Tales of a Permed Porcupine

Permed Pattie

Just in case you thought I was jes kiddin' about the permed hair, here is living proof. I was in the second grade ( fall of 1961 if anyone is counting) and enrolled at Springtown Elementary. I think now it is called Hinkle Elementary. Anyway, you probably can't see it, but I am sporting a plastic orange little banner with a gold football that says "Go Porcupines". Yup. Springtown Porcupines. I don't recall, but I betcha mums at homecoming time were unusual. You sure didn't want a little plastic porcupine up near your face, or dangling on a long streamer, banging against your shins as you walked. Guess Porcupines might be tad better than the Fightin' Sand Crabs (Port Lavaca, Texas), but that's not sayin' much. Course, it did get even more mascot-crazed when we moved to Weatherford, Texas. Home of the Kickn' Kangaroos. Everyone had white, shoe-polished "Go 'Roos!" on their car windows and little stuffed kangaroos hangin' from their rear-view mirrors. Now, I ask you, what kind of gory mayhem could Porcupines and Kangaroos produce whilst on a high school football field? Add a few Fightin Sand Crabs and it could get really interesting.

Later years, my high school mascot was a Cougar, or sometimes referred to as the Mountain Lion. We interchanged the names often. Lot more self-respecting to be screamin' "Mighty, Mighty Cougars" from the bleachers during a football game than "Quill 'Em!".