literally? When looking at official statements from the school system, they usually focus on what a rebel does rather than what it is. For example, after questions were raised yet again in the year 2020, the school system said that a rebel “[defies] cultural norms,” “pursues excellence,” and “never settles for the status quo.” A rebel can do all of those things, but what would it look like if someone were to draw a picture of one? The school could have just released a new mascot in addition to the “1Rebel” campaign that was more appropriate.

A likely reason for not releasing a new mascot is that the school was attempting to avoid the negative press coverage. Big shifts were happening in the years to come (such as the new Pizitz campus, Dolly Ridge, the Freshman Campus, etc.), and they might have wanted to focus on those rather than the school mascot. The rebel name itself is also a staple to the community because it’s been around for so long, and the school board likely didn’t want protest from those who liked the name, either.

In fact, an AL.com survey for whether or not the Vestavia mascot needed to change the type of "Rebel," with over 2,000 votes, indicated that the vast majority (60%+) of people wanted to keep it the same. Nevertheless, the students of the school have taken up many different mascots over the years, and one of the most popular is the Pillsbury Doughboy, which has usually been used in pep rallies by the senior class since 2001. Although it's not exactly the kind of mascot Hoover or Oak Mountain may have, it’s special because it really means something to the students, because it is by and for them. 

In my opinion, I think that using an alternative mascot, such as the Pillsbury Doughboy, may be the best course of action because these are mascots that people have made together and are mascots that truly unify people way better than something imposed by the school ever could. And while we obviously shouldn’t just smack a Doughboy in the center of the field, I think that adding a Doughboy mascot to the sidelines wouldn’t be that bad of an idea. It may not be a new rebel mascot, but at least we have something to rally behind that is physical proof of our unity and broad perspectives, rather than just an intangible statement. We may never know what a “rebel” exactly is post-rebrand, but at least we’ll still have a mascot that everyone can support without any controversy.