Just what IS a Pendragon?
High school mascot 'fires up' Pender athletes
By Tim Gallagher, Journal staff writer | Posted: Saturday, October 20, 2007
PENDER, Neb. -- I've seen Cattlefeeders (old Everly High School). I've cheered Orabs (Sheldon). And I've heard the roars of Lions (Central Lyon), Tigers (Spencer) and Bears (Laurel-Concord).
Until last Friday, however, I'd not felt the fire of a Pendragon.
Welcome to Pender High, home of the Pendragons. The school mascot is a dragon with a pen. There were plenty on display as these Pendragons faced Wakefield in football. Each football player had a Pendragon sign put into the ground, forming a tunnel through which the team ran onto the field.
"There are five different stories, I think, about the origin of the Pendragon," said Jason Dolliver, the high school principal. "Some say it might have originated with the school paper."
The most thorough account has the Pendragon origin pinned to Marie Prochazka, the principal of the school who created the mascot name in 1928. Eunice Otteman Greaton, a 1935 graduate of Pender High, provided a detailed story about the Pendragon mascot in 1999. Her history lesson, as printed in the Pender Times, probably put to rest various tales about the fire-breathing mascot.
Greaton wrote that Prochazka came up with the Pendragon name; Sterling Wenke created the logo which has been in use ever since.
So, what is a Pendragon?
According to Greaton, a Pendragon is a Celtic form that signifies "chief of kings."
"A leader of a certain clan was called a dragon," Dolliver said. "And the dragons all served under a more powerful leader, called a pendragon."
Greaton indicated the pendragon was synonymous with King Arthur.
She wrote, "According to legend, Arthur became King of the Britons when he was only a boy. He was the son of King Uther, Pendragon of Briton. Again according to legend, King Uther had a vision of a flaming dragon in the sky. Later, he ordered two golden dragons to be fashioned like those he had seen, one of which he dedicated to the cathedral of Winchester, and the other kept to be carried in battle."
The dragon symbol, Greaton wrote, solely belonged to King Arthur's father, as his coat of arms.
She concluded, "As Pender was named in honor of John Pender, an Englishman, it seems very apt that the logo of Pender High School of Pendragon has an English background as above related. That logo in the form of a shield appropriately appears on class rings and other material of the school."
It also, in a way, appears in the form of the school's most popular cheer. Though they don't have cheerleaders, many in the student body stood last Friday and gave their all in chanting, "Dragons! Dragons! Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up!" While hollering, they all moved their arms up and down as if they were dragons devouring the competition.
"We do it mostly when we're winning," said Lexi Henschke, an eighth-grader and future Pendragon herself.
In Sunday
Read about the busiest student manager-ambassador-musician around in Tim Gallagher's "Friday Night Sights" column on Sunday.
Where the story subject from? Here's a hint: "The farthest west is best!"
Until last Friday, however, I'd not felt the fire of a Pendragon.
Welcome to Pender High, home of the Pendragons. The school mascot is a dragon with a pen. There were plenty on display as these Pendragons faced Wakefield in football. Each football player had a Pendragon sign put into the ground, forming a tunnel through which the team ran onto the field.
"There are five different stories, I think, about the origin of the Pendragon," said Jason Dolliver, the high school principal. "Some say it might have originated with the school paper."
The most thorough account has the Pendragon origin pinned to Marie Prochazka, the principal of the school who created the mascot name in 1928. Eunice Otteman Greaton, a 1935 graduate of Pender High, provided a detailed story about the Pendragon mascot in 1999. Her history lesson, as printed in the Pender Times, probably put to rest various tales about the fire-breathing mascot.
Greaton wrote that Prochazka came up with the Pendragon name; Sterling Wenke created the logo which has been in use ever since.
So, what is a Pendragon?
According to Greaton, a Pendragon is a Celtic form that signifies "chief of kings."
"A leader of a certain clan was called a dragon," Dolliver said. "And the dragons all served under a more powerful leader, called a pendragon."
Greaton indicated the pendragon was synonymous with King Arthur.
She wrote, "According to legend, Arthur became King of the Britons when he was only a boy. He was the son of King Uther, Pendragon of Briton. Again according to legend, King Uther had a vision of a flaming dragon in the sky. Later, he ordered two golden dragons to be fashioned like those he had seen, one of which he dedicated to the cathedral of Winchester, and the other kept to be carried in battle."
The dragon symbol, Greaton wrote, solely belonged to King Arthur's father, as his coat of arms.
She concluded, "As Pender was named in honor of John Pender, an Englishman, it seems very apt that the logo of Pender High School of Pendragon has an English background as above related. That logo in the form of a shield appropriately appears on class rings and other material of the school."
It also, in a way, appears in the form of the school's most popular cheer. Though they don't have cheerleaders, many in the student body stood last Friday and gave their all in chanting, "Dragons! Dragons! Eat 'em up! Eat 'em up!" While hollering, they all moved their arms up and down as if they were dragons devouring the competition.
"We do it mostly when we're winning," said Lexi Henschke, an eighth-grader and future Pendragon herself.
In Sunday
Read about the busiest student manager-ambassador-musician around in Tim Gallagher's "Friday Night Sights" column on Sunday.
Where the story subject from? Here's a hint: "The farthest west is best!"
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Pendragon Graduate '07 wrote on Jan 21, 2008 10:14 PM:
so we come-up with our own cheers in the student section...infact that "eat em up" cheer was stolen from wisner-gators... "
Pender Graduate '07 wrote on Jan 21, 2008 10:11 PM:
i was told that the pendragon was the ultimate red dragon...so its cool to see the actual origin "
Pendragon Alumni wrote on Nov 30, 2007 8:50 PM:
Pendragon Mother wrote on Oct 20, 2007 10:21 PM:
interesting wrote on Oct 20, 2007 1:32 PM: