Here is some breaking news out of Houston County. There is a fellow named Donald Crosby down in Warner Robins who is described in news reports as some kind of preacher at a church of some sort.
Crosby is apparently upset because the mascot of the Warner Robins High School football team is – and has been for several decades – a “Screamin’ Demon.” Crosby doesn’t like the connotations of the word “demon” and is trying to gather petition signatures to have the mascot changed. He’s also trying to have his son transferred to another high school.
Crosby seems to be unaware of a few facts here. For one, there is an esteemed college up north called Wake Forest that was founded by the North Carolina Baptist State Convention and has a mascot called the “Demon Deacon.” I haven’t noticed any fire and brimstone descending upon the campus in Winston-Salem because it features a Demon as the symbol of its athletic teams.
Warner Robins High School’s Screamin’ Demon football teams also have a long and rich history that includes several state championships. The starting quarterback on the 1964 football team was a young fellow named Sonny Perdue who later became involved in politics, or so I am told. (I asked Gov. Perdue’s communications office if he had any comment on the petition drive to dump the Demon. They did not respond.)
Other notable alums of Warner Robins High include Ron Simmons, an All-American football player at Florida State who later became a professional wrestler, NFL running back James Brooks, and NFL defensive back Ben Smith.
Among the non-football-playing alums: the actress Victoria Principal, soap opera star Bobbie Eakes, and Jamil Zainaldin, president of the Georgia Humanities Council.
None of them seem to have been turned into a pillar of salt because they attended a high school with a Demon mascot, but maybe I’m missing something here.
