What's in a Name

 What's in a name?

Last Monday night, I went to the Sheboygan Lutheran Varsity basketball game.  Eddy, as a member of their JV team, was scheduled to play before varsity game, and I took the opportunity to watch the Varsity team play.  

The game wasn't close.  105-27 was the final score, in favor of Lutheran.  

While exchanging texts about basketball with some good friends, I stumbled upon another, even MORE, lopsided score from Monday night.  Hurley beat Butternut 66-4.

I was relatively knowing of where Hurley is in Wisconsin, but I had never heard of Butternut. Turns out it's also wayyyy "Up North".  Population of 367, with a high school enrollment of 58.  But the best part?  The mascot for Butternut High School is the ... Midget.

Yes, they're the Butternut Midgets.

Insert joke here about how much the Midgets struggled in the basketball game against the Hurley Northstars...

The Midget nickname came from Charles "Midget" Fischer, who hailed from Butternut and was the middle- and light-heavyweight wrestling champion of the world in the 1920's.  He also served on their school board!

“We don’t see it as a demeaning name in our context, we see it as a prideful name and we’re proud to call ourselves the midgets and try to live out and do our jobs in Butternut and live in a way that he would have wanted us to thrive and strive,” said  Butternut Athletic Director Adam LaRose, in a 2019 article about the school

As Paul Harvey would say...there's also "the rest of the story":  

Hurley, until 2019, was also known as the Midgets, but in 2019 the School Board unanimously voted to change the nickname.  A referendum had been scheduled for April of that year, but in order to avoid controversy, they school board took action, stating “In a school district that prides itself on inclusion and making all students and families feel a strong sense of belonging, the mascot sends the wrong message to any student or family who is different.”

While the Butternut Midget mascot history can be directly traced to Charles Fischer, the Hurley Midget history isn't known...but it's thought that mascot came from the town’s mining history and the reputation miners had of being small.

And now, you know the rest of the story!