Type Public Enrollment 474 Mascot Spoofhound Number of students 474 | Principal Thom Alvarez Website School Website Phone +1 660-562-3511 Color Green, White, Gold | |
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Athletics conference Midland Empire Conference Address 1503 S Munn Ave, Maryville, MO 64468, USA District Maryville R-Ii School District Similar Northwest Missouri State Uni, Northwest Technical School, Bearcat Stadium, Savannah High School, Aces | ||
Maryville High School is the public high school for Maryville, Missouri. It is the only institution to have the Spoofhound for a mascot. It is a Missouri State High School Activities Association Class III school. The present high school building on the southwest side of Maryville opened in the 1965-66 school year.
Contents
History
It earlier had the Washington High School from 1908 to 1965 at First and Vine. Before that was a school in the same location from 1883 to 1908. The Maryville Spoofhound Soccer Team won its first districts in 2015. The Washington School building was used as a middle school until 1999 when it was torn down after the middle school moved closer to the Maryville High campus on the south edge of Maryville.
In 2006, the school moved from its traditional category of medium size Class 3 school to Class 2. It was runner up in the state championship football in 2008 and won the title in 2009. In 2010 it returned to Class 3.
Current campus timeline
Athletics
The school's original colors were red and white. When Northwest Missouri State University opened in 1905, the college colors were also red and white. The college changed its colors to green and white. The high school later changed its colors to green and gold. Maryville High School football games were played on the football field at Beal Park east of the municipal swimming pool (now the Aquatics Center) at least in the late 1950s and early '60's; and also at Bearcat Stadium on the college campus. In the late 1976 the high school began playing its football games in a stadium on its own campus.
Maryville Marching Spoofhounds
The school's marching band has won many awards and has gained national recognition in its past years. Including appearing on the Today Show before marching in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1990. They have been invited to march in the New Year's Day Parade in London, United Kingdom. In 2008, they were invited to the National Adjudicator's Convention (The Dixie Classics) in Chicago, Illinois. They have also participated in the Independence Day Parade in Washington, DC. In the 1980s-90's over a third of the student body was involved in the Spoofhound Marching Band. In 2011, the Marching Spoofhounds marched in a Magic Kingdom Parade at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Mascot
The school mascot Spoofhound is based on a Plaster of Paris souvenir mascot that was distributed in 1921 during the American Legion convention in Kansas City, Missouri that was held in conjunction with the dedication of the Liberty Memorial. That mascot was based on a drawing by World War I veteran James D. Laingor who made a drawing that was a compilation of 20 photographs of mascot dogs of various World War I units. Laingor copyrighted the image of "Spoof hound and Goof" in 1921. The image was turned into a statue which Laingor sold via his company "Spoof Hound Novelty Company" at Room 360, 2006 Central Street, Kansas City, Missouri. The headline on its advertisement in American Legion Magazine said, "Meet the Spoof-Hound, the ugliest critter in existence." The text said, "You buddies who are coming to Kansas City are going to meet the onriest looking Son-of-A-Gun that ever came down a Company street. He's the Spoof-Hound." Laingor was a University of Missouri Journalism School student and said he had originally used the name to describe his coffee club.
Spoofhound statues left over from the convention sold at carnivals in 1922.
Leslie Edward Ziegeler (1894-1957), who coached high school team said his players looked like a bunch of Spoofhounds. The name stuck and as the 1923 football season began the team was called the Spoofhound by the Maryville Daily Forum.
In the 1940s, Ziegler became the superintendent of schools for Columbia, Missouri where the mascot is also named for an early 20th-century doll—the Kewpies. The image of the Spoofhound has evolved over the years. From the 1950s to the mid 1970s, drawings of it showed a softer more filled out creature called Spoofy.
In 1977 the "Hi Lights" the high school publication which appeared weekly in the Forum ran a contest entitled, "Spoofy - Does he have a face?" in which they sought a redesign to a more aggressive Spoofhound. The winner of this contest was the school art instructor Brian L. Lohafer. Lohafer was also a coach and he led the football Spoofhounds to state championship appearances in 1984, 1994, 1996 and a basketball state championship appearance in 1995. A variation of the mascot he designed is still the mascot of the school.
ESPN recognized the Spoofhound as one of its top mascot names and enshrined the Spoofhound in their "Mascot Hall of Fame." As of 2016, no other academic institution or sports club had adopted the nickname.