Delaware is awfully small, so perhaps it’s appropriate that the state’s best prep sports mascot is, well, very small.
As determined by USA Today’s national mascot poll, the Claymont (Del.) Archmere Academy Auks are the state’s best mascot. Don’t know what an Auk is? It’s this.
No, that’s not a penguin or a puffin (though a puffin is related), though you’re forgiven for the mistake. It’s an auk, though the three birds look very similar. Yet, while one might mistake an auk for a penguin at first glance, their habits couldn’t be much more different.
Penguins live primarily on land and only head into the water to fish and swim around a bit too cool off and have fun; auks spend all their time on the open sea and only head shore to breed.
Why did Archmere Academy pick a bird which is rarely seen in the Atlantic Ocean, let alone in Claymont? No one seems to know, though that hasn’t kept it from become the state’s most beloved sea-bound mascot.
Other Great Delaware Mascots of Note:
Perhaps fitting for a state with such a small population and overall number of schools, there aren’t too many mascots in Delaware that truly standout. Still, a couple are more than worthy of further exploration.
Chief among those is the Wilmington (Del.) Salesianum School Sallies. While that name sounds as if it’s a derogatory attack against the school’s athletic prowess, it isn’t intended to be. Rather, it’s just a shortened version of the school’s name … though some opponents may enjoy using it just to get under their opponents’ skin (particularly those of the teenaged boy variety).
The Camden (Del.) Ceasar Rodney High Riders aren’t host to the most unique nickname, but its source is a historic gem. Rodney allegedly rode 70 miles through a thunderstorm in 1776 to Philadelphia so he could vote and break a deadlock between the state’s two other representatives at the Continental Congress when it was debating American independence. If ever there was a fitting school to celebrate horse riding, Ceasar Rodney is an ideal forefather to focus on.
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