Sunday, March 7, 2004
Many of you have read the
"The Teddy Tornado Story -
The Birth of an Logo!" story
below about how
my web site image was generated. Now, as Paul Harvey of the famed ABC radio program would say
".....here is the rest of the story."
"Teddy Tornado" By John Stoner, TC ' 57
Hello Ron.
I was finally able to locate at picture of Teddy Tornado.
He is pictured with the varsity basketball cheerleaders from the 1958-59 season.
This picture appeared in the 1959 Blue and Gold.
Basketball Varsity Cheerleaders
Joan Crilly (Stoner) Mary Ringle (Bean)
Marcia Lydey (Tidwell)
Sue Maybaugh (Dennis)
Bonnie Cline (Estep)
Mary Lou Fingerhuth (Lynch)
Teddy Tornado
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Teddy was born in preparation for the 1958-59 Columbian basketball season.
He was the creation of the senior cheerleaders, especially Bonnie Cline.
The teddy bear was hers and she donated this bear to the cheerleading squad.
The name Teddy was picked because it seemed to flow with Tornado and thus the bear mascot because known as
Teddy Tornado.
My mother, who had sewn the Columbian football and basketball cheerleader outfits
since approximately 1952 was asked to sew the costume for Teddy.
The material was royal blue and gold wool.
The material and the pattern used for Teddy's costume were the same as the cheerleader uniforms.
A plywood stand was created for Teddy to allow him to stand facing the crowd.
Teddy accompanied the cheerleaders to all basketball games, home and away and was
displayed front and center during some of the cheering routines.
Teddy continued for unknown years following his introduction in 1958. A member of the
1962 graduating class remembers Teddy as being the mascot. I'll try to do a little more
research to see how long Teddy may have remained as the mascot.
Rumor has it that
after some years Teddy ran off with a particularly attractive cheerleader; never to be heard from since.
(Needless to say the last sentence was inserted as a joke.)
The attractive dark-haired cheerleader on the left is my wife, Joan Crilly Stoner.
Archived: Mar 26, 2004
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